Phyllomedusidae
50 species
Phyllomedusidae is a family of frogs found in the Neotropics commonly called leaf frogs. Alternatively, they are often considered as a subfamily of the family Hylidae, the tree frogs.
The family is thought to be the sister group to the Australian treefrogs (Pelodryadidae), a family of frogs known from Australia and New Guinea, despite being very geographically separated from them. The common ancestor of both families is thought to have lived in early Cenozoic South America, where the Phyllomedusidae still live, with the two families diverging from one another during the Eocene. The ancestors of Pelodryadidae likely colonized Australasia from South America via Antarctica, which at the time was not yet frozen over. The clade comprising both families is sister to the Hylidae, from which they diverged in the early Paleogene.
Phyllomedusidae is a family of frogs found in the Neotropics commonly called leaf frogs. Alternatively, they are often considered as a subfamily of the family Hylidae, the tree frogs.
The family is thought to be the sister group to the Australian treefrogs (Pelodryadidae), a family of frogs known from Australia and New Guinea, despite being very geographically separated from them. The common ancestor of both families is thought to have lived in early Cenozoic South America, where the Phyllomedusidae still live, with the two families diverging from one another during the Eocene. The ancestors of Pelodryadidae likely colonized Australasia from South America via Antarctica, which at the time was not yet frozen over. The clade comprising both families is sister to the Hylidae, from which they diverged in the early Paleogene.
