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Class Amphibia
Order Anura

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Bufonidae—True Toads // Craugastoridae—Barking Frogs // Hylidae—Tree Frogs // Leptodactylidae—Neotropical Thin-toed Frogs // Microhylidae—Narrowmouth Frogs // Ranidae—Leopard Frogs // Scaphiopodidae—Spadefoots

Anura—Frogs, Toads, and Relatives

As with many other tetrapods, taxonomic re-classification, especially at the higher taxonomic levels, is currently active. Thus for most of the period during which the literature on fossil anurans in our region was published, the spadefoots were considered to be in the family Pelobatidae and the barking frogs in the Leptodactylidae.

Members of the order vary widely in their moisture requirements, though there is a fairly direct correlation between the number of species of anurans of an area and how mesic the area is.

A number of sites have unstudied anuran specimens, but have not been listed if "Anura" is the lowest taxonomic level listed. The lack of systematic identification of anuran remains from many of the Quaternary sites means that relatively little confidence can be placed in the absence of specific taxa in a time or place. Furthermore, considerable doubt has been raised in recent years that much of the herpetological fauna can be identified to species at our current level of understanding—see "Taxa Introduction".

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Last Update: 6 Nov 2013