Hyla
| Hyla | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| European tree frog, Hyla arborea | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia |
| Order: | Anura |
| Family: | Hylidae |
| Subfamily: | Hylinae |
| Genus: |
Hyla Laurenti, 1768 |
| Species | |
|
See text. |
|
See text.
The genus Hyla is a member of the family of tree frogs (Hylidae). They have a very broad distribution; species can be found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and across the Americas. There were more than 300 described species in this genus, but after a major revision of the Hylidae family most of these have been moved to new genera so the genus now only contains 33 species".
The genus was established by Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in 1768. It was named after Hylas in Greek mythology, the companion of Hercules. The name is unusual in that – though Laurenti knew that Hylas was male – the name is unambiguously treated in the feminine grammatical gender for reasons unknown. The etymology of the name is also often incorrectly given as being derived from the Greek word (hūlē, "forest" or "wood").
Faivovich et al. could not assign these species to a current genus, so they allocated them to the non-taxon "Hyla". Further work is needed to organize them.
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