Pithecopus

Pithecopus
Pithecopus azureus, the type species
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Family: Phyllomedusidae
Genus: Pithecopus
Cope, 1866
Type species
Phyllomedusa azurea
Cope, 1862
Species

12 species (see text)

Synonyms[1]

Bradymedusa Miranda-Ribeiro, 1926

Pithecopus is a genus of frogs in the family Phyllomedusidae,[1][2][3] but some scientists say it is in the subfamily Phyllomedusinae in the family Hylidae.[4] These frogs live in tropical South America east of the Andes, from southern Venezuela to northern Argentina.[1][2][3] For a while, scientists said this was another name for Phyllomedusa, but, in 2016, they changed it to Phyllomedusa hypochondrialis group.[1][2] Its sister group is Callimedusa.[2]

Name

The name of this genus comes from the Greek pithekodes, which means "ape-like."[2]

Description

Pithecopus frogs are medium-sized frogs measuring about 4.5 cm (1.8 in) in snout–vent length, which means from nose to rear end. On their feet, Toe I is much longer than toe II, and is opposable to it like a thumb. These frogs do not have vomerine teeth. The tadpoles have a moderately small oral disc on the bottoms of their bodies, near the front.[2]

Species

There are 12 species in this genus:[1]

However, AmphibiaWeb lists only some of these species (Pithecopus araguaius, Pithecopus rusticus, and Pithecopus gonzagai). It puts the others in Phyllomedusa.[4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Frost, Darrel R. (2020). "Pithecopus Cope, 1866". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.1. American Museum of Natural History. doi:10.5531/db.vz.0001. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Duellman, William E.; Marion, Angela B. & Hedges, S. Blair (2016). "Phylogenetics, classification, and biogeography of the treefrogs (Amphibia: Anura: Arboranae)". Zootaxa. 4104 (1): 1–109. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4104.1.1. PMID 27394762.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Andrade, Felipe Silva de; Haga, Isabelle Aquemi; Ferreira, Johnny Sousa; Recco-Pimentel, Shirlei Maria; Toledo, Luís Felipe & Bruschi, Daniel Pacheco (2020). "A new cryptic species of Pithecopus (Anura, Phyllomedusidae) in north-eastern Brazil". European Journal of Taxonomy (723): 108–134. doi:10.5852/ejt.2020.723.1147.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Hylidae". AmphibiaWeb. University of California, Berkeley. 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.