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Anura: Leptodactylidae - Delicate Toed Frogs
Leptodactylid frogs range from southern Texas and Sonora, Mexico southward to Brazil, and are found throughout the West Indies. Several species have been introduced into Florida and have spread to adjacent states. The leptodactylids compose 4 genera and 91 species. Many build foam nests for protecting their eggs. The nomenclature used here follows Frost et al. (2006, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 299). They have removed many of the frogs from this previously huge family and placed them into different families to better represent the ancestry of frog lineages.
Cope's Frog, Leptodactylus hylaedactyla

Cope's Frog, Leptodactylus hylaedactyla (Cope, 1868). The specimen in the photo was taken in southwest Trinidad. This species has also been placed in the genus Adenomera. Cope's Frog inhabits Amazonian forests from southeastern Colombia, Venezuela, and the Guianas southward into Brazil, Amazonian Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and northern Paraguay. It also occurs in southwestern Trinidad.

Whistling Frog, Leptodactylus fuscus

Whistling Frog, Leptodactylus fuscus (Schneider, 1799). Photographed in the northern basin of Trinidad. The whistling frog uses savannas and forest edge habitats from Panama southward to Brazil, Bolivia, and Argentina. Females attain at lest 50 mm. This frog is very abundant at some localities. Males excavate a nesting site, call from that nesting site and attract a female, the eggs are laid in a foam nest within the cavity. The tadpoles of this species feed on the eggs and embryos of other frogs.

Garman's Frog, Leptodactylus validus

Garman's Frog, Leptodactylus validus Garman, 1887. Specimen from the Guanapo Valley in Trinidad's Northern Range. It is a Trinidad endemic and has been introduced into the Lesser Antilles. Males reach 46 mm and females 51 mm. It inhabits forests and forest edge environments.

   
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