large tadpoles, their final stages have unusually well-developed organs, including nearly ripe reproductive organs. This means that recently metamorphosed frogs rapidly reach maturity and essentially stop growing, whereas most other frogs take more time and growing after metamorphosis before they become mature. Pseudis is closely related to a second genus, Lysapsus, that lacks giant tadpoles and in which adults are smaller, up to . Pseudis tadpoles feed mostly on a wide range of algae, but also take small invertebrates. The adult frogs feed mostly on land-based insects and spiders, but also other land-based or aquatic invertebrates, small frogs and—in some species—plant material. Species There are seven species in this genus (given that Lysapsus is accepted as a separate genus). Until the late 1990s and early 2000s, most authorities only recognized P. minuta and P. paradoxa, but P. cardosoi was described in 2010 (having formerly been included as a population of P. minuta), while the remaining were considered subspecies, synonyms or populations of P. paradoxa. The validity of P. platensis as a species separate from P. paradoxa is questionable. Phylogenetic relationships The phylogenetic position of frogs currently included in the genus Pseudis in relation to other anurans was for a long time a matter of debate. They have been placed in Ranidae, Leptodactylidae, Hylidae, and as their own family Pseudidae This results from their highly derived body plan for a hylid frog due to their mostly aquatic habits. Recent morphological and molecular phylogenetic reconstructions have unambiguously placed them within the subfamily Hylinae with Scarthyla as a sister group. Phylogenetic relationships among species of the group were recently proposed using molecular evidences. Both publications found identical trees, but proposed different taxonomic solutions for the nonmonophyly of Pseudis, either resurrecting the genus Podonectes or placing Lysapsus as a junior synonym of Pseudis. More recent molecular evidence did not find Pseudis paraphyletic with respect to Lysapsus, so the synonymy is unnecessary. References External links Hylidae Amphibians of South America Amphibian genera Taxa named by Johann Georg Wagler