Ranoidea (genus)
Ranoidea is a genus of frogs in the subfamily Pelodryadinae. They are found in Australia, New Guinea, and two nearby groups of islands: the Maluku Islands, and the Louisiade Archipelago. The circumscription of this taxon is still controversial.
Taxonomy
Species in this genus were until recently placed in the then-paraphyletic genus Litoria; many of them had been placed in even larger Hyla before. In 2006, Frost and colleague synonymised Nyctimystes with Litoria to make a monophyletic Litoria within a monotypic Pelodryadinae. Later, in 2016, Duellman and colleagues restored Nyctimystes and moved some of the remaining Litoria species to the resurrected genus Dryopsophus. However, Frost in Amphibian Species of the World argued that Ranoidea the oldest available name for these species and replaced genus Dryopsophus with Ranoidea. AmphibiaWeb continues to recognize Litoria in the older, broad sense, although it also recognizes Cyclorana, a position that, without additional amendments, renders Ranoidea paraphyletic; it may be treated as a subgenus.A recent phylogenomic analysis of family Pelodryadidae has proposed a major taxonomic revision, recognising 35 genera, including 12 for the species currently treated as Ranoidea in this article and Amphibian Species of the World or the Dropsophus of Duellman and colleagues.
Description and ecology
The pupil is horizontally elliptical, and the palpebral membrane is unpigmented. Many species have tadpoles that develop in mountain streams and have enlarged ventral mouths. However, tadpoles of subgenus Cyclorana are adapted to standing water and are often found in temporary water bodies.Species
The following species are recognised in the genus Ranoidea:Although currently listed as incertae sedis, it is expected that "Ranoidea papua" will also be included in the genus once its range has been properly delimited.