Pipa pipa
(Linnaeus, 1758) · speciesAt a glance
Sources11 archives
Databases and archives Pipa pipa's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation18 languages↗
Animal Diversity WebUniv. of Michigan MZspecies account↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility604 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI6 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics6 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
Paleobiology DatabasePBDB consortiumfossil record↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Amphibian Species of the WorldAMNHamphibian catalog↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The common Surinam toad or star-fingered toad (Pipa pipa) is a species of frog in the family Pipidae found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical swamps, swamps, freshwater marshes, and intermittent freshwater marshes. It is threatened by habitat loss.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology2
Life cycle & reproduction8
Diet & foraging2
Habitat & environment2
Other traits4
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Pipa pipa has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Pipa pipa carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
How it livedPBDB
Record type604 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions11 of 32 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Cambridge, US | 43 |
| CASlocation not on record | 38 |
| Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas - SINCHIlocation not on record | 30 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 23 |
| Washington, US | 21 |
| Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt (IAvH)location not on record | 19 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 18 |
| Museo de Zoologia, Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuadorlocation not on record | 14 |
| Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA)location not on record | 13 |
| Berkeley, US | 9 |
| 8 | |
| Universidad de La Salle (La Salle)location not on record | 3 |
| New Haven, US | 3 |
| Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas SINCHI Colección Anfibioslocation not on record | 3 |
| Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL)location not on record | 2 |
| UFMSlocation not on record | 2 |
| University, National Zoological Collection of Surinamelocation not on record | 2 |
| Los Angeles, US | 2 |
| Universidad Icesi (ICESI)location not on record | 2 |
| Chongqing Museumlocation not on record | 2 |
| Buenos Aires, AR | 2 |
| Toronto, CA | 2 |
| ASUlocation not on record | 2 |
| The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobagolocation not on record | 2 |
| UNICAMPlocation not on record | 2 |
| Fundación Jambatu - CJlocation not on record | 1 |
| Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 1 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 1 |
| PUC-RSlocation not on record | 1 |
| Brussels, BE | 1 |
| RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record | 1 |
| Universidad de la Amazonia (UniAmazonia)location not on record | 1 |
Where the DNA of Pipa pipa was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.