The New Frogs

Abstract

The majority of frogs and toads (in terms of the number of species) are generally considered advanced in comparison with the archaic forms covered in the previous chapter. They are put together in the suborder Neobatrachia in three superfamilies, Bufonoidea, Ranoidea and Microhyloidea. Whereas the archaic anurans evidently arose in the Mesozoic, the Neobatrachia appear to be mainly Tertiary in origin. The bufonoid families, with the exception of the hylids, are represented in the Palaeocene, the ranoids in the Oligocene and the microhyloids in the Miocene period. The Bufonoidea contains three families, the Bufonidae which is almost world-wide, the Leptodactylidae mainly in the southern hemisphere and the Hylidae mainly in the north. The Ranoidea also contains three families, the Ranidae which is again world-wide, the Rhacophoridae in Asia, Africa and Madagascar and the Sooglossidae found only in the Seychelles. The Microhyloidea has a single family, the Microhylidae, which is essentially pantropical.