They inhabit arid areas and are seasonal breeders, depositing many small eggs in aquatic habitats.

The fossil giant frog Beelzebufo from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar was formerly considered to belong to this family, but is now excluded, but is possibly closely related, alongside Baurubatrachus from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil.

Wawelia from the Miocene of Argentina is no longer considered closely related.

[5] Placement of this clade has varied considerably over time, having been a subfamily within the Leptodactylidae for a long while.

[1][2][3] The extant genera are:[1][2] In addition, a number of fossil taxa have been considered to be closely related, including:[5]