- What is Amphibian Species of the World?
- How to cite
- How to use
- Structure of the taxonomic records
- Running log of additions and changes, 2025
- Logs of changes and additions, 2014–2024
- What is the right name?
- Curator's blog
- History of the project, 1980 to 2024
- Comments on amphibian taxonomy relating to versions 3.0 to 6.2 (2004 to 2024)
- Scientific Nomenclature and its Discontents: Comments by Frost on Rules and Philosophy of Taxonomy, Ranks, and Their Applications
- Contributors, online editions
- Contributors and reviewers for Amphibian Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (1985)
- Versions
- Museum abbreviations
- Links to useful amphibian systematic, conservation, collection management, informational, and/or regional sites
- Links to useful FREE library sites
- Copyright and terms of use
Smilisca Cope, 1865
Smilisca Cope, 1865, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 17: 194. Type species: Smilisca daulinia Cope, 1865 (= Hyla baudinii Duméril and Bibron, 1841), by monotypy.
Pternohyla Boulenger, 1882, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. 5, 10: 326. Type species: Pternohyla fodiens Boulenger, 1882, by monotypy. Synonymy by Faivovich, Haddad, Garcia, Frost, Campbell, and Wheeler, 2005, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 294: 106.
Common Names
Mexican Treefrogs (Smilisca: Conant, 1975, Field Guide Rept. Amph. E. Cent. N. Am., Ed. 2: 326; Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 13; Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 28; Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 14; Frost, McDiarmid, and Mendelson, 2008, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 37: 12; Liner and Casas-Andreu, 2008, Herpetol. Circ., 38: 22; Collins and Taggart, 2009, Standard Common Curr. Sci. Names N. Am. Amph. Turtles Rept. Crocodil., ed. 6: 8; Frost, McDiarmid, Mendelson, and Green, 2012, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 39: 21; Frost, Lemmon, McDiarmid, and Mendelson, 2017, in Crother (ed.), Herpetol. Circ., 43: 20).
Cross-banded Treefrogs (Smilisca: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 64).
Burrowing Treefrogs (Pternohyla [no longer recognized]: Collins, Huheey, Knight, and Smith, 1978, Herpetol. Circ., 7: 12; Liner, 1994, Herpetol. Circ., 23: 26 Collins, 1997, Herpetol. Circ., 25: 13; Crother, Boundy, Campbell, de Queiroz, Frost, Highton, Iverson, Meylan, Reeder, Seidel, Sites, Taggart, Tilley, and Wake, 2001 "2000", Herpetol. Circ., 29: 13).
Burrowing Frogs (Pternohyla [no longer recognized]: Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 63).
Middle American Treefrogs (Hedges, Powell, Henderson, Hanson, and Murphy, 2019, Caribb. Herpetol., 67: 14).
Distribution
Southern Arizona and extreme southern Texas (USA), south through the lowlands of Mexico (onto the central Plateau in Aguascalientes) to Central America and northwestern South America (exclusive of Amazon Basin).
Comment
For review see Duellman and Trueb, 1966, Univ. Kansas Publ. Mus. Nat. Hist., 17: 281-375, and Duellman, 1970, Monogr. Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kansas: 585–618. Generic synonymy and key in Duellman, 1968, Cat. Am. Amph. Rept., 58: 1–2. Duellman, 2001, Hylid Frogs Middle Am., Ed. 2: 991–997, presented a cladogram for the species, showing that Smilisca is paraphyletic with respect to Pternohyla and Triprion, as well as systematic notes on the species. Savage, 2002, Amph. Rept. Costa Rica: 349–357, provided a key and accounts for the species of Costa Rica. Faivovich, Haddad, Garcia, Frost, Campbell, and Wheeler, 2005, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 294: 106, placed Pternohyla in synonymy to prevent paraphyly of Smilisca as previously conceived (not the other way around as stated by Fouquette and Dubois, 2014, Checklist N.A. Amph. Rept.: 365). Wiens, Fetzner, Parkinson, and Reeder, 2005, Syst. Biol., 54: 25, considered Smilisca to be synonymous with a large but monophyletic Hyla. Lemos-Espinal and Dixon, 2013, Amphibians and Reptiles of San Luis Potosí: 57–59, provided an account for San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
Contained taxa (9 sp.):
External links:
Please note: these links will take you to external websites not affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History. We are not responsible for their content.
- For access to general information see Wikipedia
- For additional sources of general information from other websites search Google
- For access to relevant technical literature search Google Scholar
- For images search CalPhoto Images and Google Images
- To search the NIH genetic sequence database, see GenBank
- For related information on conservation and images as well as observations see iNaturalist