Mesobatrachia

The Pipidae are a family of basal, tongueless frogs. There are 41 species in the family, found in tropical South America (genus Pipa) and sub-Saharan Africa (the three other genera).

family of amphibians

The Mesobatrachia (Ancient Greek μέσος (mésos, "middle") + batrachia ("frogs")) is a paraphyletic group of relatively primitive frogs. At the end of 2016, it contained 3 superfamilies (Pelobatoidea, Pelodytoidea and Pipoidea), 6 families, 16 genera, and 244 species. Recognized as a group in 1993, the name is contrasted with the primitive Archaeobatrachia and the more diverse and advanced Neobatrachia.

Palaeobatrachus (meaning "ancient frog" in Greek) is an extinct genus of frogs from Europe that existed from the middle Eocene to the middle Pleistocene (Ionian Stage) (621–568,000 years ago), spanning almost 50 million years. They were obligately aquatic, and would have not spent much time on dry land. They are one of two genera and by far the largest genus in the family Palaeobatrachidae, which are considered to be members of Pipimorpha, related to the South American-African family Pipidae, which includes the African clawed frog and Surinam toad.

The Pelobatoidea are a superfamily of frogs. They typically combine a toad-like body shape with a frog-like, pointed face (hence the German name 'Krötenfrösche', literally 'toad frogs'). Phylogenetically they stand between primitive frogs (fire-bellied toads, midwife toads) on the one side and higher frogs (the family of true toads, tree frogs, and the family of true frogs) on the other and are therefore – among other things by characteristics of bone construction – in the suborder Mesobatrachia.