Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: ParaHoxozoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Olfactores
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Batrachomorpha
Classis: Amphibia
Subclassis: Lissamphibia
Superordo: Batrachia
Cladus: Salientia
Ordo: Anura
Familia: Brevicipitidae
Genera (5): Balebreviceps – Breviceps – Callulina – Probreviceps – Spelaeophryne
Name
Brevicipitidae Bonaparte, 1850
Type genus: Breviceps Merrem, 1820.
Synonymy
Brevicipitina Bonaparte, 1850:
Engystomidae Bonaparte, 1850: 1
Systomata Stannius, 1856: 5
Engystomatidae — Günther, 1858
Brevicipitidae — Cope, 1867
Engystomitidae — Hoffmann, 1878
Engystomata — Peters, 1882
Engystomatida — Knauer, 1883
Engystomatinae — Gadow, 1901
Brevicipitinae — Stejneger, 1910
Engistomatidae — Methuen & Hewitt, 1913
Engistomatinae — Methuen & Hewitt, 1913
Brevicipetidae — Romer, 1933
Brevicepitidae — Miranda-Ribeiro, 1937
Brevicipinae — Lynch, 1971
Brevicepinae — Bogart & Tandy, 1981
Brevicipitidae — Dubois, 2005
References
Primary references
Bonaparte, C.L. 1850. Conspectus systematum Herpetologiae et Amphibiologiae. Editio altera reformata. E. J. Brill: Lugduni Batavorum. 1 p. Reference page.
Additional references
Loader, S.P., Gower, D.J., Howell, K.M., Doggart, N., Rödel, M-C., Clarke, B.T., Sá, R.O., Cohen, B.L. & Wilkinson, M. 2004. Phylogenetic relationships of African microhylid frogs inferred from DNA sequences of mitochondrial 12S and 16S rRNA genes. Organisms, Diversity & Evolution 4(4): 227–235. DOI: 10.1016/j.ode.2004.01.005 Open access Reference page.
van der Meijden, A., Vences, M. & Meyer, A. 2004. Novel phylogenetic relationships of the enigmatic brevicipitine and scaphiophrynine toads as revealed by sequences from the nuclear Rag-1 gene. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences 271(Suppl. 5): S378–S381. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2004.0196 Paywall Reference page.
van der Meijden, A., Vences, M., Hoegg, S. & Meyer, A. 2005. A previously unrecognized radiation of ranid frogs in southern Africa revealed by nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 37(3): 674–685 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2005.05.001 Paywall Reference page.
Frost, D.R., Grant, T., Faivovich, J., Bain, R.H., Haas, A., Haddad, C.F.B., de Sá, R.O., Channing, A., Wilkinson, M., Donnellan, S.C., Raxworthy, C.J., Campbell, J.A., Blotto, B.L., Moler, P.E., Drewes, R.C., Nussbaum, R.A., Lynch, J.D., Green, D.M. & Wheeler, W.C. 2006. The amphibian tree of life. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 297: 1–370. DOI: 10.1206/0003-0090(2006)297[0001:TATOL]2.0.CO;2 Paywall; hdl: 2246/5781 Open access. Reference page.
Blackburn, D.C. & Wake, D.B. 2011. Class Amphibia Gray, 1825. Pp 39–55 In Zhang, Z.-Q. (ed.) 2011. Animal biodiversity: an outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness. Zootaxa 3148: 1–237. Open access. Reference page. Reference page.
Pyron, R.A. & Wiens, J.J. 2011. A large-scale phylogeny of Amphibia including over 2,800 species, and a revised classification of extant frogs, salamanders, and caecilians. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 61(2): 543–583. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2011.06.012 Paywall Reference page.
Brevicipitidae or rain frogs is a small family of frogs found in eastern and southern Africa. As of 2020 contains 37 species in 5 genera.[1][2] Formerly included as subfamily in Microhylidae (narrow-mouth frogs), phylogenetic research has indicated the brevicipitine frogs should be considered as a family with Hemisotidae (shovelnose frogs) as the most closely related sister taxon.[3][4][5]
Most adult brevicipitine frogs are not easily seen as they spend extended periods of time in soil or leaf litter. However, some species might be partly arboreal at times.[6] Many species show strong sexual size dimorphism, with females being much larger than males.[1]
At least the frogs in Breviceps and Probreviceps genera breed by direct development, in which small froglets emerge from eggs without intervening aquatic tadpole phase. It is likely that the same applies to the other genera, too. Because male Breviceps frogs are smaller than their female counterparts, amplexus is not possible; however mating pairs glue themselves together using excretions from holocrine glands on the ventrum of the male and similar glands on the dorsum of the back of the female.[7] The frogs lay small clutches of 13–56 fairly large eggs (4–8 mm diameter not including the protective capsule) in cover, often in burrows. With some species either male or female stays with eggs or close to the egg chamber, though the details and extent of brood care is poorly understood within Brevicipitidae as a whole.[6]
Genera
Balebreviceps Largen & Drewes, 1989 (1 species)
Breviceps Merrem, 1820 (20 species)
Callulina Nieden, 1911 (9 species)
Probreviceps Parker, 1931 (6 species)
Spelaeophryne Ahl, 1924 (1 species)
References
AmphibiaWeb: Information on amphibian biology and conservation. [web application]. 2013. Berkeley, California: Brevicipitidae. AmphibiaWeb, available at http://amphibiaweb.org/. (Accessed: 30 November 2013).
Frost, Darrel R. (2013). "Brevicipitidae Bonaparte, 1850". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 5.6 (9 January 2013). Retrieved 30 November 2013.
Van Der Meijden, A.; Vences, M.; Hoegg, S.; Meyer, A. (2005). "A previously unrecognized radiation of ranid frogs in Southern Africa revealed by nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 37 (3): 674–685. Bibcode:2005MolPE..37..674V. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.05.001. PMID 15975829.
Frost, D. R.; Grant, T.; Faivovich, J. N.; Bain, R. H.; Haas, A.; Haddad, C. L. F. B.; De Sá, R. O.; Channing, A.; Wilkinson, M.; Donnellan, S. C.; Raxworthy, C. J.; Campbell, J. A.; Blotto, B. L.; Moler, P.; Drewes, R. C.; Nussbaum, R. A.; Lynch, J. D.; Green, D. M.; Wheeler, W. C. (2006). "The Amphibian Tree of Life". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 297: 1–291. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2006)297[0001:TATOL]2.0.CO;2. hdl:2246/5781.
Pyron, A. R.; Wiens, J. J. (2011). "A large-scale phylogeny of Amphibia including over 2800 species, and a revised classification of extant frogs, salamanders, and caecilians". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 61 (2): 543–583. Bibcode:2011MolPE..61..543A. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2011.06.012. PMID 21723399.
Müller, H.; Loader, S. P.; Ngalason, W.; Howell, K. M.; Gower, D. J. (2007). "Reproduction in brevicipitid frogs (Amphibia: Anura: Brevicipitidae)—Evidence from Probreviceps m. macrodactylus". Copeia. 2007 (3): 726–733. doi:10.1643/0045-8511(2007)2007[726:RIBFAA]2.0.CO;2.
Visser, J.; Cei, J.M.; Gutierrez, L.S. (1982). "The histology of dermal glands of mating Breviceps with comments on their possible functional value in microhylids (Amphibia: Anura)". African Zoology. 17 (1).
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