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Pelobatoidea

David Cannatella
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taxon links [up-->]Pelodytidae [up-->]Scaphiopodidae [up-->]Pelobatidae [up-->]Eopelobatinae [up-->]Megophryidae extinct icon Not Monophyletic[down<--]Anura Interpreting the tree
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Containing group: Anura

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

The name was applied to the node that is the common ancestor of living Megophryidae, Pelobatidae, and Pelodytes. Synapomorphies of Pelobatoidea include the presence of a palatine process of the maxilla and ossification of the sternum into a bony style (Cannatella, 1985). Duellman and Trueb (1986) listed the presence of a dorsal gap in the cricoid ring as a synapomorphy for this clade. However, there is no gap in Scaphiopus, Spea, Pelobates (except for the smallest species, P. fuscus), or several megophryids; at best, the presence of a dorsal gap would be an ambiguous synapomorphy. Relationships among the living pelobatoids are an unresolved trichotomy of Megophryidae, Pelobatidae, and Pelodytes.

References

Cannatella, D. C. 1985. A phylogeny of primitive frogs (archaeobatrachians). Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Kansas, Lawrence.

Duellman, W. E., and L. Trueb. 1986. Biology of Amphibians. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York.

Title Illustrations
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Scientific Name Scaphiopus holbrookii hurteri
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © 1995 David Cannatella
Scientific Name Pelobates syriacus
Location Romania
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Identified By Horia Bogdan
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © Horia Bogdan
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © 1995 David Cannatella
About This Page

David Cannatella
University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to David Cannatella at

Page: Tree of Life Pelobatoidea. Authored by David Cannatella. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Cannatella, David. 2008. Pelobatoidea. Version 11 January 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Pelobatoidea/16976/2008.01.11 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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