The Family Leiopelmatidae is a primitive group of frogs native to New Zealand and a few nearby regions. They are considered living fossils, retaining many ancestral amphibian traits such as extra vertebrae and vestigial tail structures in adults. Members of this family are small to medium-sized, terrestrial or semi-aquatic frogs with a simple life cycle, typically laying eggs in moist soil or leaf litter rather than water. Some species exhibit direct development, where eggs hatch into miniature froglets instead of free-living tadpoles. Leiopelmatids are ecologically important as insect predators and are highly vulnerable to habitat loss and introduced predators, making them a focus of conservation efforts.