Sooglossidae
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| iSeychelles Frogs | ||||||||||||
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| Image:Sooglossidae range.PNG Distribution of Sooglossidae (in black)
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The Seychelles Frogs (Sooglossidae) are a family of frogs only found on the Seychelles Islands. Until recently this family was believed to include the genera Nesomantis and Sooglossus, but following a major revision of amphibians in 2006 [1] the genus Nesomantis was named a junior synonym of Sooglossus; conversely, the recently-discovered Purple Frog which was initially assigned to a distinct monotypic family (Nasikabatrachidae) is now included in the Sooglossidae (Frost, 2006).
All of the species are relatively small terrestrial frogs, hiding under fallen leaves or in rock crevices. They are unusual for the Neobatrachials by undertaking inguinal amplexus, a primitive version of amplexus. There is no fossil record for the family. The two genera's ancestors diverged when the Seychelles Islands split from India about 100 million ago.
[edit] Taxonomy
The family was first described in 1931 by Gladwyn Kingsley Noble (1894-1940).
- Genus Sooglossus (Seychelles Frogs)
- Genus Nasikabatrachus (Purple Frog)
[edit] References
- Frost, Darrel R. 2006. Amphibian Species of the World: an online reference. Version 4.0 (17 August 2006). Electronic Database accessible at http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.php. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA.
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fr:Sooglossidae he:סוגלוסיים nl:Seychellenkikkers pt:Sooglossidae
