Complete or partial dissection of the foot musculature of 404 hylid frogs representing 247 species and 33 genera, along with representatives of eight other families, revealed a number of apomorphic characters that distinguish the hyloid frogs (Hylidae plus Allophryne and Centrolenidae) from other bufonoid frogs. Additional characters were found to define some of the hylid subfamilies. Addition of characters from the foot musculature to Duellman's phylogenetic tree of the hyloids produced a tree in which Allophryne and Centrolenidae are nested within Hylidae. Support was found for the monophyly of the 30-chromosome group within Hyla, and for a large number of the groups that comprise "Boana," viz., the Hyla albomarginata, H. albopunctata, H. boans (except H. vasta), H. geographica, and H. pulchella groups, but foot muscle characters provide no information relating to relationships of the West Indies hylines.
Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.