Leiopelmatidae

New Zealand primitive frogs Temporal range: 200–0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N Early Jurassic – Recent[1]
Hochstetter's Frog (Leiopelma hochstetteri)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Suborder:	Archaeobatrachia
Family:	Leiopelmatidae Mivart, 1869
Genus:	Leiopelma Fitzinger, 1861
Species
See text.
Distribution of Leiopelmatidae (in black)

Leiopelmatidae, or New Zealand and North American primitive frogs, is a family belonging to the suborder Archaeobatrachia. Their relatively primitive form indicates that they have an ancient lineage.^[2][3] The North American frogs of the Genus Ascaphus are now united with the New Zealand frogs of the genus Leiopelma in the Leiopelmatidae family^[4][5] Only four Leiopelma and two Ascaphus extant species are known to belong to the family.^[6] Leiopelma are only found in New Zealand.^[7] Ascaphus are only found in North America.^[8]

Overview

Their defining characteristics are their extra vertebrae (bringing the total to nine) and the remains of the tail muscles (the tail itself is absent in adults, although it is present in the younger frogs, who need the extra skin surface until their lungs are fully developed). The family Ascaphidae (found only in North America), of the same suborder, share these "unique" characteristics, and hence the two have often been described as related, or even part of the same family.

Late jump recovery is unique in Leiopelmatidae. When Leiopelmatid spp. jump, they land in a "belly flop" fashion repositioning their limbs for takeoff for the next jump only after hitting the ground with the ventral surface of the torso. After landing, Ascaphus skids to a halt before recovering. The appearance of early jump recovery in more advanced taxa is a key innovation in anuran evolution.^[9]

They are unusually small frogs, only 5 centimetres (2.0 in) in length. Most species lay their eggs in moist ground, typically under rocks or vegetation. After hatching the tadpoles nest in the male's back, all without the need for standing or flowing water. However, Hochstetter's frog lays its eggs in shallow ponds and has free-living tadpoles, although they do not swim far from the place of hatching, or even feed, before metamorphosing into adult frogs.^[1] Life span may be long (more than 30 years) for such small organisms.^[10]

Species

Family LEIOPELMATIDAE

• Genus Leiopelma
  • Archey's Frog, Leiopelma archeyi Turbott, 1942
  • Hamilton's Frog, Leiopelma hamiltoni McCulloch, 1919
  • Hochstetter's Frog, Leiopelma hochstetteri Fitzinger, 1861
  • Maud Island Frog, Leiopelma pakeka Bell, Daugherty & Hay, 1998
• Genus Ascaphus
  • Tailed Frog, Ascaphus truei
  • Rocky Mountain Tailed Frog, Ascaphus montanus

Extinct species

Three extinct species are known by subfossil remains, also from New Zealand. They became extinct during the past 1,000 years.

• †Leiopelma auroraensis
• †Leiopelma markhami^[11]
• †Leiopelma waitomoensis^[12]

Much older fossils, dating back to the Jurassic, and also considered to belong to this family, have been found in Argentina, such as Notobatrachus.^[1]

See also

• Frogs of New Zealand

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Zweifel, Richard G. (1998). Cogger, H.G. & Zweifel, R.G.. ed. Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 85. ISBN 0-12-178560-2. 
2. ^ Roelants, Kim; Franky Bossuyt (February 2005). "Archaeobatrachian paraphyly and Pangaean diversification of crown-group frogs". Systematic Biology 54 (1): 111–126. doi:10.1080/10635150590905894. PMID 15805014. 
3. ^ San Mauro, Diego; Miguel Vences, Marina Alcobendas, Rafael Zardoya and Axel Meyer (May 2005). "Initial diversification of living amphibians predated the breakup of Pangaea" (– ^{Scholar search}). American Naturalist 165 (5): 590–599. doi:10.1086/429523. PMID 15795855. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/AN/journal/issues/v165n5/40546/40546.html. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Frost DR. Amphibian species of the world: an online reference. Version 5.2. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. Electronic database accessible at http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.php, 2008.
5. ^ J.M. Conlon et al. / Peptides 30 (2009) 1069–1073
6. ^ http://tolweb.org/Leiopelma
7. ^ "DOC: Photo-stage and Archey's Frog". http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/page.aspx?id=33152. Retrieved 2005-12-05. 
8. ^ http://tolweb.org/Ascaphus/16966
9. ^ Landing in basal frogs: evidence of saltational patterns in the evolution of anuran locomotion. Essner RL Jr, Suffian DJ, Bishop PJ, Reilly SM. Naturwissenschaften. 2010 Jul 13. [Epub ahead of print]
10. ^ Bell, Ben D.; et al. (2004). "The fate of a population of the endemic frog Leiopelma pakeka (Anura: Leiopelmatidae) translocated to restored habitat on[Maud Island, New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Zoology 31 (2): 123–131. doi:10.1080/03014223.2004.9518366. 
11. ^ "Holotype of Leiopelma markhami". Collections Online. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/ObjectDetails.aspx?oid=374688. Retrieved 17 July 2010. 
12. ^ "Holotype of Leiopelma waitomoensis". Collections Online. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/ObjectDetails.aspx?oid=376907. Retrieved 17 July 2010. 

Further reading

• D.G. Newman (1996). "Native frog (Leiopelma ssp.) recovery plan" (PDF). Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand. http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/documents/science-and-technical/tsrp18.pdf. Retrieved 2007-11-07. 

External links

• New Zealand Frog Conservation Biology - research on New Zealand frog biology