Mesobatrachia

Mesobatrachia
Temporal range: Late Jurassic to present
Rhinophrynus dorsalis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Amphibia
Subclass: Lissamphibia
Superorder: Batrachia
Order: Anura
Suborder: Mesobatrachia
Families

Megophryidae
Pelobatidae
Pelodytidae
Scaphiopodidae
Rhinophrynidae
Pipidae

The Mesobatrachia are the second-largest of the Anura suborders of amphibians. It contains six families, 20 genera and 168 species. Recognized as a group in 1993, the name (meso- "middle" batrachia "frogs") is contrasted with the primitive Archaeobatrachia and the more diverse and advanced Neobatrachia.

The Mesobatrachia comprise five fossorial families, including the spadefoot toads of Europe, North America, and East Asia, the parsley frogs, and the Mexican burrowing toad, as well as one obligatorily aquatic family, the Pipidae of Africa and South America.

Mesobatrachia are a relatively new group, only having been identified as such in 1993.

References


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