Overview
Brief Summary
Introduction
Megophryids are the largest and most diverse family-level group of non-neobatrachian frogs. They are found in India, Pakistan, and eastward into southeast Asia, Borneo and the Philippines to the Sunda Islands. They range in size from about 20 to 125 mm.
Some are large, cryptic, forest-floor dwellers with adaptations for large prey. Their skin is modified so that they resemble dead leaves on the forest floor. Some species have points of skin on the eyelids, which further enhances the illusion (Megophrys montana). Others, such as Leptobrachella mjobergi, are small, with digital discs and are found on rocks along streams.
Some megophryids have pond-type tadpoles; others have stream-dwelling tadpoles, some with surface-feeding mouths and some with large buccal areas for clinging to rocks.
All megophryids for which data are available have unusually ossified intervertebral disks, and hyoid plates that lack most of the ceratohyals. There are no known fossils.
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Tree of Life web project
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Distribution
Geographic Distribution
The distribution of living members of the family Megophryidae is indicated in red.
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Tree of Life web project
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Evolution and Systematics
Evolution
Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships
- Megophryidae
- Atympanophrys
- Brachytarsophrys
- Leptobrachella
- Leptobrachium
- Leptobrachium
- Leptolalax
- Megophrys
- Ophryophryne
- Oreolalax
- Scutiger
- Vibrissaphora
Ford and Cannatella (1993) defined the node-based name Megophryidae to be the common ancestor of living megophryines (Atympanophrys, Brachytarsophrys, Leptobrachella, Leptobrachium, Leptolalax, Megophrys, and Scutiger), and all its descendants. Putative synapomorphies include the complete or almost complete absence of ceratohyals in adults, intervertebral cartilages with an ossified center, and paddle-shaped tongue (Regal and Gans, 1976). Only two of the seven genera were analyzed by Cannatella (1985), but ongoing studies of other taxa by Cannatella corroborate these synapomorphies. The monophyly of megophryids has not been questioned.
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Tree of Life web project
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Molecular Biology and Genetics
Molecular Biology
Statistics of barcoding coverage
| Specimen Records: | 250 | Public Records: | 9 |
| Specimens with Sequences: | 157 | Public Species: | 6 |
| Specimens with Barcodes: | 117 | Public BINs: | 7 |
| Species: | 48 | ||
| Species With Barcodes: | 39 | ||
© Barcode of Life Data Systems
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Barcode data
© Barcode of Life Data Systems
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Locations of barcode samples
© Barcode of Life Data Systems
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Wikipedia
Megophryidae
The Megophryidae are a large family of frogs native to the warm southeast of Asia, from the Himalaya foothills eastwards, south to Indonesia and the Greater Sunda Islands in Maritime Southeast Asia, and extending to the Philippines.[1] As of mid-2008 it encompasses about 70-100 species of frogs divided between 12 genera. For lack of a vernacular name, they are commonly called megophryids.
The megophryids are notable for their camouflage, especially those that live in forests, which often look like dead leaves. The camouflage is accurate to the point of some having skin folds that look like leaf veins, and at least one species, the long-nosed horned frog (Megophrys montana) has sharp projections extending past the eye and nose, which disguise the frog shape.[1]
Megophryids range in size from 2 to 12.5 cm (0.79 to 4.9 in) in length. The adults' tongues are noticeably paddle-shaped. Their tadpoles can be found in a variety of waters, but especially ponds and streams. The tadpoles are extremely diverse in form because of the variety of habitats they inhabit.
Genera
Family Megophryinidae
- Atympanophrys
- Borneophrys - rough horned frogs Delorme, Dubois, Grosjean & Ohler, 2006 (formerly in Megophrys)
- Brachytarsophrys – Karin Hills frogs
- Leptobrachella - Borneo frogs
- Leptobrachium – Eastern spadefoot toads
- Leptolalax - Asian toads
- Megophrys - Asian horned toads
- Ophryophryne - mountain toads
- Oreolalax
- Scutiger - cat-eyed toads
- Vibrissaphora - spiny toads (sometimes included in Leptobrachium)
- Xenophrys
References
- ^ a b Zweifel, Richard G. (1998). Cogger, H.G. & Zweifel, R.G.. ed. Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 88. ISBN 0-12-178560-2.
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Megophryidae |
- Cogger, H.G; Zweifel, R.G. & Kirschner, D. (2004): Encyclopedia of Reptiles & Amphibians (2nd ed.). Fog City Press. ISBN 1-877019-69-0
- Heying, H. (2003): Animal Diversity Web – Megophryidae. Retrieved 2006-MAY-08.
Further reading
- "Asian Toadfrogs (Megophryidae)". Amy Lathrop. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Ed. Michael Hutchins, Arthur V. Evans, Jerome A. Jackson, Devra G. Kleiman, James B. Murphy, Dennis A. Thoney, et al. Vol. 6: Amphibians. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2004. p109-117.
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