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 Spix’s Saddleback Toad, Brachycephalus ephippium
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 Distribution of Brachycephalidae (in black)
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Brachycephalus alipioi |
The saddleback toads are a family (Brachycephalidae) in the order Anura. The family consist of just one genus, Brachycephalus, which consists of nine species. These frogs are native to southeastern Brazil.
The saddleback toads are very small frogs, mostly around 1 centimetre (0.39 in) in length, and include the smallest frog in the southern hemisphere, Izecksohn's Toad (Brachycephalus didactylus)1. They have only three toes on each foot, and two fingers on each hand. This is in contrast to the usual five toes and four fingers of most frogs.
The saddleback toads are active during the day, and live in the leaf litter on forest floors. The eggs undergo direct development, hatching into miniature frogs, without a tadpole stage1. The eggs are laid on the ground, and covered in soil to protect from the heat and predators. Their amplexus method is unusual, in that it begins with inguinal amplexus, with the male holding the female around the waist, and then shifts to axillary amplexus, in which the male grips above the female's arms. Most frogs species only use one technique.
Classification
Family BRACHYCEPHALIDAE
- Genus Brachycephalus
- Brachycephalus alipioi (Pombal & Gasparini, 2006).
- Izecksohn’s Toad, Brachycephalus didactylus (Izecksohn, 1971).
- Spix’s Saddleback Toad, Brachycephalus ephippium (Spix, 1824).
- Brachycephalus ferruginus (Alves, Ribeiro, Haddad et al., 2006).
- Brachycephalus hermogenesi (Giaretta et Sawaya, 1998).
- Serra Cantareira Saddleback Toad, Brachycephalus nodoterga (Miranda-Ribeiro, 1920).
- Brachycephalus pernix (Pombal, Wistuba, et Bornschein, 1998).
- Brachycephalus pombali (Alves, Ribeiro, Haddad et al., 2006).
- Brachycephalus vertebralis (Pombal, 2001).
References
- ^ a b Zweifel, Richard G. (1998). Cogger, H.G. & Zweifel, R.G.. ed.. Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 103. ISBN 0-12-178560-2.
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- This page was last modified on 14 December 2008, at 13:37.
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