Glands
Leptodactylids have a variety of glands that have been used as generic characters. Smith and Taylor (1948) regarded the so-called inguinal gland as a generic character in Mexican eleutherodaycty-lines. Lynch (1965) showed that Eleutherodactylus and Microbatrachylus cannot be separated by the nature of the gland or the condition of the prevomers (dentate or not). Syrrhophus and Tomodactylus, as defined by Smith and Taylor (1948), are not generically distinct because of overlap in the condition of the prevomers and in the development of the gland. Firschein (1954) stated that Syrrhophus differed from Tomodactylus by having an axillary gland, but it is now known that one species of Syrrhophus lacks the gland.
The inguinal glands of Eleutherodactylus and Syrrhophus, if present, are diffuse, irregular in outline, and generally not prominent; in Tomodactylus the gland is higher on the body (a lumbo-inguinal gland), compact, oval in outline, and prominent ([Fig. 1]). Axillary glands occur in most Syrrhophus but are not known in Tomodactylus or Eleutherodactylus.