| Neobatrachians | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Dendrobates tinctorius "azureus" | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Suborder: | Neobatrachia Reig, 1958 |
| Subdivisions | |
†Cretadhefdaa | |
TheNeobatrachia (Neo-Latinneo- ("new") +batrachia ("frogs")) are asuborder of theAnura, theorder offrogs andtoads.
This suborder is the most advanced andapomorphic of the three anuran suborders alive today, hence its name, which literally means "new frogs" (from thehellenic wordsneo, meaning "new" andbatrachia, meaning "frogs"). It is also by far the largest of the three; its more than 5,000 differentspecies make up over 96% of all living anurans.
The differentiation betweenArchaeobatrachia,Mesobatrachia, and Neobatrachia is based primarily onanatomic differences, especially theskeletal structure, as well as several visible characteristics and behaviors.
Separating theAnura into the Archaeo-, Meso- and Neobatrachia is somewhat controversial; as more research is done and more knowledge is gained, it is becoming even less clear, because many characteristics used for this differentiation apply to more than one group.
Neobatrachia are usually sorted into fivesuperfamilies, but this division is also controversial, as somefamilies are placed into different superfamilies by different authors. In addition, several families have been revealed to beparaphyletic and consequently divided to make them correspond toclades and thus be natural,evolutionary groups. This has approximately doubled the number of presently recognized neobatrachian families.
The clades and families currently accepted in the Neobatrachia are:[2][3]
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