Gastrotheca is a genus of frogs in the family Hemiphractidae. They are found in Central America south of Costa Rica and in South America. Most species occur in the American Cordillera from southern Costa Rica to north-western Argentina. This genus makes up the bulk of marsupial frog diversity; formerly it was placed in the "Leptodactylidae" assemblage.
Marsupial frogs are so-called because they possess a dorsal brood pouch. In some species the eggs are fertilized on the female's lower back, and are inserted in her pouch with the aid of the male's toes. The eggs remain in contact with the female's vascular tissue, which provides them oxygen.
Gastrotheca guentheri (Guenther's marsupial frog) is the only known frog with true teeth in its lower jaw. Gastrotheca riobambae (Andean marsupial tree frog) is kept as pet and is used in scientific experiments.
Gastrotheca gemma was additionally discovered in 2021.
Species
Gastrotheca cornuta
Gastrotheca litonedis
There are 74 species recognized in the genus Gastrotheca:
Gastrotheca abdita Duellman, 1987
Gastrotheca aguaruna Duellman, Barley, and Venegas, 2014
Gastrotheca albolineata (Lutz and Lutz, 1939)
Gastrotheca andaquiensis Ruiz-Carranza and Hernández-Camacho, 1976
Gastrotheca angustifrons (Boulenger, 1898)
Gastrotheca antomia Ruiz-Carranza, Ardila-Robayo, Lynch, and Restrepo-Toro, 1997
Gastrotheca antoniiochoai (De la Riva and Chaparro, 2005)
Gastrotheca aratia Duellman, Barley, and Venegas, 2014
Gastrotheca argenteovirens (Boettger, 1892)
Gastrotheca atympana Duellman, Lehr, Rodríguez, and von May, 2004
Gastrotheca aureomaculata Cochran and Goin, 1970
Gastrotheca bufona Cochran and Goin, 1970
Gastrotheca carinaceps Duellman, Trueb, and Lehr, 2006
Gastrotheca christiani Laurent, 1967
Gastrotheca chrysosticta Laurent, 1976
Gastrotheca cornuta (Boulenger, 1898)
Gastrotheca cuencana Carvajal-Endara, Coloma, Morales-Mite, Guayasamin, Székely, and Duellman, 2019
Gastrotheca dendronastes Duellman, 1983
Gastrotheca dunni...
