Type of site | Wildlife database |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Owner | American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA |
Created by | Darrel R. Frost |
URL | amphibiansoftheworld |
Commercial | No |
Launched | Version 2.0: 22 July, 1999. (first online database version) |
Current status | Active |
Amphibian Species of the World 6.2: An Online Reference (ASW) is a herpetology database. It lists the names of frogs, salamanders and other amphibians, which scientists first described each species and what year, and the animal's known range.
The American Museum of Natural History hosts Amphibian Species of the World, which is updated by herpetologist Darrel Frost. As of 2024, it contained more than 8700 species.
The Association of Systematics Collections (ASC) started this project in 1978 because the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) needed a database for animals. (The ASC later changed its name to Natural Science Collections Alliance.) The ASC's Stephen R. Edwards wrote Mammal Species of the World first and started Amphibian Species of the World second. Edwards decided to write about living amphibians because Richard G. Zweifel had just composed a large list of amphibian names and because experts from the University of Kansas were available to assist him. Darrel Frost joined the project to help Edwards. Frost planned to write Turtle and Crocodilian Species of the World next, but he left to complete his Ph.D. instead.
The first version of the catalogue was published as a book in 1985, and well-received by specialists in the field. [1] [2]
In 1989, the ASC gave the copyright for Amphibian Species of the World to the Herpetologists' League, and they added more amphibians to the database. The League and American Museum of Natural History put Darrel Frost in charge of the project. At the time, Frost was a curator at the American Museum of Natural History. Frost added more information for professional herpetologists to use and made many corrections. He added more species that had been discovered since 1985. The project's own page notes that there are ten times as many amphibian species known to science today than were known in the mid-1980s. [3]
On July 1999, the catalogue was first published on the internet, in its 2.0 version. New versions were added in 2004, 2006 and 2007. The 6.0 version, published in 2014, allows for real-time modifications. [4]
The 6.2 version was published in January 2023. As of August, the website contains 8,674 species and over 17,848 references. [3]
According to Amphibians.org, "For three decades ASW has been the primary reference for amphibian taxonomy." In 2013, Frost won the Sabin Award for his work on Amphibian Species of the World. [5]
Cochranella is a genus of glass frogs, family Centrolenidae. They are found in Central America from Honduras southward to the Amazonian and Andean cloud forests of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.
Colostethus is a genus of poison dart frogs native to Central and South America, from Panama south to Colombia, Ecuador, and northern Peru. Their common name is rocket frogs, but this name may refer to frogs in other genera and families, following the taxonomic revision of the genus in 2006.
Cruziohyla is a genus of frogs in the subfamily Phyllomedusinae. They occur from Honduras in Central America south to the Amazon Basin in South America. This genus was erected in 2005 following a major revision of the Hylidae and fully reviewed in 2018. Species in this genus were previously placed in the genera Agalychnis or Phyllomedusa.
Isthmohyla is a genus of frogs in the family Hylidae. This genus was erected in 2005 following a major revision of the Hylidae. The 15 species in this genus were previously placed in the genus Hyla. They are endemic to Central America in Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama.
Bokermannohyla is a genus of frogs in the family Hylidae. It was erected in 2005 following a major revision of the Hylidae. Twenty-three species previously placed in the genus Hyla were moved to this genus named in honor of Werner Carlos Augusto Bokermann, Brazilian herpetologist. The genus is endemic to southern Brazil.
Bromeliohyla, sometimes known as the bromeliad treefrogs, is a genus of frogs in the family Hylidae. This genus was erected in 2022 following a major revision of the Hylidae. The original two species in this genus were previously placed in the genus Hyla. They are found in tropical southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and northern Honduras.
The Aromobatidae are a family of frogs native to Central and South America. They are sometimes referred to as cryptic forest frogs or cryptic poison frogs. They are the sister taxon of the Dendrobatidae, the poison dart frogs, but are not as toxic as most dendrobatids are.
Dendropsophus meridianus is a species of frog in the family Hylidae. It is endemic to southeastern Brazil.
Kassina cochranae, sometimes known as the Cochran's running frog, is a species of frog in the family Hyperoliidae. It is found in southern Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, western Ivory Coast, and at least tentatively, southern Ghana. Kassina arboricola was for a period treated as a subspecies Kassina cochranae arboricola, but it is now considered a valid species.
Rupirana is a genus of frogs in the family Leptodactylidae. It is monotypic, being represented by the singles species Rupirana cardosoi. The specific name cardosoi honors Adão José Cardoso, a Brazilian herpetologist. It is endemic to northern Espinhaço Mountains, Bahia, Brazil. Its natural habitats are banks of small streams in high-altitude grassy vegetation. It is threatened by habitat loss. Part of the range is within the Chapada Diamantina National Park.
Theloderma moloch, Assam Indonesia tree frog, Eerie tree frog, Xizang warty tree frog, or black-spotted frog is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is found in northeastern India and adjacent Tibet, China, possibly wider. Taxonomic placement of this taxon has been a source of much debate, possibly because of wrong tissue was used for it in a molecular study—with ramifications for the taxonomy of whole Theloderma and its sister taxon Nyctixalus.
The frog family Dicroglossidae occurs in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia and Africa, with most genera and species being found in Asia. The common name of the family is fork-tongued frogs.
Craugastoridae, commonly known as fleshbelly frogs, is a family of New World direct-developing frogs. As delineated here, following the Amphibian Species of the World, it contains 129 species. They are found from the southern United States southwards to Central and South America.
Anomaloglossus is a genus of frogs in the family Aromobatidae. The genus is endemic to the Guiana Shield in northern South America. It used to be placed in the family Dendrobatidae, and is still placed in that family by some sources. The name of the genus, from the Greek anomalos and glossa (=tongue), refers to the unusual tongue bearing the median lingual process, the only unambiguous phenotypic synapomorphy of this genus.
Benjamin Shreve (1908–1985) was an American amateur herpetologist. He was from a wealthy Boston family of jewellers and worked at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology as a volunteer. He was trained by Arthur Loveridge to deal with materials from elsewhere than Africa. Shreve described many species from the West Indies together with Thomas Barbour. In these papers, Shreve is said to have done the "spadework" while Barbour wrote "florid" introductions.
Poyntonophrynus, also known as pygmy toads, are a genus consisting of ten true toad species native to Sub-Saharan Africa. Originally, all Poyntonophrynus species were included in the genus Bufo. The genus was split due to large enough taxonomic divergence as evidenced by molecular markers. The genus is named in honour of John C. Poynton, South African herpetologist, with phrynus being Greek for toad.
Darrel Richmond Frost is an American herpetologist and systematist. He was previously head curator of herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History, as well as president of both the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (1998) and the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (2006). Four taxa are named in his honor: the toad genus Frostius, the tree frog Dendropsophus frosti, Darrel's Chorus Frog Microhyla darreli, and Frost's arboreal alligator lizard Abronia frosti.
Celsiella is a small genus of glass frogs endemic to Venezuela. It was established in 2009 and named in honour of Josefa Celsa Señaris, nicknamed "Celsi", a Venezuelan herpetologist who had worked with glass frogs.
Niceforonia is a genus of frogs in the family Strabomantidae found in northern South America. The name refers to Nicéforo María, Colombian herpetologist.
Rohanixalus is a genus of tree frogs in the family Rhacophoridae native to the Andaman islands and Indo-Burma region. The genus was established in 2020 by Indian herpetologist S.D. Biju of the University of Delhi and his colleagues. The genus comprises eight species.
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