The Alytidae are a family of primitive frogs.[2][3][4][5] Their common name is painted frogs[2] or midwife toads.[4] Most are endemic to Europe, but three species occur in northwest Africa, and a species formerly thought to be extinct is found in Israel.
| Alytidae Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Alytes obstetricans | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Suborder: | Archaeobatrachia |
| Family: | Alytidae Fitzinger, 1843 |
| Genera | |
|
Genus Alytes | |
| |
| Distribution of Discoglossidae (in black) | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Discoglossidae Günther, 1859 | |
This family is also known as Discoglossidae, but the older name Alytidae has priority and is now recognized by major reference works.[2][3][4][5] Some researchers, though, suggest that Alytes and Discoglossus are different enough to be treated as belonging to separate families, implying resurrection of the Discoglossidae.[2] The term "discoglossid" has also been used to refer to many primitive fossil frogs that share plesiomorphic (ancestral) similities to alytids, but that are probably not closely related.[6]
Genera and species
editThe family contains three extant genera, Alytes, Discoglossus, and Latonia. The first is somewhat toad-like and can often be found on land. The second is smoother and more frog-like, preferring the water.[7] The third genus was until recently considered extinct, and is represented by the recently rediscovered Hula painted frog. All of the species have pond-dwelling tadpoles.
The genera Bombina and Barbourula also used to be under this family, but have now been moved to the Bombinatoridae.[8]
Extant genera
edit| Image | Genus | Species |
|---|---|---|
|
Alytes Wagler, 1830 |
|
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|
Discoglossus Otth, 1837 |
|
|
Latonia Meyer, 1843 |
|
Extinct genera
editFamily Alytidae
- Genus †Enneabatrachus (prehistoric)[1]
- †Enneabatrachus hechti[1]
- Genus †Aralobatrachus (prehistoric)
- †Aralobatrachus robustus
- Genus †Callobatrachus (prehistoric)
- †Callobatrachus sanyanensis
- Genus †Bakonybatrachus (prehistoric)
- †Bakonybatrachus fedori
- Genus †Eodiscoglossus (prehistoric)
- †Eodiscoglossus oxoniensis
- †Eodiscoglossus santonjae
-
Iberian midwife toad (Alytes cisternasii) -
Iberian or Portuguese painted frog (Discoglossus galganoi) -
Fossil discoglossid from Miocene (†Latonia seyfriedi)
References
edit- ^ a b c Foster, J. (2007). "Enneabatrachus hechti" Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Indiana University Press. p. 137.
- ^ a b c d Frost, Darrel R. (2014). "Alytidae Fitzinger, 1843". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ^ a b "Alytidae Fitzinger, 1843". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
- ^ a b c "Alytidae". AmphibiaWeb: Information on amphibian biology and conservation. [web application]. Berkeley, California: AmphibiaWeb. 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- ^ a b Blackburn, D.C.; Wake, D.B. (2011). "Class Amphibia Gray, 1825. In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (Ed.) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3148: 39–55. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3148.1.8.
- ^ Gao, Ke-Qin; Chen, Jianye (2017-03-14). "A New Crown-Group Frog (Amphibia: Anura) from the Early Cretaceous of Northeastern Inner Mongolia, China". American Museum Novitates (3876): 1–39. doi:10.1206/3876.1. ISSN 0003-0082.
- ^ Zweifel, Richard G. (1998). Cogger, H.G.; Zweifel, R.G. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 85–86. ISBN 0-12-178560-2.
- ^ Frost, Darrel R. (2014). "Bombinatoridae Gray, 1825". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
- San Mauro, Diego; Garcia-Paris, Mario; Zardoya, Rafael (December 2004). "Phylogenetic relationships of discoglossid frogs (Amphibia:Anura:Discoglossidae) based on complete mitochondrial genomes and nuclear genes". Gene. 343 (2): 357–366. doi:10.1016/j.gene.2004.10.001. PMID 15588590.
- San Mauro, Diego; Vences, Miguel; Alcobendas, Marina; Zardoya, Rafael; Meyer, Axel (May 2005). "Initial diversification of living amphibians predated the breakup of Pangaea" (PDF). American Naturalist. 165 (5): 590–599. doi:10.1086/429523. JSTOR 10.1086/429523. PMID 15795855.
