Scinaxinae is a subfamily of neotropical tree frogs in the family Hylidae.[1][2] They are distributed from central Mexico down to northern Argentina, including Trinidad and Tobago.[3] These frogs are characterized by having pointy snouts.
These frogs are small to medium-sized and often stowaway on products such as house plants and fruit. Because of this, two species of Scinax have been introduced outside of their native range, with Scinax quinquefasciatus on the Galapagos Islands[4] and Scinax ruber on St. Lucia, Martinique, and Puerto Rico.[5]
There are four genera in Scinaxinae, comprising around 126 to 138 species.[2][3] As many of these frogs actually represent cryptic species complexes, the total number of species is likely much higher.
While the first three genera have been found to be closely related, Sphaeorhynchus is not as closely related and its inclusion in Scinaxinae could be debated.[3]
This subfamily of frogs evolved approximately 42.0–56.4 Mya during the Oligocene. The most primitive of the Scinaxine frogs is Sphaeorhynchus, which remained in the Atlantic Coastal Forest of Brazil while the other lineages evolved into Julianus in the southeast, Ololygon also in the Atlantic Coastal Forest, and Scinax in the Amazon Basin.[3]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) Scinaxinae is a subfamily of neotropical tree frogs in the family Hylidae. They are distributed from central Mexico down to northern Argentina, including Trinidad and Tobago. These frogs are characterized by having pointy snouts.
These frogs are small to medium-sized and often stowaway on products such as house plants and fruit. Because of this, two species of Scinax have been introduced outside of their native range, with Scinax quinquefasciatus on the Galapagos Islands and Scinax ruber on St. Lucia, Martinique, and Puerto Rico.
