Abstract
Megistolotis is a monotypic Australian genus included in the leptodactyloid subfam- ily Limnodynastinae. In some aspects of its morphology, Megistolotis resembles burrowing frogs of the genus Heleioporus, whereas in others it resembles terrestrial and aquatic frogs assigned to the genus Limnodynastes. Accordingly workers have differed regarding which of the two genera includes the closest relatives of Megistolotis. Studies of albumin evolution using the quantitative immunological technique of micro-complement fixation have shown that Megistolotis shares most recent common ancestry with Limnodynastes convexiusculus, a member of the L. tasmaniensis species group. This finding has implications regarding the parallel evolution of morphological features within limnodynastine frogs. In addition, the albumin data imply that Limnodynastes is a paraphy- letic taxon, and illustrate the problem confronting systematists faced with differing tempos of morphological and molecular evolution. (Albumin; paraphyly; micro-complement fixation (MC'F); Australian frogs; evolutionary rates.)
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