Pipidae

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iPipidae

African Dwarf Frog

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Subclass:	Lissamphibia
Superorder:	Batrachia
Order:	Anura
Suborder:	Mesobatrachia
Family:	Pipidae

Image:PIPIDAE range.png

Distribution of Pipidae (in black).

The Pipidae are a family of primitive, tongueless frogs. The thirty species in the family Pipidae are found in tropical South America (genus Pipa) and sub-Saharan Africa (four other genera).

These frogs are exclusively aquatic and have numerous morphological modifications befitting their habitat. For example, the feet are completely webbed and a lateral line system is present. In addition, pipids possess highly modified ears and vocal structures for producing and receiving sound underwater.

The fossil record for pipids is relatively good with twelve extinct species known. Six of these are placed in the extant genus Xenopus, the remainder in extinct genera. These fossils are known from Africa, South America, and Middle East back to the Lower Cretaceous.

[edit] Genera

Hymenochirus, dwarf clawed frogs
Pseudhymenochirus, dwarf clawed frogs
Pipa, star-fingered toads
Silurana, tropical clawed frogs
Xenopus, African clawed frogs

[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.
Roelants, Kim, Franky Bossuyt (February 2005). "Archaeobatrachian paraphyly and pangaean diversification of crown-group frogs". Systematic Biology 54: 111-126.
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.