Pipidae Explained

The Pipidae are a family of primitive, tongueless frogs. There are 41 species in the family, found in tropical South America (genus Pipa) and sub-Saharan Africa (the three other genera).

Description

Pipid frogs are highly aquatic and have numerous morphological modifications befitting their habitat. For example, the feet are completely webbed, the body is flattened, and a lateral line system is present in adults.^[1] In addition, pipids possess highly modified ears for producing and receiving sound under water. They lack a tongue or vocal cords, instead having bony rods in the larynx that help produce sound. They range from 4to in body length.^[2]

Taxonomy

Morphological data suggest that Xenopus is the sister-group of all other pipids,^{[3] [4]} whereas molecular data consistently suggest that Pipa is the sister-group of other pipids.^{[5] [6]}

Family Pipidae

• Hymenochirus - dwarf clawed frogs (4 species)
• Pipa - Surinam toads (7 species)
• Pseudhymenochirus - Merlin's dwarf gray frog or Merlin's clawed frog (1 species)
• Xenopus - clawed frogs (29 species)^[7]
  • Subgenus (Silurana) - common clawed frogs
  • Subgenus (Xenopus) - tropical clawed frogs

Fossil record

The oldest fossil records of frogs more closely related to pipid frogs than to other extant frog families (Pipimorpha) extends into the Early Cretaceous. The oldest known crown group pipids are Oumtkoutia and Pachycentrata from the Upper Cretaceous of Morocco and Niger, respectively.^[8]

Included taxa after A. M. Aranciaga Rolando et al. 2019^[9]

• †Oumtkoutia Rage and Dutheil 2008 Aoufous Formation, Morocco, Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)
• †Llankibatrachus Báez and Pugener 2003 Huitrera Formation, Argentina, Eocene
• †Pachycentrata Báez and Rage 2004 (= Pachybatrachus Báez and Rage, 1998) In Beceten Formation, Niger, Late Cretaceous (Coniacian)
• †"Shelania" laurenti Baez and Pugener 1998 Argentina, Eocene
• "Xenopus" romeri Estes 1975 Companhia National de Cimento Portland Quarry, Brazil, Paleocene
• †Eoxenopoides Haughton 1931 South Africa, Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian)
• †Singidella Báez and Harrison 2005 Tanzania, Eocene

However, a more recent analysis suggests that some of these taxa are only close relatives of Pipidae, but outside the crown-group. Furthermore, the composition of this crown clade (in terms of which extinct taxa are included) depends on whether or not the topology is constrained to reflect the molecular tree.

References

Bibliography

• Gómez . Raúl O . 2016 . A new pipid frog from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia and early evolution of crown-group Pipidae . . 62 . 52–64. 10.1016/j.cretres.2016.02.006 . 2016CrRes..62...52G . 11336/59544 . free .
• P. . Antoine . J.A. . Abello . S. . Adnet . A.J. . Altamirano Sierra . P. . Baby . G. . Billet . M. . Boivin . Y. . Calderón . Candela . A.R. . J. Chabain . F. Corfu . D. A. Croft . M. Ganerød . C. Jaramillo . S. Klaus . L. Marivaux . R. E. Navarrete . M. J. Orliac . F. Parra . M. E. Pérez . F. Pujos . J. Rage . Anthony Ravel . Céline Robinet . Martin Roddaz . Julia Victoria Tejada Lara . Jorge Vélez-Juarbe . Frank P. Wesselingh . Rodolfo Salas Gismondi . 2016 . A 60-million-year Cenozoic history of western Amazonian ecosystems in Contamana, eastern Peru . . 31 . 30–59 . 10.1016/j.gr.2015.11.001 . 2016GondR..31...30A . 2020-03-19.
• Ben J. Evans . et al . 2015 . Genetics, morphology, advertisement calls, and historical records distinguish six new polyploid species of African Clawed Frog (Xenopus, Pipidae) from West and Central Africa . . 10 . 12 . 1–51 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0142823 . 26672747 . 4682732 . free .
• Gelfo . J.N. . Ortiz Jaureguizar . E. . Rougier . G.W. . 2007 . New remains and species of the 'condylarth' genus Escribania (Mammalia: Didolodontidae) from the Palaeocene of Patagonia, Argentina . . 98 . 2 . 127–138 . 10.1017/S1755691007006081 . 2024-07-13 . 2007EESTR..98..127G . 86564613 . 2020-03-19.
• Head . Jason J. . Sánchez Villagra . Marcelo R. . Aguilera . Orangel . 2006 . Fossil snakes from the Neogene of Venezuela (Falcon State) . . 4 . 3 . 233–240 . 10.1017/S1477201906001866 . 2006JSPal...4..233H . 140683831 . 2020-03-19.
• Gissi . Carmela . Diego . San Mauro . Graziano . Pesole . Rafael . Zardoya . 2006 . Mitochondrial phylogeny of Anura (Amphibia): A case study of congruent phylogenetic reconstruction using amino acid and nucleotide characters . . 366 . 2 . 228–237. 10.1016/j.gene.2005.07.034 . 16307849 .
• Roelants . Kim . Franky . Bossuyt . 2005 . Archaeobatrachian paraphyly and pangaean diversification of crown-group frogs . . 54 . 1 . 111–126. 10.1080/10635150590905894 . 15805014 . 10677785 . free .
• San Mauro . Diego . Miguel . Vences . Marina . Alcobendas . Rafael . Zardoya . Axel . Meyer . 2005 . Initial diversification of living amphibians predated the breakup of Pangaea . . 165 . 5 . 590–599 . 10.1086/429523 . 15795855 . 2020-03-19.
• Báez . A.M. . Pugener . L.A. . 2003 . Ontogeny of a new Palaeogene pipid frog from southern South America and xenopodinomorph evolution . . 139 . 3 . 439–476 . 10.1046/j.1096-3642.2003.00085.x . 85039976 . 2020-03-19.
• Web site: Báez . A.M. . Trueb . L. . 1997 . Redescription of the Paleogene Shelania pascuali from Patagonia and its bearing on the relationships of fossil and Recent pipoid frogs . Natural History Museum, University of Kansas . 4 . 1–41 . 2019-03-01.
• A.M. Baez . A.M . 1987 . The Late Cretaceous fauna of Los Alamitos, Patagonia, Argentina part III — anurans . . 3 . 121–130 . 2020-03-19.
• R. . Estes . M.H. . Wake . 1972 . The first fossil record of caecilian amphibians . . 239 . 5369 . 228–231. 10.1038/239228b0 . 1972Natur.239..228E . 4260251 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: AmphibiaWeb: Pipidae. AmphibiaWeb. 2009-10-25. Berkeley, California.
2. Book: Cogger, H.G. . Zweifel, R.G.. Zweifel, Richard G.. 1998. Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. Academic Press. San Diego. 86–87. 0-12-178560-2.
3. Báez . A. M. . Rage . J.-C. . Pipid frogs from the upper cretaceous of in beceten, niger . Palaeontology . 1998 . 41 . 4 . 669–691 .
4. Lemierre . Alfred . Bailon . Salvador . Folie . Annelise . Laurin . Michel . A new pipid from the Cretaceous of Africa (In Becetèn, Niger) and early evolution of the Pipidae . Journal of Systematic Palaeontology . January 2023 . 21 . 1 . 10.1080/14772019.2023.2266428 . 2023JSPal..2166428L . en . 1477-2019.
5. Jetz . Walter . Pyron . R. Alexander . The interplay of past diversification and evolutionary isolation with present imperilment across the amphibian tree of life . Nature Ecology & Evolution . May 2018 . 2 . 5 . 850–858 . 10.1038/s41559-018-0515-5 . 29581588 . 2018NatEE...2..850J . en . 2397-334X.
6. Irisarri . Iker . Vences . Miguel . San Mauro . Diego . Glaw . Frank . Zardoya . Rafael . Reversal to air-driven sound production revealed by a molecular phylogeny of tongueless frogs, family Pipidae . BMC Evolutionary Biology . 27 April 2011 . 11 . 1 . 114 . 10.1186/1471-2148-11-114 . free . 21524293 . 2011BMCEE..11..114I . 1471-2148. 3111386 .
7. Evans . Ben J. . Carter . Timothy F. . Greenbaum . Eli . Gvoždík . Václav . Kelley . Darcy B. . McLaughlin . Patrick J. . Pauwels . Olivier S. G. . Portik . Daniel M. . Stanley . Edward L. . Tinsley . Richard C. . Tobias . Martha L. . Blackburn . David C. . Genetics, Morphology, Advertisement Calls, and Historical Records Distinguish Six New Polyploid Species of African Clawed Frog (Xenopus, Pipidae) from West and Central Africa . PLOS ONE . 16 December 2015 . 10 . 12 . e0142823 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0142823 . free . 26672747 . 4682732 . en . 1932-6203.
8. Gómez . Raúl O. . July 2016 . A new pipid frog from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia and early evolution of crown-group Pipidae . Cretaceous Research . en . 62 . 52–64 . 10.1016/j.cretres.2016.02.006. 2016CrRes..62...52G . 11336/59544 . free .
9. Rolando . Alexis M. Aranciaga . Agnolin . Federico L. . Corsolini . Julián . October 2019 . A new pipoid frog (Anura, Pipimorpha) from the Paleogene of Patagonia. Paleobiogeographical implications . Comptes Rendus Palevol . en . 18 . 7 . 725–734 . 10.1016/j.crpv.2019.04.003. 197581931 . 2019CRPal..18..725R .