Kingdom Animalia Order Anura Subfamily Hylinae Rank Genus | Phylum Chordata Family Hylidae Scientific name Pseudis | |
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Lower classifications Pseudis paradoxa, Pseudis minuta, Pseudis bolbodactyla, Pseudis cardosoi, Pseudis tocantins | ||
Pseudis paradoxa linnaeus 1758 vocaliza o de anuncio
Pseudis is a genus of frogs (swimming frogs) in the Hylidae family, and are found in the Guianas, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad, Brazil, Paraguay, southeastern Peru, eastern Bolivia, northeastern Argentina, and Uruguay.
Contents
- Pseudis paradoxa linnaeus 1758 vocaliza o de anuncio
- Pseudis paradoxa la rana m gica
- Description
- Species
- Phylogenetic relationships
- References
Pseudis species are distributed throughout tropical and subtropical South America, almost entirely east of the Andes (P. paradoxa is the only species with population west of the Andes). They are commonly found in ponds associated with river floodplains, from Trinidad to northern Argentina, being absent only in Ecuador and Chile, highland regions, and the southernmost part of South America. Most species occur in Brazil, and P. fusca, P. tocantins, P. cardosoi, and P. bolbodactyla are endemic to this country.
Pseudis paradoxa la rana m gica
Description
These frogs have several adaptations to aquatic life, such as protuberant eyes, robust hind limbs, and fully webbed feet. Nevertheless, they belong to the "true" tree frogs, family Hylidae.
These frogs are commonly known because their giant tadpoles can reach up to 26 cm (10 in). They are closely related to a second genus, Lysapsus, that lacks giant tadpoles and in which adults are smaller, up to 2.4 cm (0.94 in), compared to up to 7.5 cm (3.0 in) in Pseudis. Lysapsus has been considered a synonym of Pseudis, but molecular evidence support their separateness.
Species
There are seven species in this genus (given that Lysapsus is accepted as a separate genus):
Phylogenetic relationships
The phylogenetic position of frogs currently included in the genus Pseudis in relation to other anurans was for a long time a matter of debate. They have been placed in Ranidae, Leptodactylidae, Hylidae, and as their own family Pseudidae This results from their highly derived body plan for a hylid frog due to their mostly aquatic habits. Recent morphological and molecular phylogenetic reconstructions have unambiguously placed them within the subfamily Hylinae with Scarthyla as a sister group.
Phylogenetic relationships among species of the group were recently proposed using molecular evidences. Both publications found identical trees, but proposed different taxonomic solutions for the nonmonophyly of Pseudis, either resurrecting the genus Podonectes or placing Lysapsus as a junior synonym of Pseudis. More recent molecular evidence did not find Pseudis paraphyletic with respect to Lysapsus, so the synonymy is unnecessary.