The genus is unique because it contains the only two known frog species that incubated the prejuvenile stages of their offspring in the stomach of the mother.

The causes of the gastric-brooding frogs' extinction are not clearly understood, but habitat loss and degradation, pollution, and some diseases may have contributed.

[6][7] The southern gastric brooding frog has been listed as Extinct by the IUCN because it has not been recorded in the wild since 1981, and extensive searches over the last 35 years have failed to locate this species.

In 2006, D. R. Frost and colleagues found Rheobatrachus, on the basis of molecular evidence, to be the sister taxon of Mixophyes and placed it within Myobatrachidae.

Their large protruding eyes and short, blunt snout along with complete webbing and slimy bodies differentiated them from all other Australian frogs.

Information on tadpole development was observed from a group that was regurgitated by the mother and successfully raised in shallow water.

Tadpole development took at least six weeks, during which time the size of the mother's stomach continued to increase until it largely filled the body cavity.

[11] The cause for the gastric-brooding frogs' extinction is speculated to be due to human introduction of pathogenic fungi into their native range.

The habitat that the southern gastric-brooding frog once inhabited is now threatened by feral pigs, the invasion of weeds, altered flow and water quality problems caused by upstream disturbances.

The Eungella National Park, where the northern gastric-brooding frog was once found, was under threat from bushfires and weed invasion.

Scientists are making progress in their efforts to bring the gastric-brooding frog species back to life using somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), a method of cloning.

[17] In March 2013, Australian scientists successfully created a living embryo from non-living preserved genetic material.

These scientists from the University of Newcastle Australia led by Prof Michael Mahony, who was the scientist who first discovered the northern gastric-brooding frog, Simon Clulow and Prof Mike Archer from the University of New South Wales hope to continue using somatic-cell nuclear transfer methods to produce an embryo that can survive to the tadpole stage.