| Pseudis | |
|---|---|
| Pseudis paradoxa | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Hylidae |
| Subfamily: | Hylinae |
| Genus: | Pseudis Wagler, 1830 |
| Species | |
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See text. |
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Pseudis is a genus of frogs in the Hylidae family, and are found in the Guianas, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad, southern Brazil, Paraguay, southeastern Peru, eastern Bolivia, northeastern Argentina and Uruguay.
Pseudis is a genus of aquatic frogs distributed throughout tropical and subtropical South America; almost entirely east of the Andes (P. paradoxa is the only species with population west of the Andes). They are commonly found in ponds associated to river floodplains, from Trinidad to northern Argentina, being absent only in Ecuador and Chile, highland regions and the southernmost part of South America. Most species occur in Brazil, and P. fusca, P. tocantins, P. cardosoi, P. caraya, and P. bolbodactyla are endemic to this country.
These frogs have several adaptations to aquatic life, such as protuberant eyes, robust hindlimbs, and fully webbed feet. Nevertheless, they are more closely related to tree frogs.
These frogs are commonly known because of their giant tadpole that can reach up to 26 centimetres (10 in). They are closely related to a second genus, Lysapsus, that lacks giant tadpoles and which adults are about 2 centimetres (0.79 in). Lysapsus is now considered a synonym of Pseudis by many researchers.
Contents |
| Binomial name and Author | Common name |
|---|---|
| Pseudis bolbodactyla Lutz, 1925 | |
| Pseudis boliviana (Gallardo, 1961) | |
| Pseudis caraya (Gallardo, 1964) | Mato Verde Harlequin Frog |
| Pseudis cardosoi Kwet, 2000 | |
| Pseudis fusca Garman, 1883 | |
| Pseudis laevis Parker, 1935 | Guyana Harlequin Frog |
| Pseudis limellum (Cope, 1862) | Uruguay Harlequin Frog |
| Pseudis minuta Günther, 1858 | Lesser Swimming Frog |
| Pseudis paradoxa (Linnaeus, 1758) | Paradoxical Frog |
| Pseudis platensis Gallardo, 1961 | |
| Pseudis tocantins Caramaschi & Cruz, 1998 |
The phylogenetic position of frogs currently included in the genus Pseudis in relation to other anurans was for a long time a mater of debate. They have been placed in Ranidae, Leptodactylidae (Noble 1922) , Hylidae (Parker 1935), and as their own family Pseudidae (Savage and De Carvalho, 1953). This results from their highly derived body plan for a hylid frog due to their mostly aquatic habits. Recent morphological (Da Silva, 1998) and molecular (Darst and Cannatella, 2004) phylogenetic reconstructions have unambiguously placed them within the subfamily Hylinae with Scarthyla as a sister group.
Phylogenetic relationships among species of the group were recently proposed using molecular evidences (Garda and Cannatella, 2007; Aguiar-Jr. et al., 2007). Both publications found identical trees, but proposed different taxonomic solutions for the non-monophyly of Pseudis, either resurrecting the genus Podonectes (Garda and Cannatella, 2007) or placing Lysapsus as a junior synonym of Pseudis (Aguiar-Jr. et al., 2007). Because of taxonomic nomenclatural issues, Podonectes is not an available name and the solution proposed by Aguiar-Jr. et al. (2007) is preferred (see Frost, 2007, Amphibian Species of the World online database).