The Major Clades of Frogs

Abstract

The relationships among the major lineages of frogs are summarized and an unranked, phylogenetic taxonomy of Anura is proposed. The names of taxa are defined according to phylogenetic principles. Several currently recognized taxa, such as "Archaeobatrachia", "Discoglossoidea", "Leiopelmatidae", and "Discoglossidae" are paraphyletic, and the names are abandoned or redefined such that the associated taxa are monophyletic. Node-based names are proposed for several unnamed but previously recognized taxa: Leiopelmatanura, Bombinanura, Discoglossanura, and Pipanura. Pipanura is the node-based name for Mesobatrachia and Neobatrachia. Mesobatrachia comprises Pelobatoidea and Pipoidea. Pelodytidae is defined as a stem-based name to accommodate certain fossil pelobatoid taxa. Rhinophrynus, Rhinophrynidae, and Pipimorpha are defined as stem-based names that accommodate fossils within Pipoidea. †Eopelobatinae* is a metataxon. Relationships within Neobatrachia are largely unresolved. There is no evidence for the monophyly of "Myobatrachidae", but Limnodynastinae and Myobatrachinae are each monophyletic. Sooglossidae appears most closely related to Myobatrachinae. "Leptodactylidae" and "Ranidae" are nonmonophyletic groups. Scaphiophryninae* and Arthroleptidae* are metataxa. The name Scoptanura is used for the subclade of Microhylidae that excludes scaphiophrynines. Dendrobatidae, a taxon of controversial status, is placed within Ranoidea.