Myobatrachidae is a family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 of frogs found in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

. Members of this family vary greatly in size, from species less than 1.5 centimetre (0.590551181102362 in) long, to the second largest frog in Australia, the Giant Barred Frog

Giant Barred Frog

The Giant Barred Frog, Mixophyes iteratus, is a species of barred frogs in Australia. It occurs from south-east Queensland to just south of the Newcastle region in New South Wales...

 (Mixophyes iteratus), at 12 centimetres (4.7 in) in length. The entire family are either terrestrial or aquatic frogs, with no arboreal species.

Characteristics

The Myobatrachidae family contains forms of parental care unique in the animal kingdom. The two species of gastric-brooding frog

Gastric-brooding frog

The gastric-brooding frogs or Platypus frogs were a genus of ground-dwelling frogs native to Queensland in eastern Australia. The genus consisted of only two species, both of which became extinct in the mid-1980s...

 (genus: Rheobatrachus), are found in this family. The female of these species will swallow her young, where they develop until metamorphosis. The Pouched Frog

Pouched Frog

The Pouched Frog is a small, terrestrial frog found in rainforests in mountain areas of south-eastern Queensland and northern New South Wales, Australia...

 (Assa darlingtoni) has pouches on the sides of its body. The male will guard the eggs until hatching, and assist the tadpoles into its side, where they stay until metamorphosis. Another form of parental care, although not unique, is found in many species of the genus, Limnodynastes

Limnodynastes

Limnodynastes is a genus of frog native to Australia, southern New Guinea and some Torres Strait Islands. They are ground-dwelling frogs, with no toe pads. The size varies from 45 mm to 90 mm in the Giant Banjo Frog. The webbing on the feet ranges between species, from very little, to almost complete...

, where the male will bury itself near an egg mass, and protect the eggs.

While many species are adapted to burrowing, helping them survive in a semi-arid or seasonally arid environment, the Turtle Frog and Sandhill Frog

Sandhill Frog

The Northern Sandhill Frog is a small, fossorial frog native to a small region of the Western Australian coast. It was formerly considered the sole species within the Arenophryne genus until a new species of frog called the Southern Sandhill Frog was discovered about 100 kilometers from Geraldton,...

 go as far as to lay their eggs directly into moist sand several feet below the surface, rather than into water. These species lack tadpole

Tadpole

A tadpole or polliwog is the wholly aquatic larval stage in the life cycle of an amphibian, particularly that of a frog or toad.- Appellation :...

s, with the eggs hatching directly into miniature frogs.

These frogs lack adhesive toe discs found in the tree frog

Tree frog

Hylidae is a wide-ranging family of frogs commonly referred to as "tree frogs and their allies". However, the hylids include a diversity of frog species, many of which do not live in trees, but are terrestrial or semi-aquatic.-Characteristics:...

s. The family is broken up into three sub-families: Limnodynastinae, Myobatrachinae and Rheobatrachinae. This separation is based mainly upon their egg laying habits. Those of the sub-family Limnodynastinae lay foam nests. The female creates foam by agitating a chemical on her skin with her hands. The foam may float on top of water, or be on land. The sub-family Rheobatrachinae contains the two species of gastric-brooding frog, and the rest are within the sub-family Myobatrachinae.

Taxonomy

The Myobatrachids are split into three sub-families: Myobatrachinae, Limnodynastinae and Rheobatrachinae. Although most sources class the three groups as sub-families some taxonomists recognise them each as individual families.

Subfamilia	Species	Common name	Binomial name
Limnodynastinae	1	Tusked Frog	Adelotus
	6	Giant Burrowing Frogs	Heleioporus Heleioporus Heleioporus is a genus of frogs native to Australia. Of the six species in this genus, five live in south-west Western Australia, while the other one species only occurs in south-eastern Australia. All members of this genus are medium to large sized burrowing frogs with rounded heads, short bodies,...
	4	Cannibal Frogs	Lechriodus Lechriodus The Lechriodus is a genus of ground-dwelling from the family Myobatrachidae, native to eastern Australia and New Guinea. They are medium-sized frogs and the dorsal skin has a sandpaper-like texture...
	11	Australian Swamp Frogs	Limnodynastes Limnodynastes Limnodynastes is a genus of frog native to Australia, southern New Guinea and some Torres Strait Islands. They are ground-dwelling frogs, with no toe pads. The size varies from 45 mm to 90 mm in the Giant Banjo Frog. The webbing on the feet ranges between species, from very little, to almost complete...
	10	Stubby Frogs	Neobatrachus Neobatrachus Neobatrachus is a genus of burrowing ground frogs native to Australia. They occur in every state except Tasmania, however this genus is absent from the far north of Australia and most of Queensland. Most of the species in this genus occur in south-west Western Australia. They are often found in...
	4	Australian Spadefoot Toads	Notaden Notaden Notaden is a genus of burrowing ground frogs native to central and northern Australia.- Description :Its body is very round in shape with a short neck. Its pupils are horizontal slits. It has long arms and short, stubby legs. Its fingers lack webbing and its toes may have slight to no webbing. ...
	2	Burrowing Frogs	Opisthodon Opisthodon Opisthodon is a small genus of Limnodynastine frogs with only two species. Until a major revision in 2006 these two species were classified in the genus Limnodynastes but were removed to this resurrected genus to render monophyletic genera ....
	6	Baw Baw Frogs	Philoria Philoria Philoria is a genus of frogs native to eastern and southern Australia. These frogs are all confined to mountain areas, with 5 species occurring in the mountains of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland. One species occurs in Victoria. All species are listed as endangered, except the Baw...
Myobatrachinae	1	Australian Dumpy Frogs	Arenophryne
	1	Pouched Frogs	Assa
	15	Australian Froglets	Crinia Crinia Crinia is a genus of frog, native to Australia, and part of the family Myobatrachidae. It consists of small frogs, which are distributed throughout most of Australia, excluding the central arid regions...
	7	Ground Froglets	Geocrinia Geocrinia Geocrinia is a genus of frogs in the family Myobatrachidae. These frogs are endemic to Australia. All the species in this genus were originally referred to as Crinia. Further studies showed there was some considerable differences between this group of frogs and Crinia...
	1	Nicholls' Toadlets	Metacrinia
	8	Barred Frogs	Mixophyes
	1	Turtle Frogs	Myobatrachus Myobatrachus Myobatrachus gouldii, the turtle frog is an Western Australian frog, and the only species in the genus Myobatrachus. It has a small head, and short limbs, but a round body, up to long....
	1	Haswell's Frogs	Paracrinia
	13	Crowned Toadlet	Pseudophryne Pseudophryne Pseudophryne is a genus of small Myobatrachid frogs. All of these frogs are small terrestrial frogs, and as such, most species are commonly called toadlets . The genus is comrpised of thirteen species, ten from eastern Australia, and three from Western Australia...
	1	Sunset Frog	Spicospina
	6	Australian Torrent Frogs	Taudactylus Taudactylus Taudactylus is a genus of frogs in the family Myobatrachidae. These frogs are endemic to rainforest areas of coastal eastern Australia, most of this genus inhabit fast flowing streams in highland area. Most members of this genus have suffered serious declines, in which the disease chytridiomycosis...
	25	Australian Toadlets	Uperoleia Uperoleia Uperoleia is a genus of frogs, native to Australia in the family Myobatrachidae. These are small squat frogs, more commonly known as "toadlets". They have glandular skin, often with a pair of raised glands behind each eye, or on the flanks....
Rheobatrachinae	2	Gastric Brooding Frogs	Rheobatrachus