Overview
Brief Summary
Introduction
Pelobatidae are the European and American Spadefoot Toads. The content of the family as used here is more restricted than many others use it. The Asian megophryines and pelodytines were recognized as full families, Megophryidae and Pelodytidae, by Cannatella (1985).
Living pelobatids are rotund with short limbs and large eyes with vertical pupils. However, it is possible (but not yet demonstrated) that the morphology of the living forms is convergent, because some fossil pelobatids of the genus Eopelobates are rather gracile, lightly-built animals. In order to burrow, spadefoot toads use the spade, a bony element of the hindfoot capped with a keratinous cover. They do so rear-first into the ground (most burrowing frogs do so rear-first, only a very few such as Hemisus, enter the ground head-first).
The North American species have been placed in either one genus (Scaphiopus) or two (Spea, for the smaller species). Each group is monophyletic, so the division is somewhat arbitrary. However, the two groups are different in morphology and ecology, so recognition of two genera emphasizes the distinctiveness of each.
Pelobates are also well known as fossils from as far back as the Eocene and extend to the present. Scaphiopus is known from the early Oligocene. Macropelobates is from the Middle Oligocene.
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Distribution
Geographic Distribution
The distribution of living members of the family Pelobatidae is indicated in red.
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Evolution and Systematics
Evolution
Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships
- Pelobatidae
- Macropelobates †
- Pelobates
- Pelobates cultripes
- Pelobates fuscus
- Pelobates syriacus
- Pelobates varaldii
As generally used, Pelobatidae (for megophryines and pelobatines) is not demonstrably monophyletic, because of the ambiguous relationships of Pelodytes. Cannatella (1985) removed megophryids from Pelobatidae. The name Pelobatidae was defined by Ford and Cannatella (1993) as the node that is the most recent common ancestor of living Pelobates, Scaphiopus, and Spea, and all of its descendants. Each of the aforementioned taxa is monophyletic (Cannatella, 1985). Synapomorphies of Pelobatidae include fusion of the joint between the sacrum and coccyx, exostosed frontoparietals, and the presence of a metatarsal spade supported by a well-ossified prehallux.
The definition of this name differs from that used by most other workers, in that megophryines are excluded from Pelobatidae. The extinct subfamily †Eopelobatinae* (Spinar, 1972) is not included in the definition because of uncertainty concerning the relationships and monophyly of that taxon. Some †Eopelobates appear to be more closely related to the living Pelobates than are Scaphiopus and Spea, so the subfamily may be an artifact of placing a group of extinct forms into a taxon. It is a metataxon of uncertain placement, either within Pelobatoidea, or the sister taxon of Pelobatoidea.
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Molecular Biology and Genetics
Barcode
Locations of barcode samples
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Statistics of barcoding coverage
| Specimen Records: | 30 |
| Specimens with Sequences: | 30 |
| Specimens with Barcodes: | 19 |
| Public Records: | 2 |
| Species: | 6 |
| Species With Barcodes: | 6 |
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Barcode data
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Wikipedia
Pelobatidae
The European spadefoot toads are a family of frogs, the Pelobatidae, with only one extant genus Pelobates, containing four species. They are native to Europe, the Mediterranean, northwestern Africa and western Asia.
The European spadefoot toads are small to large sized frogs, up to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) in length, which are often inconspicuously coloured. They are predominantly fossorial (burrowing) frogs, which burrow in sandy soils. They have a hardened protrusion on their feet to aid in digging, which is the source of the common name. They will emerge from the ground during periods of rain and breed in pools, which are usually temporary.[2]
All of the species from this family have free-living, aquatic tadpoles. The eggs are laid in temporary ponds that may quickly evaporate, so tadpole stage is unusually brief, with rapid development to the adult form in as little as two weeks. To further speed their growth, some of the tadpoles are cannibalistic, eating their brood-mates to increase their supply of protein.[2]
Taxonomy
The seven species of American Spadefoot Toads (genera Scaphiopus and Spea) were previously also included into the Pelobatidae family, but are now generally regarded as the separate family Scaphiopodidae.
Family Pelobatidae
- Genus †Elkobatrachus
- †Elkobatrachus brocki
- Genus Pelobates
Fossils
The earliest fossil genus of pelobatids, Elkobatrachus, was described in 2006.[4]
In the Jurassic Morrison Formation, pelobatids are represented by the illium of an unnamed but indeterminate species.[1] This illium is larger than that of Enneabatrachus, a contemporary discoglossid species.[1] A specimen has been recovered from Quarry 9 of Como Bluff in Wyoming.[1] Pelobatids are present in stratigraphic zones 5 and 6 of the formation.[5]
References
- ^ a b c d Foster, J. (2007). "Pelobatidae indet." Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Indiana University Press. p. 137.
- ^ a b Zweifel, Richard G. (1998). Cogger, H.G. & Zweifel, R.G.. ed. Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 88. ISBN 0-12-178560-2.
- ^ Tron, François (2005): The Eastern spadefoot Toad (Pelobates syriacus): A new amphibian species for Lebanon
- ^ Bioone.org
- ^ Foster, J. (2007). "Appendix." Jurassic West: The Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation and Their World. Indiana University Press. pp. 327-329.
- Gissi, Carmela; Diego San Mauro, Graziano Pesole and Rafael Zardoya (February 2006). "Mitochondrial phylogeny of Anura (Amphibia): A case study of congruent phylogenetic reconstruction using amino acid and nucleotide characters". Gene 366 (2): 228–237. doi:10.1016/j.gene.2005.07.034. PMID 16307849.
- Roelants, Kim; Franky Bossuyt (February 2005). "Archaeobatrachian paraphyly and pangaean diversification of crown-group frogs". Systematic Biology 54 (1): 111–126. doi:10.1080/10635150590905894. PMID 15805014.
- San Mauro, Diego; Miguel Vences, Marina Alcobendas, Rafael Zardoya and Axel Meyer (May 2005). "Initial diversification of living amphibians predated the breakup of Pangaea". American Naturalist 165 (5): 590–599. doi:10.1086/429523. PMID 15795855. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AN/journal/issues/v165n5/40546/40546.html.[dead link]
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