Craugastoridae

Craugastoridae
Craugastor longirostris
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Clade: Brachycephaloidea
Family: Craugastoridae
Hedges, Duellman, and Heinicke, 2008
Subfamilies
  • Craugastorinae
  • Holoadeninae
  • Hypodactylinae
  • Pristimantinae
  • Strabomantinae

Craugastoridae, commonly known as fleshbelly frogs, is a family of New World direct-developing frogs. As delineated here, following the Amphibian Species of the World, it contains 973 species. They are found from the southern United States southwards to Central and South America.

Life history

With the possible exception of Craugastor laticeps that may be ovoviviparous, craugastorid frogs have direct development: no free-living tadpole stage is known; instead, eggs develop directly into small froglets.

Taxonomy

The family Craugastoridae was created by Stephen Blair Hedges, William Edward Duellman and Matthew P. Heinicke in 2008 for the genera Craugastor and Haddadus. Since then the taxonomy of these frogs has been unsettled and their relationship to other Brachycephaloid frogs has undergone several revisions. Some authors retain the small family, while others treat it as subfamily in a broader Craugastoridae, with the addition of taxa otherwise placed in family Strabomantidae. As of July 2026, the Amphibian Species of the World recognises a broader Craugastoridae with five subfamilies, while AmphibiaWeb recognised a narrow Craugastoridae and places the other taxa in four subfamilies within Strabomantidae.

Genera

According to Amphibian Species of the World, the following subfamilies and genera are in the family Craugastoridae. AmphibiaWeb restrict the Craugastoridae to the Craugastorinae of ASW, so only include the three genera.

  • Craugastorinae (131 species)
    • Craugastor Cope, 1862 (121 species)
    • Haddadus Hedges, Duellman, and Heinicke, 2008 (3 species)
    • Tachiramantis Heinicke, Barrio-Amorós, and Hedges, 2015 (7 species)
  • Holoadeninae (81 species)
    • Bahius Dubois, Ohler, and Pyron, 2021 (1 species)
    • Barycholos Heyer, 1969 (2 species)
    • Bryophryne Hedges, Duellman, and Heinicke, 2008 (11 species)
    • Euparkerella Griffiths, 1959 (5 species)
    • Holoaden Miranda-Ribeiro, 1920 (4 species)
    • Microkayla De la Riva, Chaparro, Castroviejo-Fisher, and Padial, 2017 (25 species)
    • Noblella Barbour, 1930 (13 species)
    • Phyllonastes Heyer, 1977 (16 species)
    • Qosqophryne Catenazzi, Mamani, Lehr, and von May 2020 (3 species)
    • Urkuphryne Ortega et al., 2025 (1 species)
  • Hypodactylinae (18 species)
  • Pristimantinae (727 species)
    • Lynchius Hedges, Duellman, and Heinicke, 2008 (8 species)
    • Oreobates Jiménez de la Espada, 1872 (31 species)
    • Phrynopus Peters, 1873 (39 species)
    • Pristimantis Jiménez de la Espada, 1870 (637 species)
    • Serranobatrachus Arroyo, Targino, Rueda-Solano, Daza-R., and Grant, 2022 (7 species)
    • Yunganastes Padial, Castroviejo-Fisher, Köhler, Domic, and De la Riva, 2007 (5 species)
  • Strabomantinae (16 species)


Taxa formerly in Craugastoridae

The following two taxa were formerly placed in Craugastoridae, but are now incerta sedis within the superfamily Brachycephaloidea, awaiting more data to resolve their position:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Frost, Darrel R. "Craugastoridae Hedges, Duellman, and Heinicke, 2008". Amphibian Species of the World, an Online Reference. 6.2. American Museum of Natural History, New York. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  2. ↑ McCranie, J.R.; M.H. Wake & L. Valdés Orellana (2013). "Craugastor laticeps. Possible ovoviviparity". Herpetological Review. 44 (4): 653–654.
  3. 1 2 Hedges, S. B.; Duellman, W. E. & Heinicke, M. P (2008). "New World direct-developing frogs (Anura: Terrarana): Molecular phylogeny, classification, biogeography, and conservation" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1737: 1–182. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1737.1.1.
  4. ↑ Frost, Darrel R. (2014). "Higher taxonomy and progress". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  5. 1 2 Blackburn, D.C. & Wake, D.B. (2011). "Class Amphibia Gray, 1825. In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (Ed.) Animal biodiversity: An outline of higher-level classification and survey of taxonomic richness" (PDF). Zootaxa. 3148: 39–55. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3148.1.8.
  6. 1 2 3 Padial, J. M.; Grant, T. & Frost, D. R. (2014). "Molecular systematics of terraranas (Anura: Brachycephaloidea) with an assessment of the effects of alignment and optimality criteria". Zootaxa. 3825: 1–132. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3825.1.1. PMID 24989881.
  7. 1 2 Motta, A. P.; P. P. G. Taucce; C. F. B. Haddad; C. Canedo (2021). "A new terraranan genus from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest with comments on the systematics of Brachycephaloidea (Amphibia: Anura)". Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. 59 (3): 663–679. doi:10.1111/jzs.12452. hdl:11449/209994. S2CID 234058664. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  8. ↑ "Craugastoridae Hedges, Duellman and Heinicke, 2008". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
  9. ↑ "Craugastoridae". AmphibiaWeb. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  10. ↑ "Strabomantidae". AmphibiaWeb. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 23 July 2026.
  11. ↑ Frost, Darrel R. "Atopophrynus Lynch and Ruiz-Carranza, 1982". Amphibian Species of the World, an Online Reference. 6.2. American Museum of Natural History, New York. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  12. ↑ Frost, Darrel R. "Dischidodactylus Lynch, 1979". Amphibian Species of the World, an Online Reference. 6.2. American Museum of Natural History, New York. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  13. ↑ Frost, Darrel R. "Geobatrachus Ruthven, 1915". Amphibian Species of the World, an Online Reference. 6.2. American Museum of Natural History, New York. Retrieved 21 August 2026.