Ranoidea is a genus of frogs in the subfamily Pelodryadinae. They are found in Australia, New Guinea, and two nearby groups of islands: the Maluku Islands, and the Louisiade Archipelago.[1] The circumscription of this taxon is still controversial.
Ranoidea | |
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Ranoidea aurea, the type species | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Amphibia |
Order: | Anura |
Family: | Hylidae |
Subfamily: | Pelodryadinae |
Genus: | Ranoidea (Tschudi, 1838) |
Type species | |
Ranoidea jacksoniensis (Tschudi, 1838)
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Synonyms[1] | |
List
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Species in this genus were until recently placed in the then-paraphyletic genus Litoria; many of them had been placed in even larger Hyla before. However, in 2016 Duellman and colleagues split Litoria into several genera.[1][2] The systematic and taxonomic conclusions based on Duellman et al.[2] should be treated with caution, because 78.9% of individuals (397/503) used in the concatenated analyses had less than half of the gene sequences available for the 19 genes used. Missing data can be problematic in phylogenetic analyses (e.g.[3][4][5][6]) and lead to erroneous conclusions about systematic relationships. Additionally, there is no mention of checking for base-composition bias amongst taxa (non-stationarity), which can also lead to incorrect tree phylogenies (e.g.[7][8]). The species now in Ranoidea were placed in the genus Dryopsophus. However, the oldest available name for these species is Ranoidea.[1] These changes are not yet widely recognized or accepted,[9] and the AmphibiaWeb continues to recognize Litoria in the older, broad sense.[10] The AmphibiaWeb also recognizes Cyclorana,[10] a position that, without additional amendments, renders Ranoidea paraphyletic; it may be treated as a subgenus.[1]
The pupil is horizontally elliptical, and the palpebral membrane is unpigmented. Many species have tadpoles that develop in mountain streams and have enlarged ventral mouths.[2] However, tadpoles of subgenus Cyclorana are adapted to standing water and are often found in temporary water bodies.[11]
The following species are recognised in the genus Ranoidea:[1]
Although currently listed as incertae sedis, it is expected that "Ranoidea papua" (Van Kampen, 1909) will also be included in the genus once its range has been properly delimited.