Pithecopus

Pithecopus
Pithecopus azureus, the type species
Scientific classification Edit this classification
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

Bradymedusa Miranda-Ribeiro, 1926

Pithecopus is a genus of frogs in the family Phyllomedusidae. These frogs live in tropical South America east of the Andes, from southern Venezuela to northern Argentina.

For a while, scientists thought Pithecopus was another name for the subfamily Phyllomedusa in the family Hylidae. However, in 2016, they changed it to Phyllomedusa hypochondrialis group. Its sister group is Callimedusa.

Name

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

Description

Pithecopus frogs are medium-sized, 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.

Species

There are 12 species in this genus:

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

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 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. 1 2 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. 1 2 "Hylidae". AmphibiaWeb. University of California, Berkeley. 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.