Uperoleia Gray, 1841

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Superfamily: Myobatrachoidea > Family: Myobatrachidae > Genus: Uperoleia
28 species

English Names

Australian Toadlets (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 95).

Distribution

Northern and eastern Australia; southern lowlands of New Guinea.

Comment

The systematics and biology of some Australian species were reviewed by Tyler, Davies, and Martin, 1981, Aust. J. Zool., Suppl. Ser., 29 (79): 1-64; Davies and Littlejohn, 1986, Trans. R. Soc. S. Aust., 110: 111-143; and Davies, McDonald, and Corben, 1986, Proc. R. Soc. Victoria, 98: 147-188. See Barker, Grigg, and Tyler, 1995, Field Guide Aust. Frogs., Ed. 2, for keys and accounts. See comment under Spicospina. Catullo, Doughty, Roberts, and Keogh, 2011, Zootaxa, 2902: 1-43, provided a molecular phylogeny, morphological identification key, and accounts of the species. Catullo, Doughty, and Keogh, 2014, Zootaxa, 3753: 251-262, reported on molecular phylogenetics. Catullo and Keogh, 2014, Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 79: 106–117, provided a multi-locus phylogeny of the species and inferred a biogeography driven by cycles of aridification. These authors noted cases where populations of one species contained the mtDNA (e.g., some individuals of Uperoleia inundata) of others and other cases where nuDNA did not recover some species as natural groups (e.g., Uperoleia borealis, Uperoleia lithomoda). Catullo, Lanfear, Doughty, and Keogh, 2014, J. Biogeograph., 41: 659–672, provided a multilocus phylogeny and biogeography of Uperoleia, as well as presenting data on calls and morphology, with special attention to the species of northern Australia. 

Contained taxa (28 sp.):

External links:

Please note: these links will take you to external websites not affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History. We are not responsible for their content.