Archaeobatrachia

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Archaeobatrachia
Hochstetters Frog (Leiopelma hochstetteri)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Amphibia Order: Anura Suborder: Archaeobatrachia
Families
Ascaphidae Bombinatoridae Discoglossidae Leiopelmatidae

Archaeobatrachia are a suborder of Anura containing various frog and toad like organisms. As the name literally suggests - these are the most ancient toads. Many of the species (28 in total) show certain physiological characteristics which are not present in other frogs and toads, thus giving rise to this group. They are largely found in Eurasia, New Zealand, Philippines and Borneo, and are characteristically small.

[edit] References

• 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: 228–237. doi:10.1016/j.gene.2005.07.034. 
• Roelants, Kim; Franky Bossuyt (February 2005). "Archaeobatrachian paraphyly and pangaean diversification of crown-group frogs". Systematic Biology 54: 111-126. 
• San Mauro, Diego; Mario Garcia-Paris and Rafael Zardoya (December 2004). "Phylogenetic relationships of discoglossid frogs (Amphibia:Anura:Discoglossidae) based on complete mitochondrial genomes and nuclear genes". Gene 343: 357-366. doi:10.1016/j.gene.2004.10.001. 
• 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: 590-599.