Cophylinae
Encyclopedia
Cophylinae is a subfamily of microhylid
Microhylidae
Microhylidae is a geographically widespread family of frogs. There are 413 species in 69 genera and nine subfamilies, which is the largest number of genera of any frog family.-Description:...

 frog
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...

s endemic to Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

. It has at least 58 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 in seven genera
Genera
Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...

.

Genera

  • Anodonthyla
    Anodonthyla
    Anodonthyla is a genus of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar. It contains eleven recognized species.-Species:-Description:One of the most obvious morphological synapomorphies of the genus is the presence, in males only, of a large prepollex that runs along the first finger and generally is...

    Müller, 1892 (11 species)
  • Cophyla
    Cophyla
    Cophyla is a small genus of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar. It has three species.-Species:* Cophyla berara Vences, Andreone & Glaw, 2005.* Cophyla occultans* Cophyla phyllodactyla Boettger, 1880....

    Boettger, 1880 (3 species)
  • Madecassophryne Guibé, 1974 (monotypic
    Monotypic
    In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...

    )
  • Platypelis
    Platypelis
    Platypelis is a genus of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar.-Species:* Platypelis alticola .* Platypelis barbouri Noble, 1940.* Platypelis cowanii Boulenger, 1882.* Platypelis grandis ....

    Boulenger, 1882 (11 species)
  • Plethodontohyla
    Plethodontohyla
    Plethodontohyla is a genus of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar.-Species:* Plethodontohyla alluaudi .* Plethodontohyla bipunctata .* Plethodontohyla brevipes Boulenger, 1882....

    Boulenger, 1882 (16 species)
  • Rhombophryne
    Rhombophryne
    Rhombophryne is a genus of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar.-Species:* Rhombophryne alluaudi * Rhombophryne coronata * Rhombophryne coudreaui...

    Boettger, 1880 (9 species)
  • Stumpffia
    Stumpffia
    Stumpffia is a genus of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar. There are seven described species. They have reduced digits and have a characteristic "slow-motion" form of movement.-Species:* Stumpffia gimmeli Glaw & Vences, 1992....

    Boettger, 1881 (7 species)

Biology

Cophylines are characterized by a derived mode of larval development: whereas most microhylids have a specialized filter-feeding tadpole, cophylines have non-feeding tadpoles that develop either in tree holes, terrestrial foam nest
Nest
A nest is a place of refuge to hold an animal's eggs or provide a place to live or raise offspring. They are usually made of some organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves; or may simply be a depression in the ground, or a hole in a tree, rock or building...

s, or terrestrial jelly nests . Most cophylines have very simple advertisement calls, consisting of single melodious notes that are repeated after regular intervals and for long periods of time, usually lasting several minutes. Correlated to the reproductive mode of the various cophyline lineages is their arboreal versus terrestrial or fossorial ecology, and apparently, multiple evolutionary shifts between arboreal and terrestrial habits have occurred in this subfamily .
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