BY JOHN D. LYNCH University of Kansas Lawrence 1968 University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, Henry S. Fitch, Frank B. Cross Volume 17, No. 11, pp. 503-515, 5 figs. Published March 20, 1968 University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas PRINTED BY ROBERT R. (BOB) SANDERS, STATE PRINTER TOPEKA, KANSAS 1968 31-9418...

According to the most recent review of the Mexican amphibian fauna (Smith and Taylor, 1948), six genera of leptodactylid frogs occur in México. One other genus, Pleurodema , occurs in Lower Central America. Smith and Taylor recognized one species of Engystomops , 28 of Eleutherodactylus , three of Leptodactylus , eight of Microbatrachylus , 12 of Syrrhophus , and five of Tomodactylus . Subsequent to the publication of their checklist of the Mexican amphibia (1948), numerous taxonomic changes hav

Leptodactylids have a variety of glands that have been used as generic characters. Smith and Taylor (1948) regarded the so-called inguinal gland as a generic character in Mexican eleutherodaycty-lines. Lynch (1965) showed that Eleutherodactylus and Microbatrachylus cannot be separated by the nature of the gland or the condition of the prevomers (dentate or not). Syrrhophus and Tomodactylus , as defined by Smith and Taylor (1948), are not generically distinct because of overlap in the condition o

The tips of the digits are laterally expanded in most Eleutherodactylus , Syrrhophus , and Tomodactylus . Two species of Eleutherodactylus ( augusti and tarahumarensis ) and two Tomodactylus ( angustidigitorum and grandis ) lack any expansion of the digital tips. All but two of the species of eleutherodactyline frogs ( E. augusti and E. tarahumarensis ) have a transverse groove across the tips of the digits ( Fig. 2 ). Fig. 2. Palmar views of the hands and lateral views of the tip of the third d

All Mexican eleutherodactyline frogs have quadratojugal-maxillary articulations, completely roofed skulls in adults, median contact of the nasals, separated occipital condyles, and large prevomers. The premaxillae of all species are visible when the skulls are viewed from directly above. The pterygoid lacks a medioventral flange and does not meet the palatine. In no species is the anterior arm of the squamosal in contact with the maxillary. Of the numerous species examined (30 Eleutherodactylus

All species have large cartilaginous plates in the pectoral girdles; none possesses a bony style. No divergent modifications of the clavicle and coracoid bones are known in the family....

Type-species. — Hylodes martinicensis Tschudi, 1838 Diagnosis and definition. —Small to large frogs (12 to 110 mm. snout-vent length) having slightly to widely expanded digital pads, each pad bearing a terminal transverse groove; lumbo-inguinal, inguinal, and axillary glands absent, or if present, diffuse, irregular in outline, not compact; plantar supernumerary tubercles absent, or if present, six or fewer, restricted to distal area of plantar surface, and not extending between metatarsal tuber

Type species. — Engystomops petersi Jiménez de la Espada, 1872 Diagnosis and definition. —Small frogs (20 to 40 mm. snout-vent length) having undilated digital tips lacking transverse grooves; lumbo-inguinal or inguinal glands absent; plantar supernumerary tubercles present, extending between metatarsal tubercles; tarsus bearing spinelike tubercle on inner edge; toes free; terminal phalanges pointed; sternum bearing bony style; spenethmoid not truncate anteriorly; nasals in contact medially; max

Type-species. — Hylodes augusti Dugés, 1879 Diagnosis and definition. —Medium to large frogs (37 to 94 mm. snout-vent length) having undilated digital tips lacking terminal grooves; lumbo-inguinal or inguinal glands absent; plantar supernumerary tubercles present, prominent, extending to but not between metatarsal tubercles; tarsus lacking tubercles or folds; toes free of webbing; terminal phalanges knob-shaped, lacking elongate lateral expansions; sternum cartilaginous, lacking bony style; sphe

Type-species. — Leptodactylus typhonia Fitzinger, 1826 Diagnosis and definition. —Small to large frogs (30 to about 200 m., snout-vent length) having undilated to slightly expanded digital tips bearing pads, no transverse groove at tips of digits; lumbo-inguinal, axillary, and/or ventral glands present or not, low, diffuse; plantar supernumerary tubercles generally absent, if present not extending between metatarsal tubercles; tarsus bearing tarsal folds or not; toes free of webbing, extensive l

Type-species. — Syrrhophus marnockii Cope, 1878 Diagnosis and definition. —Small to medium sized frogs (18 to 40 mm. snout-vent) having slight to prominent digital expansions with transverse groove at tip of each digit; lumbo-inguinal and inguinal gland flattened, irregular in outline, not compact and oval; axillary glands present or not; plantar supernumerary tubercles numerous, more than eight, usually extending between metatarsal tubercles; tarsus lacking tubercles or folds; toes free or basa

Type-species. — Tomodactylus amulae Günther, 1900. Diagnosis and definition. —Small frogs (20 to 35 mm. snout-vent length) having digital expansions or not, with transverse groove across tip of each digit; lumbo-inguinal gland prominently elevated, compact, oval, often patterned; axillary glands absent; plantar supernumerary tubercles numerous, more than eight, usually extending between metatarsal tubercles; tarsus lacking tubercles or folds; toes free; terminal phalanges T-shaped; sternum carti

The preceding definitions only slightly alter the present generic limits of Mexican leptodactylids. Two species, previously regarded as Eleutherodactylus , are transferred to the new genus Hylactophryne . The arrangement of the species of Syrrhophus and Tomodactylus remains the same as concluded by Dixon (1957), Duellman (1958), and Firschein (1954) in their reviews of the genera. Lumbo-inguinal glands are most prominent in the genera Pleurodema and Tomodactylus . Various nondescript glands are

Dixon, J. R. 1957. Geographic variation and distribution of the genus Tomodactylus in Mexico. Texas Jour. Sci., 9:379-409, December. Duellman, W. E. 1958. A review of the frogs of the genus Syrrhophus in western Mexico. Occas. Papers Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan, 594:1-15, June 6. 1961. The amphibians and reptiles of Michoacan, Mexico. Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist., 15:1-148, December 20. Firschein, I. L. 1954. Definition of some little understood members of the leptodactylid genus Syrrhophus