Frogs of Colombia 



Class AMPHIBIA 

 Superorder SALIENTIA : Order ANURA 



Suborder AGLOSSA 



No true tongue present. Vertebrae opisthocoelous. Urostyle fused to 

 sacrum, or articulated to it by a single condyle. Shoulder girdle partly 

 or wholly firmisternal. Ribs free in tadpole, but fused to vertebrae 

 in adult. 



Family Pipidae 



Tips of fingers divided to form star-like sensory structures. Sternum 

 small. Eggs develop in pits in the dorsal skin of the female. 



Genus Pipa Laurenti 



1768. Pipa Laurenti, p. 24 (type species, P. americana Laurenti =Rana pipa 

 Linnaeus) . 



Generic diagnosis. — Pupil round. Palate smooth. Tynpanum lacking. 

 Fingers free; toes completely webbed. Outer metatarsals separated. 

 Coracoids and precoracoids strongly divergent, the former much 

 dilated and connected by a broad double cartilage, not overlapping. 

 Omosternum rudimentary. Sternum a large cartilaginous plate. Dia- 

 pophyses of sacral vertebra strongly dilated. Terminal phalanges 

 pointed. 



Key to Colombian Species of Pipa 



a 1 No inner metatarsal tubercle; no lateral flaps at angle of mouth; heel reaching 

 between eye and tip of snout; brown horny tips on the first three toes; size to 



45.5 mm P. parva 



a 2 An inner metatarsal tubercle present; lateral flaps at angle of mouth present; 



heel reaching to axilla; no horny tips on any of the toes. 



b l Body subcylindrical and rounded; many short, tentacle-like skin structures 



near mouth and on throat, but no large flap-like appendages at tip of 



snout and angle of jaw; size to 88 mm P. snethlageae 



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