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96-598: (partial list) Amphibians are ectothermic , anamniotic , four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class Amphibia . In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all tetrapods excluding the amniotes (tetrapods with an amniotic membrane , such as modern reptiles , birds and mammals ). All extant (living) amphibians belong to the monophyletic subclass Lissamphibia , with three living orders : Anura ( frogs ), Urodela ( salamanders ), and Gymnophiona ( caecilians ). Evolved to be mostly semiaquatic , amphibians have adapted to inhabit

192-402: A blue-green colour) and the lipophores (yellow, the most superficial layer). The colour change displayed by many species is initiated by hormones secreted by the pituitary gland. Unlike bony fish, there is no direct control of the pigment cells by the nervous system, and this results in the colour change taking place more slowly than happens in fish. A vividly coloured skin usually indicates that

288-408: A comparatively slow diffusion rate for oxygen entering the blood. Ventilation is accomplished by buccal pumping . Most amphibians, however, are able to exchange gases with the water or air via their skin. To enable sufficient cutaneous respiration , the surface of their highly vascularised skin must remain moist to allow the oxygen to diffuse at a sufficiently high rate. Because oxygen concentration in

384-716: A dramatic decline in amphibian populations for many species around the globe. The earliest amphibians evolved in the Devonian period from tetrapodomorph sarcopterygians (lobe-finned fish with articulated limb -like fins ) that evolved primitive lungs, which were helpful in adapting to dry land. They diversified and became ecologically dominant during the Carboniferous and Permian periods, but were later displaced in terrestrial environments by early reptiles and basal synapsids (predecessors of mammals). The origin of modern lissamphibians, which first appeared during

480-511: A given body mass. As a consequence, endotherms generally rely on higher food consumption, and commonly on food of higher energy content. Such requirements may limit the carrying capacity of a given environment for endotherms as compared to its carrying capacity for ectotherms. Because ectotherms depend on environmental conditions for body temperature regulation, as a rule, they are more sluggish at night and in early mornings. When they emerge from shelter, many diurnal ectotherms need to heat up in

576-548: A membranous skin which allows them to absorb water directly through it. Some semi-aquatic animals also have similarly permeable bladder membrane. As a result, they tend to have high rates of urine production to offset this high water intake, and have urine which is low in dissolved salts. The urinary bladder assists such animals to retain salts. Some aquatic amphibian such as Xenopus do not reabsorb water, to prevent excessive water influx. For land-dwelling amphibians, dehydration results in reduced urine output. The amphibian bladder

672-405: A moulting process controlled by the pituitary and thyroid glands. Local thickenings (often called warts) are common, such as those found on toads. The outside of the skin is shed periodically mostly in one piece, in contrast to mammals and birds where it is shed in flakes. Amphibians often eat the sloughed skin. Caecilians are unique among amphibians in having mineralized dermal scales embedded in

768-416: A pair of short tentacles near the eye that can be extended and which have tactile and olfactory functions. Most caecilians live underground in burrows in damp soil, in rotten wood and under plant debris, but some are aquatic. Most species lay their eggs underground and when the larvae hatch, they make their way to adjacent bodies of water. Others brood their eggs and the larvae undergo metamorphosis before

864-733: A pump action in which air is first drawn into the buccopharyngeal region through the nostrils. These are then closed and the air is forced into the lungs by contraction of the throat. They supplement this with gas exchange through the skin. The order Anura (from the Ancient Greek a(n)- meaning "without" and oura meaning "tail") comprises the frogs and toads. They usually have long hind limbs that fold underneath them, shorter forelimbs, webbed toes with no claws, no tails, large eyes and glandular moist skin. Members of this order with smooth skins are commonly referred to as frogs, while those with warty skins are known as toads. The difference

960-744: A season, or even for years, depending on the species and circumstances. Owners of reptiles may use an ultraviolet light system to assist their pets' basking. Ectotherms rely largely on external heat sources such as sunlight to achieve their optimal body temperature for various bodily activities. Accordingly, they depend on ambient conditions to reach operational body temperatures. In contrast, endothermic animals maintain nearly constant high operational body temperatures largely by reliance on internal heat produced by metabolically active organs (liver, kidney, heart, brain, muscle) or even by specialized heat producing organs like brown adipose tissue . Ectotherms typically have lower metabolic rates than endotherms at

1056-432: A secondary respiratory interface and some small terrestrial salamanders and frogs lack lungs and rely entirely on their skin. They are superficially similar to reptiles like lizards , but unlike reptiles and other amniotes , require access to water bodies to breed. With their complex reproductive needs and permeable skins, amphibians are often ecological indicators to habitat conditions; in recent decades there has been

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1152-403: A slower growth and development rate compared to other vertebrates. Another reason for their size is associated with their rapid metamorphosis, which seems to have evolved only in the ancestors of lissamphibia; in all other known lines the development was much more gradual. Because a remodeling of the feeding apparatus means they do not eat during the metamorphosis, the metamorphosis has to go faster

1248-449: A snake- or worm-like form. The adults vary in length from 8 to 75 centimetres (3 to 30 inches) with the exception of Thomson's caecilian ( Caecilia thompsoni ), which can reach 150 cm (59 in). A caecilian's skin has a large number of transverse folds and in some species contains tiny embedded dermal scales. It has rudimentary eyes covered in skin, which are probably limited to discerning differences in light intensity. It also has

1344-419: A sticky tip and drawing it back into the mouth before seizing the item with their jaws. Some use inertial feeding to help them swallow the prey, repeatedly thrusting their head forward sharply causing the food to move backwards in their mouth by inertia . Most amphibians swallow their prey whole without much chewing so they possess voluminous stomachs. The short oesophagus is lined with cilia that help to move

1440-563: A temnospondyl-like ancestor, and even that caecilians are the sister group of the advanced reptiliomorph amphibians, and thus of amniotes. Although the fossils of several older proto-frogs with primitive characteristics are known, the oldest "true frog", with hopping adaptations is Prosalirus bitis , from the Early Jurassic Kayenta Formation of Arizona. It is anatomically very similar to modern frogs. The oldest known caecilians are Funcusvermis gilmorei (from

1536-408: A useful extent. To warm up, reptiles and many insects find sunny places and adopt positions that maximise their exposure; at harmfully high temperatures they seek shade or cooler water. In cold weather, honey bees huddle together to retain heat. Butterflies and moths may orient their wings to maximize exposure to solar radiation in order to build up heat before take-off. Gregarious caterpillars, such as

1632-490: A whole host of other behavioral thermoregulation mechanisms. In contrast to ectotherms, endotherms rely largely, even predominantly, on heat from internal metabolic processes, and mesotherms use an intermediate strategy. As there are more than two categories of temperature control utilized by animals, the terms warm-blooded and cold-blooded have been deprecated as scientific terms. Various patterns of behavior enable certain ectotherms to regulate body temperature to

1728-518: A wide variety of habitats , with most species living in freshwater , wetland or terrestrial ecosystems (such as riparian woodland , fossorial and even arboreal habitats). Their life cycle typically starts out as aquatic larvae with gills known as tadpoles , but some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this. Young amphibians generally undergo metamorphosis from an aquatic larval form with gills to an air-breathing adult form with lungs . Amphibians use their skin as

1824-475: Is a polyparaphyletic group without unique defining features apart from shared primitive characteristics . Classification varies according to the preferred phylogeny of the author and whether they use a stem-based or a node-based classification. Traditionally, amphibians as a class are defined as all tetrapods with a larval stage, while the group that includes the common ancestors of all living amphibians (frogs, salamanders and caecilians) and all their descendants

1920-631: Is a sub-discipline of herpetology , which also includes non-avian reptiles ( snakes , lizards , amphisbaenids , turtles , terrapins , tortoises , crocodilians , and the tuatara ). Batrachologists may study the evolution , ecology , ethology , or anatomy of amphibians. Amphibians are cold blooded vertebrates largely found in damp habitats although many species have special behavioural adaptations that allow them to live in deserts , trees , underground and in regions with wide seasonal variations in temperature. There are over 8700 species of amphibians. This amphibian -related article

2016-724: Is also found in Central America and South America north of the Amazon basin ; South America was apparently invaded from Central America by about the start of the Miocene , 23 million years ago. Urodela is a name sometimes used for all the extant species of salamanders. Members of several salamander families have become paedomorphic and either fail to complete their metamorphosis or retain some larval characteristics as adults. Most salamanders are under 15 cm (5.9 in) long. They may be terrestrial or aquatic and many spend part of

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2112-491: Is approximately 8,000, of which nearly 90% are frogs. The smallest amphibian (and vertebrate) in the world is a frog from New Guinea ( Paedophryne amauensis ) with a length of just 7.7 mm (0.30 in). The largest living amphibian is the 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) South China giant salamander ( Andrias sligoi ), but this is dwarfed by prehistoric temnospondyls such as Mastodonsaurus which could reach up to 6 m (20 ft) in length. The study of amphibians

2208-491: Is called batrachology , while the study of both reptiles and amphibians is called herpetology . The word amphibian is derived from the Ancient Greek term ἀμφίβιος ( amphíbios ), which means 'both kinds of life', ἀμφί meaning 'of both kinds' and βίος meaning 'life'. The term was initially used as a general adjective for animals that could live on land or in water, including seals and otters. Traditionally,

2304-786: Is called Lissamphibia. The phylogeny of Paleozoic amphibians is uncertain, and Lissamphibia may possibly fall within extinct groups, like the Temnospondyli (traditionally placed in the subclass Labyrinthodontia) or the Lepospondyli, and in some analyses even in the amniotes. This means that advocates of phylogenetic nomenclature have removed a large number of basal Devonian and Carboniferous amphibian-type tetrapod groups that were formerly placed in Amphibia in Linnaean taxonomy , and included them elsewhere under cladistic taxonomy . If

2400-517: Is divided into three suborders that are broadly accepted by the scientific community, but the relationships between some families remain unclear. Future molecular studies should provide further insights into their evolutionary relationships. The suborder Archaeobatrachia contains four families of primitive frogs. These are Ascaphidae , Bombinatoridae , Discoglossidae and Leiopelmatidae which have few derived features and are probably paraphyletic with regard to other frog lineages. The six families in

2496-497: Is likely to be external as sirenids lack the cloacal glands used by male salamandrids to produce spermatophores and the females lack spermathecae for sperm storage. Despite this, the eggs are laid singly, a behaviour not conducive for external fertilisation. The order Gymnophiona (from the Greek gymnos meaning "naked" and ophis meaning "serpent") or Apoda comprises the caecilians. These are long, cylindrical, limbless animals with

2592-402: Is low and as a result, their food and energy requirements are limited. In the adult state, they have tear ducts and movable eyelids, and most species have ears that can detect airborne or ground vibrations. They have muscular tongues, which in many species can be protruded. Modern amphibians have fully ossified vertebrae with articular processes . Their ribs are usually short and may be fused to

2688-411: Is no external ear, but the large circular eardrum lies on the surface of the head just behind the eye. This vibrates and sound is transmitted through a single bone, the stapes , to the inner ear. Only high-frequency sounds like mating calls are heard in this way, but low-frequency noises can be detected through another mechanism. There is a patch of specialized haircells, called papilla amphibiorum , in

2784-650: Is not a formal one taxonomically and there are numerous exceptions to this rule. Members of the family Bufonidae are known as the "true toads". Frogs range in size from the 30-centimetre (12 in) Goliath frog ( Conraua goliath ) of West Africa to the 7.7-millimetre (0.30 in) Paedophryne amauensis , first described in Papua New Guinea in 2012, which is also the smallest known vertebrate. Although most species are associated with water and damp habitats, some are specialised to live in trees or in deserts. They are found worldwide except for polar areas. Anura

2880-409: Is oxygenated, and is spread around the body and back to the heart in a single loop. In the adult stage, amphibians (especially frogs) lose their gills and develop lungs. They have a heart that consists of a single ventricle and two atria. When the ventricle starts contracting, deoxygenated blood is pumped through the pulmonary artery to the lungs. Continued contraction then pumps oxygenated blood around

2976-440: Is typical of regions of the abyssal ocean and hence can be regarded as homeothermic ectotherms. In contrast, in places where temperature varies so widely as to limit the physiological activities of other kinds of ectotherms, many species habitually seek out external sources of heat or shelter from heat; for example, many reptiles regulate their body temperature by basking in the sun, or seeking shade when necessary in addition to

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3072-430: Is usually highly distensible and among some land-dwelling species of frogs and salamanders may account for between 20% and 50% of their total body weight. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters into the bladder and is periodically released from the bladder to the cloaca. The lungs in amphibians are primitive compared to those of amniotes, possessing few internal septa and large alveoli , and consequently having

3168-399: The phallodeum , and inserting it into the female cloaca. The paired Müllerian glands inside the male cloaca secrete a fluid which resembles that produced by mammalian prostate glands and which may transport and nourish the sperm. Fertilisation probably takes place in the oviduct. Ectotherm Some of these animals live in environments where temperatures are practically constant, as

3264-511: The Chinese giant salamander ( Andrias davidianus ), which has been reported to grow to a length of 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in), to the diminutive Thorius pennatulus from Mexico which seldom exceeds 20 mm (0.8 in) in length. Salamanders have a mostly Laurasian distribution, being present in much of the Holarctic region of the northern hemisphere. The family Plethodontidae

3360-586: The Japanese giant salamander ( Andrias japonicus ) and the hellbender ( Cryptobranchus alleganiensis ) from North America. These large amphibians retain several larval characteristics in their adult state; gills slits are present and the eyes are unlidded. A unique feature is their ability to feed by suction, depressing either the left side of their lower jaw or the right. The males excavate nests, persuade females to lay their egg strings inside them, and guard them. As well as breathing with lungs, they respire through

3456-407: The amphiumas are eel-like in appearance with tiny, stubby legs. The sirens are aquatic salamanders with stumpy forelimbs and no hind limbs. The caecilians are limbless. They burrow in the manner of earthworms with zones of muscle contractions moving along the body. On the surface of the ground or in water they move by undulating their body from side to side. In frogs, the hind legs are larger than

3552-427: The axolotl ) retaining gills as aquatic adults. For the purpose of reproduction , most amphibians require fresh water although some lay their eggs on land and have developed various means of keeping them moist. A few (e.g. Fejervarya raja ) can inhabit brackish water, but there are no true marine amphibians. There are reports, however, of particular amphibian populations unexpectedly invading marine waters. Such

3648-455: The cornea becomes more dome-shaped, the lens becomes flatter, and eyelids and associated glands and ducts develop. The adult eyes are an improvement on invertebrate eyes and were a first step in the development of more advanced vertebrate eyes. They allow colour vision and depth of focus. In the retinas are green rods, which are receptive to a wide range of wavelengths. Many amphibians catch their prey by flicking out an elongated tongue with

3744-426: The dermis between the furrows in the skin. The similarity of these to the scales of bony fish is largely superficial. Lizards and some frogs have somewhat similar osteoderms forming bony deposits in the dermis, but this is an example of convergent evolution with similar structures having arisen independently in diverse vertebrate lineages. Amphibian skin is permeable to water. Gas exchange can take place through

3840-642: The forest tent caterpillar and fall webworm , benefit from basking in large groups for thermoregulation. Many flying insects, such as honey bees and bumble bees, also raise their internal temperatures endothermally prior to flight, by vibrating their flight muscles without violent movement of the wings. Such endothermal activity is an example of the difficulty of consistent application of terms such as poikilothermy and homeothermy . In addition to behavioral adaptations, physiological adaptations help ectotherms regulate temperature. Diving reptiles conserve heat by heat exchange mechanisms, whereby cold blood from

3936-615: The fossil record , the discovery of the dissorophoid temnospondyl Gerobatrachus from the Early Permian in Texas in 2008 provided a missing link with many of the characteristics of modern frogs. Molecular analysis suggests that the frog–salamander divergence took place considerably earlier than the palaeontological evidence indicates. One study suggested that the last common ancestor of all modern amphibians lived about 315 million years ago, and that stereospondyl temnospondyls are

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4032-462: The parotoids , produce the neurotoxin bufotoxin and are located behind the ears of toads, along the backs of frogs, behind the eyes of salamanders and on the upper surface of caecilians. The skin colour of amphibians is produced by three layers of pigment cells called chromatophores . These three cell layers consist of the melanophores (occupying the deepest layer), the guanophores (forming an intermediate layer and containing many granules, producing

4128-492: The stapes of the amphibian ear, an adaptation necessary for hearing on dry land. An affinity between the amphibians and the teleost fish is the multi-folded structure of the teeth and the paired supra-occipital bones at the back of the head, neither of these features being found elsewhere in the animal kingdom. At the end of the Devonian period (360 million years ago), the seas, rivers and lakes were teeming with life while

4224-635: The Albanerpetontidae, is now considered part of Lissamphibia alongside the superorder Salientia. Furthermore, Salientia includes all three recent orders plus the Triassic proto-frog, Triadobatrachus . The first major groups of amphibians developed in the Devonian period, around 370 million years ago, from lobe-finned fish which were similar to the modern coelacanth and lungfish . These ancient lobe-finned fish had evolved multi-jointed leg-like fins with digits that enabled them to crawl along

4320-621: The Early Triassic, around 250 million years ago, has long been contentious. The most popular hypothesis is that they likely originated from temnospondyls , the most diverse group of prehistoric amphibians, during the Permian period. Another hypothesis is that they emerged from lepospondyls. A fourth group of lissamphibians, the Albanerpetontidae , became extinct around 2 million years ago. The number of known amphibian species

4416-643: The Late Triassic) and Eocaecilia micropodia (from the Early Jurassic), both from Arizona. The earliest salamander is Beiyanerpeton jianpingensis from the Late Jurassic of northeastern China. Authorities disagree as to whether Salientia is a superorder that includes the order Anura, or whether Anura is a sub-order of the order Salientia. The Lissamphibia are traditionally divided into three orders , but an extinct salamander-like family,

4512-428: The adult, passing through the tadpole stage within the egg. Reproductive success of many amphibians is dependent not only on the quantity of rainfall, but the seasonal timing. In the tropics, many amphibians breed continuously or at any time of year. In temperate regions, breeding is mostly seasonal, usually in the spring, and is triggered by increasing day length, rising temperatures or rainfall. Experiments have shown

4608-472: The amphibians' size and their importance in the biosphere . According to the fossil record, Lissamphibia , which includes all modern amphibians and is the only surviving lineage, may have branched off from the extinct groups Temnospondyli and Lepospondyli at some period between the Late Carboniferous and the Early Triassic. The relative scarcity of fossil evidence precludes precise dating, but

4704-409: The attacker and allow the salamander to escape. Both tails and limbs can be regenerated. Adult frogs are unable to regrow limbs but tadpoles can do so. Amphibians have a juvenile stage and an adult stage, and the circulatory systems of the two are distinct. In the juvenile (or tadpole) stage, the circulation is similar to that of a fish; the two-chambered heart pumps the blood through the gills where it

4800-479: The body temperature. Such variation in body temperature is called poikilothermy , though the concept is not widely satisfactory and the use of the term is declining. In small aquatic creatures such as Rotifera , poikilothermy is practically absolute, but other creatures (like crabs ) have wider physiological options at their disposal, and they can move to preferred temperatures, avoid ambient temperature changes, or moderate their effects. Ectotherms can also display

4896-496: The class Amphibia includes all tetrapod vertebrates that are not amniotes. Amphibia in its widest sense ( sensu lato ) was divided into three subclasses , two of which are extinct: These three subclasses do not include all extinct amphibians. Other extinct amphibian groups include Embolomeri (Late Paleozoic large aquatic predators), Seymouriamorpha (semiaquatic to terrestrial Permian forms related to amniotes), among others. Names such as Tetrapoda and Stegocephalia encompass

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4992-564: The classification by herpetologist Darrel Frost and the American Museum of Natural History , available as the online reference database "Amphibian Species of the World". The numbers of species cited above follows Frost and the total number of known (living) amphibian species as of March 31, 2019, is exactly 8,000, of which nearly 90% are frogs. With the phylogenetic classification, the taxon Labyrinthodontia has been discarded as it

5088-558: The closest relatives to the caecilians. However, most studies support a single monophyletic origin of all modern amphibians within the dissorophoid temnospondyls. As they evolved from lunged fish, amphibians had to make certain adaptations for living on land, including the need to develop new means of locomotion. In the water, the sideways thrusts of their tails had propelled them forward, but on land, quite different mechanisms were required. Their vertebral columns, limbs, limb girdles and musculature needed to be strong enough to raise them off

5184-462: The common ancestor of amphibians and amniotes is included in Amphibia, it becomes a paraphyletic group. All modern amphibians are included in the subclass Lissamphibia, which is usually considered a clade , a group of species that have evolved from a common ancestor. The three modern orders are Anura (the frogs), Caudata (or Urodela, the salamanders), and Gymnophiona (or Apoda, the caecilians). It has been suggested that salamanders arose separately from

5280-464: The divergence of the three groups took place in the Paleozoic or early Mesozoic (around 250 million years ago), before the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea and soon after their divergence from the lobe-finned fish. The briefness of this period, and the swiftness with which radiation took place, would help account for the relative scarcity of primitive amphibian fossils. There are large gaps in

5376-456: The early sunlight before they can begin their daily activities. In cool weather the foraging activity of such species is therefore restricted to the day time in most vertebrate ectotherms, and in cold climates most cannot survive at all. In lizards, for instance, most nocturnal species are geckos specialising in "sit and wait" foraging strategies. Such strategies do not require as much energy as active foraging and do not require hunting activity of

5472-449: The eggs hatch. A few species give birth to live young, nourishing them with glandular secretions while they are in the oviduct. Caecilians have a mostly Gondwanan distribution, being found in tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Central and South America. The integumentary structure contains some typical characteristics common to terrestrial vertebrates, such as the presence of highly cornified outer layers, renewed periodically through

5568-414: The entirety of amphibian-grade tetrapods, while Reptiliomorpha or Anthracosauria are variably used to describe extinct amphibians more closely related to amniotes than to lissamphibians. The actual number of species in each group depends on the taxonomic classification followed. The two most common systems are the classification adopted by the website AmphibiaWeb, University of California, Berkeley , and

5664-449: The features of homeothermy, especially within aquatic organisms. Normally their range of ambient environmental temperatures is relatively constant, and there are few in number that attempt to maintain a higher internal temperature due to the high associated costs. Batrachology Batrachology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians including frogs and toads , salamanders , newts , and caecilians . It

5760-406: The food to the stomach and mucus produced by glands in the mouth and pharynx eases its passage. The enzyme chitinase produced in the stomach helps digest the chitinous cuticle of arthropod prey. Amphibians possess a pancreas , liver and gall bladder . The liver is usually large with two lobes. Its size is determined by its function as a glycogen and fat storage unit, and may change with

5856-429: The fore legs, especially so in those species that principally move by jumping or swimming. In the walkers and runners the hind limbs are not so large, and the burrowers mostly have short limbs and broad bodies. The feet have adaptations for the way of life, with webbing between the toes for swimming, broad adhesive toe pads for climbing, and keratinised tubercles on the hind feet for digging (frogs usually dig backwards into

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5952-463: The ground for locomotion and feeding. Terrestrial adults discarded their lateral line systems and adapted their sensory systems to receive stimuli via the medium of the air. They needed to develop new methods to regulate their body heat to cope with fluctuations in ambient temperature. They developed behaviours suitable for reproduction in a terrestrial environment. Their skins were exposed to harmful ultraviolet rays that had previously been absorbed by

6048-402: The importance of temperature, but the trigger event, especially in arid regions, is often a storm. In anurans, males usually arrive at the breeding sites before females and the vocal chorus they produce may stimulate ovulation in females and the endocrine activity of males that are not yet reproductively active. In caecilians, fertilisation is internal, the male extruding an intromittent organ ,

6144-463: The inner ear capable of detecting deeper sounds. Another feature, unique to frogs and salamanders, is the columella-operculum complex adjoining the auditory capsule which is involved in the transmission of both airborne and seismic signals. The ears of salamanders and caecilians are less highly developed than those of frogs as they do not normally communicate with each other through the medium of sound. The eyes of tadpoles lack lids, but at metamorphosis,

6240-543: The land was the realm of early plants and devoid of vertebrates, though some, such as Ichthyostega , may have sometimes hauled themselves out of the water. It is thought they may have propelled themselves with their forelimbs, dragging their hindquarters in a similar manner to that used by the elephant seal . In the early Carboniferous (360 to 323 million years ago), the climate was relatively wet and warm. Extensive swamps developed with mosses , ferns , horsetails and calamites . Air-breathing arthropods evolved and invaded

6336-409: The land where they provided food for the carnivorous amphibians that began to adapt to the terrestrial environment. There were no other tetrapods on the land and the amphibians were at the top of the food chain, with some occupying ecological positions currently held by crocodiles. Though equipped with limbs and the ability to breathe air, most still had a long tapering body and strong tail. Others were

6432-562: The largest amphibian that ever existed—the extinct 9 m (30 ft) Prionosuchus , a crocodile-like temnospondyl dating to 270 million years ago from the middle Permian of Brazil. The largest frog is the African Goliath frog ( Conraua goliath ), which can reach 32 cm (13 in) and weigh 3 kg (6.6 lb). Amphibians are ectothermic (cold-blooded) vertebrates that do not maintain their body temperature through internal physiological processes. Their metabolic rate

6528-417: The many folds in their thin skin, which has capillaries close to the surface. The suborder Salamandroidea contains the advanced salamanders. They differ from the cryptobranchids by having fused prearticular bones in the lower jaw, and by using internal fertilisation. In salamandrids, the male deposits a bundle of sperm, the spermatophore , and the female picks it up and inserts it into her cloaca where

6624-442: The more evolutionarily advanced suborder Mesobatrachia are the fossorial Megophryidae , Pelobatidae , Pelodytidae , Scaphiopodidae and Rhinophrynidae and the obligatorily aquatic Pipidae . These have certain characteristics that are intermediate between the two other suborders. Neobatrachia is by far the largest suborder and includes the remaining families of modern frogs, including most common species. Approximately 96% of

6720-438: The most recent molecular study, based on multilocus sequence typing , suggests a Late Carboniferous/ Early Permian origin for extant amphibians. The origins and evolutionary relationships between the three main groups of amphibians is a matter of debate. A 2005 molecular phylogeny, based on rDNA analysis, suggests that salamanders and caecilians are more closely related to each other than they are to frogs. It also appears that

6816-562: The over 5,000 extant species of frog are neobatrachians. The order Caudata (from the Latin cauda meaning "tail") consists of the salamanders—elongated, low-slung animals that mostly resemble lizards in form. This is a symplesiomorphic trait and they are no more closely related to lizards than they are to mammals. Salamanders lack claws, have scale-free skins, either smooth or covered with tubercles , and tails that are usually flattened from side to side and often finned. They range in size from

6912-538: The reptiles to reproduce on land and which led to their dominance in the period that followed. After the Carboniferous rainforest collapse amphibian dominance gave way to reptiles, and amphibians were further devastated by the Permian–Triassic extinction event . During the Triassic Period (252 to 201 million years ago), the reptiles continued to out-compete the amphibians, leading to a reduction in both

7008-408: The rest of the body. Mixing of the two bloodstreams is minimized by the anatomy of the chambers. The nervous system is basically the same as in other vertebrates, with a central brain, a spinal cord, and nerves throughout the body. The amphibian brain is relatively simple but broadly the same structurally as in reptiles, birds and mammals. Their brains are elongated, except in caecilians, and contain

7104-532: The same intensity. From another point of view, sit-and-wait predation may require very long periods of unproductive waiting. Endotherms cannot, in general, afford such long periods without food, but suitably adapted ectotherms can wait without expending much energy. Endothermic vertebrate species are therefore less dependent on the environmental conditions and have developed a higher variability (both within and between species) in their daily patterns of activity. In ectotherms, fluctuating ambient temperatures may affect

7200-562: The sea bottom. Some fish had developed primitive lungs that help them breathe air when the stagnant pools of the Devonian swamps were low in oxygen. They could also use their strong fins to hoist themselves out of the water and onto dry land if circumstances so required. Eventually, their bony fins would evolve into limbs and they would become the ancestors to all tetrapods , including modern amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals . Despite being able to crawl on land, many of these prehistoric tetrapodomorph fish still spent most of their time in

7296-411: The seasons as these reserves are built or used up. Adipose tissue is another important means of storing energy and this occurs in the abdomen (in internal structures called fat bodies), under the skin and, in some salamanders, in the tail. There are two kidneys located dorsally, near the roof of the body cavity. Their job is to filter the blood of metabolic waste and transport the urine via ureters to

7392-572: The skin ( cutaneous respiration ) and this allows adult amphibians to respire without rising to the surface of water and to hibernate at the bottom of ponds. To compensate for their thin and delicate skin, amphibians have evolved mucous glands, principally on their heads, backs and tails. The secretions produced by these help keep the skin moist. In addition, most species of amphibian have granular glands that secrete distasteful or poisonous substances. Some amphibian toxins can be lethal to humans while others have little effect. The main poison-producing glands,

7488-461: The skin picks up heat from blood moving outward from the body core, re-using and thereby conserving some of the heat that otherwise would have been wasted. The skin of bullfrogs secretes more mucus when it is hot, allowing more cooling by evaporation. During periods of cold, some ectotherms enter a state of torpor , in which their metabolism slows or, in some cases, such as the wood frog , effectively stops. The torpor might last overnight or last for

7584-453: The smaller the individual is, so it happens at an early stage when the larvae are still small. (The largest species of salamanders do not go through a metamorphosis.) Amphibians that lay eggs on land often go through the whole metamorphosis inside the egg. An anamniotic terrestrial egg is less than 1 cm in diameter due to diffusion problems, a size which puts a limit on the amount of posthatching growth. The smallest amphibian (and vertebrate) in

7680-559: The soil). In most salamanders, the limbs are short and more or less the same length and project at right angles from the body. Locomotion on land is by walking and the tail often swings from side to side or is used as a prop, particularly when climbing. In their normal gait, only one leg is advanced at a time in the manner adopted by their ancestors, the lobe-finned fish. Some salamanders in the genus Aneides and certain plethodontids climb trees and have long limbs, large toepads and prehensile tails. In aquatic salamanders and in frog tadpoles,

7776-452: The species is toxic and is a warning sign to predators. Amphibians have a skeletal system that is structurally homologous to other tetrapods, though with a number of variations. They all have four limbs except for the legless caecilians and a few species of salamander with reduced or no limbs. The bones are hollow and lightweight. The musculoskeletal system is strong to enable it to support the head and body. The bones are fully ossified and

7872-600: The sperm is stored until the eggs are laid. The largest family in this group is Plethodontidae, the lungless salamanders, which includes 60% of all salamander species. The family Salamandridae includes the true salamanders and the name " newt " is given to members of its subfamily Pleurodelinae . The third suborder, Sirenoidea , contains the four species of sirens, which are in a single family, Sirenidae . Members of this order are eel -like aquatic salamanders with much reduced forelimbs and no hind limbs. Some of their features are primitive while others are derived. Fertilisation

7968-548: The tail has dorsal and ventral fins and is moved from side to side as a means of propulsion. Adult frogs do not have tails and caecilians have only very short ones. Salamanders use their tails in defence and some are prepared to jettison them to save their lives in a process known as autotomy . Certain species in the Plethodontidae have a weak zone at the base of the tail and use this strategy readily. The tail often continues to twitch after separation which may distract

8064-436: The top land predators, sometimes reaching several metres in length, preying on the large insects of the period and the many types of fish in the water. They still needed to return to water to lay their shell-less eggs, and even most modern amphibians have a fully aquatic larval stage with gills like their fish ancestors. It was the development of the amniotic egg, which prevents the developing embryo from drying out, that enabled

8160-459: The urinary bladder where it is stored before being passed out periodically through the cloacal vent. Larvae and most aquatic adult amphibians excrete the nitrogen as ammonia in large quantities of dilute urine, while terrestrial species, with a greater need to conserve water, excrete the less toxic product urea. Some tree frogs with limited access to water excrete most of their metabolic waste as uric acid. Most aquatic and semi-aquatic amphibians have

8256-566: The usual motor and sensory areas of tetrapods. The pineal body , known to regulate sleep patterns in humans, is thought to produce the hormones involved in hibernation and aestivation in amphibians. Tadpoles retain the lateral line system of their ancestral fishes, but this is lost in terrestrial adult amphibians. Many aquatic salamanders and some caecilians possess electroreceptors called ampullary organs (completely absent in anurans), that allow them to locate objects around them when submerged in water. The ears are well developed in frogs. There

8352-462: The vertebrae interlock with each other by means of overlapping processes. The pectoral girdle is supported by muscle, and the well-developed pelvic girdle is attached to the backbone by a pair of sacral ribs. The ilium slopes forward and the body is held closer to the ground than is the case in mammals. In most amphibians, there are four digits on the fore foot and five on the hind foot, but no claws on either. Some salamanders have fewer digits and

8448-634: The vertebrae. Their skulls are mostly broad and short, and are often incompletely ossified. Their skin contains little keratin and lacks scales, apart from a few fish-like scales in certain caecilians. The skin contains many mucous glands and in some species, poison glands (a type of granular gland). The hearts of amphibians have three chambers, two atria and one ventricle . They have a urinary bladder and nitrogenous waste products are excreted primarily as urea . Most amphibians lay their eggs in water and have aquatic larvae that undergo metamorphosis to become terrestrial adults. Amphibians breathe by means of

8544-585: The vulnerable aquatic larval stage. They are not found in the sea with the exception of one or two frogs that live in brackish water in mangrove swamps; the Anderson's salamander meanwhile occurs in brackish or salt water lakes. On land, amphibians are restricted to moist habitats because of the need to keep their skin damp. Modern amphibians have a simplified anatomy compared to their ancestors due to paedomorphosis , caused by two evolutionary trends: miniaturization and an unusually large genome, which result in

8640-399: The water for longer periods. Their lungs improved and their skeletons became heavier and stronger, better able to support the weight of their bodies on land. They developed "hands" and "feet" with five or more digits; the skin became more capable of retaining body fluids and resisting desiccation. The fish's hyomandibula bone in the hyoid region behind the gills diminished in size and became

8736-551: The water increases at both low temperatures and high flow rates, aquatic amphibians in these situations can rely primarily on cutaneous respiration, as in the Titicaca water frog and the hellbender salamander . In air, where oxygen is more concentrated, some small species can rely solely on cutaneous gas exchange, most famously the plethodontid salamanders , which have neither lungs nor gills. Many aquatic salamanders and all tadpoles have gills in their larval stage, with some (such as

8832-515: The water. The skin changed to become more protective and prevent excessive water loss. The superclass Tetrapoda is divided into four classes of vertebrate animals with four limbs. Reptiles, birds and mammals are amniotes, the eggs of which are either laid or carried by the female and are surrounded by several membranes, some of which are impervious. Lacking these membranes, amphibians require water bodies for reproduction, although some species have developed various strategies for protecting or bypassing

8928-464: The water. They had started to develop lungs, but still breathed predominantly with gills. Many examples of species showing transitional features have been discovered. Ichthyostega was one of the first primitive amphibians, with nostrils and more efficient lungs. It had four sturdy limbs, a neck, a tail with fins and a skull very similar to that of the lobe-finned fish, Eusthenopteron . Amphibians evolved adaptations that allowed them to stay out of

9024-401: The world is a microhylid frog from New Guinea ( Paedophryne amauensis ) first discovered in 2012. It has an average length of 7.7 mm (0.30 in) and is part of a genus that contains four of the world's ten smallest frog species. The largest living amphibian is the 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) Chinese giant salamander ( Andrias davidianus ) but this is a great deal smaller than

9120-477: The year in each habitat. When on land, they mostly spend the day hidden under stones or logs or in dense vegetation, emerging in the evening and night to forage for worms, insects and other invertebrates. The suborder Cryptobranchoidea contains the primitive salamanders. A number of fossil cryptobranchids have been found, but there are only three living species, the Chinese giant salamander ( Andrias davidianus ),

9216-817: Was the case with the Black Sea invasion of the natural hybrid Pelophylax esculentus reported in 2010. Several hundred frog species in adaptive radiations (e.g., Eleutherodactylus , the Pacific Platymantis , the Australo-Papuan microhylids , and many other tropical frogs), however, do not need any water for breeding in the wild . They reproduce via direct development, an ecological and evolutionary adaptation that has allowed them to be completely independent from free-standing water. Almost all of these frogs live in wet tropical rainforests and their eggs hatch directly into miniature versions of

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