''Stumpffia'' is a genus of

microhylid The Microhylidae, commonly known as narrow-mouthed frogs, are a geographically widespread family (biology), family of frogs. The 683 species are in 63 genera and 11 subfamilies, which is the largest number of genera of any frog family. Evolution ...

frogs that are endemic to Madagascar. They are mostly brown frogs that typically live among leaf litter. ''S. contumelia'' has a

snout–vent length Snout–vent length (SVL) is a morphometric measurement taken in herpetology from the tip of the snout to the most posterior opening of the cloacal slit (vent)."direct line distance from tip of snout to posterior margin of vent" It is the most c ...

of about , making it one of the world's smallest frogs, and several others in the genus are only slightly larger. The largest species is no more than . The majority of the species have only been described since 2010. Each species has a small range and many are seriously threatened.

Taxonomy

''Stumpffia'' was first described from the single species ''

Stumpffia psologlossa ''Stumpffia psologlossa'' is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, plantations, and heavily degraded former forest. It is threatened by h ...

'' Boettger, 1881, based on a single specimen collected on Nosy Be, a large island off the northwest coast of Madagascar, by Anotonio Stumpff. By 2017, 15 species were recognised. In late 2017, a major revision of the genus was published. This study used integrative taxonomy, i.e. the combination of multiple different datasets, to delimit and describe new species: it combined morphological, morphometric, chromatic (color), bioacoustic (voice), and genetic data to provide new data on the 15 described species of ''Stumpffia'', and describe a further 26 new species.

Debate on synonymy with ''Rhombophryne''

The genus ''Stumpffia'' was proposed to be a junior

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of '' Rhombophryne'' in 2016, but this proposal was disputed and reversed by authors of a subsequent study, on the basis of their reciprocal monophyly and consistent morphological differences between the two genera that allow them to be distinguished. The latter study established a new genus, '' Anilany'' for "''Stumpffia''" ''helenae'', a species that would otherwise have rendered ''Stumpffia''

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

, and which is morphologically and genetically highly distinct from any species of ''Rhombophryne'' or ''Stumpffia.'' This debate was continued in 2017, with one group of authors continuing to advocate for synonymy of these two genera plus ''Anilany'', while the other group of authors continued to advocate for separate treatment of these genera based on their monophyly and morphological distinction allowing them to be distinguished with comparative ease. There was a temporary impasse, wherein th
Amphibian Species of the World
database continued to adopt the single-genus taxonomy, and as a result, so too did the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species and other online databases (e.g. iNaturalist) that draw from that resource. Meanwhile
AmphibiaWeb
continued to use the three-genus taxonomy, as did the taxonomists working on cophyline systematics, and other groups working more broadly on frog evolution and taxonomy. In March 2019, a new genus, '' Mini'', was described for the miniaturised frogs previously confused with ''Stumpffia'' that are more closely related to '' Plethodontohyla.'' Evidence in this study, as well as that presented in a paper by Na Tu et al. in 2018, helped to clarify the taxonomic situation, and th
Amphibian Species of the World
database reverted to treating ''Rhombophryne'', ''Anilany'', and ''Stumpffia'' as valid genera.

Species

There are over 40 currently recognised species: The taxon '' Stumpffia helenae' Vallan, 2000 was transferred to '' Anilany'' and therefore does not appear on this list.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1986666 Cophylinae Endemic frogs of Madagascar Amphibian genera Taxa named by Oskar Boettger