Tailed frog

Tailed frogs
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Anura
Suborder: Archaeobatrachia
Family: Ascaphidae
Fejérváry, 1923
Genus: Ascaphus
Stejneger, 1899
Species
  • Ascaphus montanus (Mittleman and Myers, 1949)
  • Ascaphus truei (Stejneger, 1899)
Distribution of Ascaphidae (in black)

The tailed frogs are two species of frogs in the genus Ascaphus,[1] the only taxon in the family Ascaphidae /æˈskæfɪd/.[2] The "tail" in the name is actually an extension of the male cloaca. The tail is one of two distinctive anatomical features adapting the species to life in fast-flowing streams. These are the only North American frog species that reproduce by internal fertilization.[3] They are among the most primitive known families of frogs.

Its scientific name means 'without a spade', from the privative prefix a- and the Ancient Greek skaphís (σκαφίς, 'spade, shovel'), referring to the metatarsal spade, which these frogs do not have.[4][5]

  1. ^ Frost, Darrel R. (2024). "Ascaphus Stejneger, 1899". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.2. American Museum of Natural History. doi:10.5531/db.vz.0001. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  2. ^ Frost, Darrel R. (2024). "Ascaphidae Fejérváry, 1923". Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.2. American Museum of Natural History. doi:10.5531/db.vz.0001. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Wildlife". Green Diamond Resource Company. Archived from the original on 2008-11-19. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  4. ^ σκαφίς. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project
  5. ^ Dodd, C. Kenneth (2013). Frogs of the United States and Canada. Vol. 1. The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-4214-0633-6.

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