{{Short description|Genus of amphibians}} {{more footnotes|date=November 2015}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Crinia signifera.jpg | image_caption = Common eastern froglet (''Crinia signifera'') | taxon = Crinia | authority = Tschudi, 1838 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text }}
'''''Crinia''''' is a genus of frog, native to Australia, and part of the family Myobatrachidae. It consists of small frogs, which are distributed throughout most of Australia, excluding the central arid regions. Many of the species within this genus are physically indistinguishable, and can only be identified by their calls.
They have unwebbed toes and fingers, most of the species in these genus are polymorphic - meaning that several variations of colour and skin patterning exist in a single population and all species lay their eggs in small clumps in water.
The generic name ''Crinia'' likely derives from the Greek verb κρῑνω (krīnō) "to separate" as a reference to the frog's unwebbed digits, meaning "separated (toes)". Although Johann Jakob von Tschudi did not provide an etymology in 1838, he cited the frog's "free toes" (without webbing) as an important distinctive feature (most frogs have webbed feet).
During the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s a lot of taxonomic work was done on this genus, frogs that were originally thought to be common eastern froglets (''Crinia signifera'') were described as other species of ''Crinia'' by mating call analysis and hybridization experiments. Two species originally described as ''Crinia'' were then placed in their own genus, ''Assa'' and ''Paracrinia''. One species of both ''Geocrinia'' and ''Taudactylus'' were split from ''Crinia'' and the genus ''Bryobatrachus'' was also described only to be recently placed back into ''Crinia''. The moss froglet, (''Crinia nimbus'') is very different physically and in its tadpole development. Due to the obvious differences with other species in ''Crinia'' this species is likely to be placed again into a separate genus.
==Species== The genus ''Crinia'' contains 17 species:<ref name=frost>{{cite web |url=http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/?action=names&taxon=Crinia |title=''Crinia'' Tschudi, 1838 |author=Frost, Darrel R. |date=2013 |work=Amphibian Species of the World 5.6, an Online Reference |publisher=American Museum of Natural History |accessdate=4 April 2013}}</ref>
{|style="text-align:left; border:1px solid #999999; " |-style="background:#CCCC99; text-align: center; " !Common name!!Binomial name |- |-style="background:#EEEEEE;" |Bilingual frog||''Crinia bilingua'' {{small|(Martin, Tyler, and Davies, 1980)}} |-style="background:#FFFDFF;" |Desert froglet||''Crinia deserticola'' {{small|(Liem and Ingram, 1977)}} |-style="background:#EEEEEE;" |Kimberley froglet||''Crinia fimbriata'' {{small|Doughty, Anstis, and Price, 2009}} |-style="background:#FFFDFF;" |Northern Flinders Ranges froglet||''Crinia flindersensis'' {{small|Donnellan, Anstis, Price, and Wheaton, 2012}} |-style="background:#EEEEEE;" |Quacking frog||''Crinia georgiana'' {{small|(Tschudi, 1838)}} |-style="background:#FFFDFF;" |Glauert's froglet||''Crinia glauerti'' {{small|(Loveridge, 1933)}} |-style="background:#EEEEEE;" |Sign-bearing froglet||''Crinia insignifera'' {{small|(Moore, 1954)}} |-style="background:#FFFDFF;" |Moss froglet||''Crinia nimbus'' {{small|(Rounsevell, Ziegeler, Brown, Davies, and Littlejohn, 1994)}} |-style="background:#EEEEEE;" |Eastern sign-bearing froglet||''Crinia parinsignifera'' {{small|(Main, 1957)}} |-style="background:#FFFDFF;" |False western froglet||''Crinia pseudinsignifera'' {{small|(Main, 1957)}} |-style="background:#EEEEEE;" |Remote froglet||''Crinia remota'' {{small|(Tyler and Parker, 1974)}} |-style="background:#FFFDFF;" |Streambank froglet||''Crinia riparia'' {{small|(Littlejohn and Martin, 1965)}} |-style="background:#EEEEEE;" |Common eastern froglet||''Crinia signifera'' {{small|(Girard, 1853)}} |-style="background:#FFFDFF;" |Sloane's froglet||''Crinia sloanei'' {{small|(Littlejohn, 1958)}} |-style="background:#EEEEEE;" |Small western froglet||''Crinia subinsignifera'' {{small|(Littlejohn, 1957)}} |-style="background:#FFFDFF;" |Tasmanian froglet||''Crinia tasmaniensis'' {{small|(Günther, 1864)}} |-style="background:#EEEEEE;" |Wallum froglet||''Crinia tinnula'' {{small|(Straughan and Main, 1966)}} |- |}
==References== {{Reflist}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060222151931/http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/references.php?id=14717 Amphibian Species of the World - Crinia Tschudi, 1838] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070125184648/http://www.deh.gov.au/ Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage] *{{cite web| title= Frogs of Australia > Crinia nimbus / Moss Froglet| url=http://frogs.org.au/frogs/species/Crinia/nimbus/| accessdate=2006-06-05}} *Tschudi, Johann J. von (1838). Classification der Batrachier, mit Berücksichtigung der fossilen Tiere dieser Abteilung der Reptilien. Neuchâtel : Erück Petitpierre pp. 102.
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Category:Crinia Category:Myobatrachidae Category:Amphibians of Australia Category:Amphibian genera Category:Taxa named by Johann Jakob von Tschudi