Given the low dispersal abilities of   amphibians over salty environments, tectonic movements, as well as sea-level   changes, might have been of major importance in shaping the distribution of   lineages within ranid frogs. After the Madagascar–Seychelles– Indian plate   drifted from the rest of Gondwana [starting around 130 mya (14)], first   Madagascar, then Seychelles disconnected about 88 mya (15) and 65 mya (16),   respectively. Subsequent attachment of the Indian subcontinent to Eurasia   [about 65 to 35 mya (14)] rendered dispersal possible between these two   previously disjunct areas. Because tree frogs and burrowing frogs occur on   both Madagascar and India, it is usually interpreted that they originated   before the Madagascan and the India–Seychelles land masses separated (88   mya).

考虑到两栖动物跨咸水（海水）环境的扩散能力较低，构造运动以及海平面的变化可能对塑造蛙类的谱系分布具有重要意义。在马达加斯加-塞舌尔-印度板块从冈瓦纳大陆的漂离[开始于130百万年前左右（14）]之后，首先是马达加斯加，然后塞舌尔大约于88百万年前断开（15）和65百万年前，印度板块断开（16）。随后，印度次大陆连结到欧亚大陆（约65至35 百万年前（14）），使得这两个先前分离的地区之间产生了物种扩散的可能。由于树蛙和穴居蛙同时出现在马达加斯加和印度，通常认为它们起源于马达加斯加和印度-塞舌尔陆地群分离之前（88 百万年前）。