Neotropical Hylid Frogs, Genus Smilisca

This volume represents a definitive taxonomic revision of the Neotropical hylid frogs comprising the genus Smilisca, those distinctive tree frogs whose calls echo through Central American rainforests. William Edward Duellman, the twentieth century's most influential herpetologist, meticulously documents the morphological characters, geographic distributions, and phylogenetic relationships that distinguish these species. The work moves from comprehensive treatment of the family Hylidae to granular species accounts, exploring the ecological adaptations that allow Smilisca to thrive across diverse habitats from Mexico to Ecuador. Duellman's methods combine observational field study with rigorous morphological analysis, establishing the systematic framework that subsequent amphibian research would build upon. For specialists in herpetology, tropical ecology, or vertebrate systematics, this monograph remains indispensable foundational literature. It captures a moment in mid-century science when the baseline inventory of Central American biodiversity was still being meticulously assembled, and it does so with the precision and authority that characterized all of Duellman's influential contributions to the field.