Rhaebo | |
---|---|
Rhaebo haematiticus, the type species | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Amphibia |
Order: | Anura |
Family: | Bufonidae |
Genus: |
Rhaebo Cope, 1862 |
Type species | |
Bufo haematiticus Cope, 1862
| |
Diversity | |
13 species (see text) | |
Synonyms | |
Phrynomorphus Fitzinger, 1843—preoccupied by Phrynomorphus Curtis, 1831 (insect) |
Rhaebo is a genus of true toads, family Bufonidae, [1] [2] [3] from Central and South America. They are distributed from Honduras to northern South America including the Amazonian lowlands. Common name Cope toads has been suggested for them. [1]
The genus was removed from the synonymy of Bufo in 2006; an alternative view has been to treat it as a subgenus of Bufo. [1] At present, it is widely recognized as a genus. [1] [3] [2] [4]
Andinophryne, consisting of three species, was recognized as a separate genus until 2015 when it was found out that its recognition rendered Rhaebo paraphyletic. [1] [4] An alternative to synonymizing it with Rhaebo would have been to erect a new genus for Rhaebo nasicus, but this would have caused difficulty in assigning species without molecular data to correct genus. [4]
Rhaebo are characterized as lacking cephalic crests, having omosternum, distinctively wide sphenethmoid, prominent and notched exoccipital condyles, and yellowish-orange skin secretions. It is not clear which of these characters are ancestral and which are derived (i.e., synapomorphies). [4]
There are 13 species in this genus: [1] [2]