Conraua

Skeleton of the Goliath frog ( Conraua goliath )

Conraua is a genus of frogs and toads. Previously, it was attributed to the family of the Real frogs ( Ranidae ), today it is the only genus of the family Conrauidae. The frogs are common in sub-Saharan Africa.

Description

The frogs of the genus Conraua can be very large and heavy. The Goliath frog ( Conraua goliath ) reaches a head -body length of 30 to 40 centimeters and a weight of more than 3 kg. He is considered the largest frog of the earth. The body is broad, flattened seen from above. The hind legs are substantially longer than the front limb. Between the fingers and toes, there are webbed. The lateral line is lost in adult animals. The Omosternum, the front part of the sternum is bifurcated. The nasals are large and touch each other.

The frogs develop through metamorphosis from free-living larvae ( tadpoles ) who prefer fast flowing waters.

Dissemination

The genus is native in tropical sub-Saharan West Africa, in Ethiopia and Eriträa.

Way of life

The larvae of the genus Conraua live through a tadpole stage in the oxygen-rich headwaters of rivers and streams, where they feed on certain plants. The females lay more than 100 eggs per clutch on plants at the bottom of the river.

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus was first described in 1908 by Fritz Conraua Nieden. For a long time it was classified into the family of the Real frogs ( Ranidae ). Alain Dubois was the first to set up a separate tribe within the Ranidae for this genus, the Conrauini. This he raised in 2005 to the subfamily Conrauinae. In 2006, most of the 14 established by Dubois within the Ranidae subfamilies were spun off as an independent families. The Conrauinae, however, were by Frost et al. initially be provided together with the closely related Petropedetinae and those based in India Ranixalinae in a single family, which received the name Petropedetidae. The Ranixalinae soon received as Ranixalidae the rank of a family. Because of the still not completely clarified relationships between the genus Conraua and the other genera of the Petropedetidae and because of the significant differences between the two subfamilies, the Conrauinae 2011 were recognized by Pyron and Wiens as his own family. It includes the genus Conraua with 6 types:

• Conraua alleni ( Barbour & Loveridge, 1927)
• Conraua beccarii ( Boulenger, 1911)
• Conraua crassipes (Buchholz & Peters, 1875)
• Conraua derooi Hulselmans, 1972
• Conraua goliath ( Boulenger, 1906)
• Conraua robusta Nieden, 1908