Brachycephaloidea
Clade of frogs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brachycephaloidea (or Terrarana) is a large monophyletic unranked clade of direct-developing frogs including more than 1,100 species, comprising about 15% of named frog species.[1][2] Brachycephaloids inhabit the New World tropics, subtropics, and Andean regions. The group has undergone extensive changes in its taxonomy thanks to multiple molecular phylogenetic analyses in recent years.[3][4] Until 2008, these species were placed in a single, large family (Brachycephalidae).[1]
| Brachycephaloids | |
|---|---|
| |
| Brachycephalus pitanga | |
 | |
| Pristimantis elegans | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Superfamily: | Hyloidea |
| Clade: | Brachycephaloidea |
| Families | |
The diverse Brachycephaloidea contains several notable taxa. It includes the smallest known vertebrates, in the genus Brachycephalus (family Brachycephalidae): B. pulex and B. dacnis.[5][6] It also holds the most specious vertebrate genus, Pristimantis (family Strabomantidae).[7]
The cladogram below illustrates the relationships between families in the Brachycephaloidea, following Fouquet et al. (2024):[2]
