Neobatrachia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Neobatrachia
Dendrobates azureus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Amphibia Order: Anura Suborder: Neobatrachia
Families
Allophrynidae Aromobatidae Arthroleptidae Astylosternidae Brachycephalidae Bufonidae Centrolenidae Dendrobatidae Heleophrynidae Hemisotidae Hylidae Hyperoliidae Leptodactylidae Limnodynastidae Mantellidae Microhylidae Myobatrachidae Nasikabatrachidae Petropedetidae Ranidae Rhacophoridae Rheobatrachidae Rhinodermatidae Sooglossidae

Neobatrachia are a suborder of order Anura, i.e. of frogs or toads. As the name suggests, this suborder, of the three, is the newest (neo-). It is also the largest, with more than 5,000 different species making up over 96% of all frogs.

The differentiation between Archaeobatrachia, Mesobatrachia, and Neobatrachia - which is a bit controversial, and as more research is done and more knowledge is gained is even becoming less clear, because many characteristics used for this differentiation apply to more than one group - is mainly based primarily anatomic differences, especially the skeletal structure as well as several visible characteristics and behaviors. Neobatrachia are generally sorted into four superfamilies - although this division is also controversial, as some families are classified into different superfamilies, depending on who is asked. They are usually classified into the following four superfamilies:

• Bufonoidea
• Hyloidea
• Microhyloidea
• Ranoidea

[edit] References

• This article is based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia.
• 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. 
• Hoegg, Simone; Miguel Vences, Henner Brinkmann and Axel Meyer (July 2004). "Phylogeny and comparative substitution rates of frogs inferred from sequences of three nuclear genes". Molecular Biology and Evolution 21: 1188-1200. 
• 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.