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51-698: The Rodwell Trail is a short-distance footpath that runs from Wyke Regis to the town centre of Weymouth in Dorset – a distance of 2¼ miles (3.5 kilometres). The trail, opened in 2000, travels along the former route of the Weymouth and Portland Railway . The section from near Sandsfoot Castle to Ferry Bridge is part of the South West Coast Path . The route follows part of the Jurassic Coast , and Sites of Special Scientific Interest . It

102-469: A few feed on plant matter. Frog skin has a rich microbiome which is important to their health. Frogs are extremely efficient at converting what they eat into body mass. They are an important food source for predators and part of the food web dynamics of many of the world's ecosystems . The skin is semi-permeable , making them susceptible to dehydration, so they either live in moist places or have special adaptations to deal with dry habitats. Frogs produce

153-538: A major anti-submarine and torpedo warfare centre in both the First and Second World Wars. The Whitehead site is now a housing estate. It later became Vickers Armstrong, Wellworthys and finally AE Piston Products. In 2018 London based theatre company The Pensive Federation, inspired by artistic director Neil J. Byden's family and upbringing in Wyke and his parents connections to the factory, set their annual new writing festival in

204-474: A prefrontal bone, presence of a hyoid plate , a lower jaw without teeth (with the exception of Gastrotheca guentheri ) consisting of three pairs of bones (angulosplenial, dentary, and mentomeckelian, with the last pair being absent in Pipoidea ), an unsupported tongue, lymph spaces underneath the skin, and a muscle, the protractor lentis, attached to the lens of the eye . The anuran larva or tadpole has

255-454: A reminder of the railway. The signboards of each station halt are not original, but label each original stop. Within the Westham area of the trail, a World War II light anti-aircraft gun emplacement built into the railway embankment was refurbished in recent years to provide a viewing platform across Weymouth and to act as a reminder of Weymouth's defence during the war largely on account of

306-462: A set of steps on the southern side of the emplacement. An extension of the trail further along the old railway line was proposed as a means of access to the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy during the 2012 Olympic Games . Following a £900,000 investment, £350,000 of which was contributed by the Big Lottery funded Sustrans "Connect2" initiative in 2012, a missing link in the trail

357-466: A single central respiratory spiracle and mouthparts consisting of keratinous beaks and denticles . Frogs and toads are broadly classified into three suborders: Archaeobatrachia , which includes four families of primitive frogs; Mesobatrachia , which includes five families of more evolutionary intermediate frogs; and Neobatrachia , by far the largest group, which contains the remaining families of modern frogs, including most common species throughout

408-537: A slightly warty skin and prefers a watery habitat whereas the Panamanian golden frog ( Atelopus zeteki ) is in the toad family Bufonidae and has a smooth skin. The origin of the order name Anura —and its original spelling Anoures —is the Ancient Greek alpha privative prefix ἀν- ( an- from ἀ- before a vowel) 'without', and οὐρά ( ourá ) 'animal tail'. meaning "tailless". It refers to

459-502: A wide range of vocalisations , particularly in their breeding season , and exhibit many different kinds of complex behaviors to attract mates, to fend off predators and to generally survive. Frogs are valued as food by humans and also have many cultural roles in literature, symbolism and religion. They are also seen as environmental bellwethers , with declines in frog populations often viewed as early warning signs of environmental damage. Frog populations have declined significantly since

510-557: Is a haven for various wildlife, and forms a green lung linking Ferry Bridge with the RSPB Radipole Lake wildlife reserve. The route often features many species of birds, including Kingfishers , Redwings and Great Crested Grebes . A range of insects, rodents, mammals such as foxes and badgers , as well as lizards and frogs can also be seen. Plantlife includes Foxgloves , Bluebells and Meadow Buttercups . Abbotsbury Road often has Hedge Sparrows and Blackbirds in

561-649: Is informal, not from taxonomy or evolutionary history. An adult frog has a stout body, protruding eyes , anteriorly-attached tongue , limbs folded underneath, and no tail (the tail of tailed frogs is an extension of the male cloaca). Frogs have glandular skin, with secretions ranging from distasteful to toxic. Their skin varies in colour from well- camouflaged dappled brown, grey and green to vivid patterns of bright red or yellow and black to show toxicity and ward off predators . Adult frogs live in fresh water and on dry land; some species are adapted for living underground or in trees. Frogs typically lay their eggs in

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612-703: Is named after a neighbourhood of Weymouth which it passes through. The trail is popular with pedestrians, cyclists and dog walkers. Maintenance of the trail is carried out by the Friends of Rodwell Trail group, who carry out litter picks and clear overgrowth on the route. Their work has been promoted by local publications such as the Dorset Echo . The trail starts on Abbotsbury Road in Westham , Weymouth and ends at Ferrybridge in Wyke Regis . The latter part of

663-670: Is part of South Dorset constituency for elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom . Wyke Regis is part of the Rodwell and Wyke ward for elections to Dorset Council . Wyke Regis looks over Chesil Beach and the Fleet lagoon to the west, the Isle of Portland to the south and Portland Harbour to the south and east. The South West Coast Path passes around the coast of

714-524: Is the name of the total group that includes modern frogs in the order Anura as well as their close fossil relatives, the "proto-frogs" or "stem-frogs". The common features possessed by these proto-frogs include 14 presacral vertebrae (modern frogs have eight or 9), a long and forward-sloping ilium in the pelvis , the presence of a frontoparietal bone , and a lower jaw without teeth. The earliest known amphibians that were more closely related to frogs than to salamanders are Triadobatrachus massinoti , from

765-653: Is uncertain, but agrees with arguments that it could plausibly derive from a Proto-Indo-European base along the lines of * preu , meaning 'jump'. How Old English frosc gave rise to frogga is, however, uncertain, as the development does not involve a regular sound-change . Instead, it seems that there was a trend in Old English to coin nicknames for animals ending in - g , with examples—themselves all of uncertain etymology—including dog , hog , pig, stag , and (ear)wig . Frog appears to have been adapted from frosc as part of this trend. Meanwhile,

816-550: The Antarctic Peninsula , indicating that this region was once home to frogs related to those now living in South American Nothofagus forest . A cladogram showing the relationships of the different families of frogs in the clade Anura can be seen in the table below. This diagram, in the form of a tree , shows how each frog family is related to other families, with each node representing

867-740: The Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event associated with the Chicxulub impactor . All origins of arboreality (e.g. in Hyloidea and Natatanura) follow from that time and the resurgence of forest that occurred afterwards. Frog fossils have been found on all of the Earth's continents. In 2020, it was announced that 40 million year old helmeted frog fossils had been discovered by a team of vertebrate palaeontologists in Seymour Island on

918-493: The Great Northern Diver , Slavonian Grebes , and Mergansers . Wyke Regis Wyke Regis / ˌ w aɪ k ˈ r iː dʒ ɪ s / is a village in the civil parish of Weymouth , in south Dorset , England. The village is part of the south western suburbs of Weymouth, on the northern shore of Portland Harbour and the south-eastern end of Chesil Beach . Wyke is 15 kilometres (9 mi) south of

969-474: The Permian , 265   million years ago. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforest . Frogs account for around 88% of extant amphibian species. They are also one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. Warty frog species tend to be called toads , but the distinction between frogs and toads

1020-561: The Permian , rather less than 300 million years ago, a date in better agreement with the palaeontological data. A further study in 2011 using both extinct and living taxa sampled for morphological, as well as molecular data, came to the conclusion that Lissamphibia is monophyletic and that it should be nested within Lepospondyli rather than within Temnospondyli . The study postulated that Lissamphibia originated no earlier than

1071-524: The divergence of the three groups took place in the Paleozoic or early Mesozoic before the break-up of the supercontinent Pangaea and soon after their divergence from the lobe-finned fishes . This would help account for the relative scarcity of amphibian fossils from the period before the groups split. Another molecular phylogenetic analysis conducted about the same time concluded that lissamphibians first appeared about 330 million years ago and that

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1122-623: The edible frog ( Pelophylax esculentus ) is a hybrid between the pool frog ( P. lessonae ) and the marsh frog ( P. ridibundus ). The fire-bellied toads Bombina bombina and B. variegata are similar in forming hybrids. These are less fertile than their parents, giving rise to a hybrid zone where the hybrids are prevalent. The origins and evolutionary relationships between the three main groups of amphibians are hotly debated. A molecular phylogeny based on rDNA analysis dating from 2005 suggests that salamanders and caecilians are more closely related to each other than they are to frogs and

1173-425: The middle Jurassic is slightly younger, about 155–170 million years old. The main evolutionary changes in this species involved the shortening of the body and the loss of the tail. Tadpoles of N. degiustoi constitute the oldest tadpoles found as of 2024, dating back to 168-161 million years ago. These tadpoles also showed adaptations for filter-feeding , implying residence in temporary pools by filter-feeding larvae

1224-429: The richest in species . The Anura include all modern frogs and any fossil species that fit within the anuran definition. The characteristics of anuran adults include: 9 or fewer presacral vertebrae, the presence of a urostyle formed of fused vertebrae, no tail, a long and forward-sloping ilium, shorter fore limbs than hind limbs, radius and ulna fused, tibia and fibula fused, elongated ankle bones , absence of

1275-551: The temnospondyl-origin hypothesis is more credible than other theories. The neobatrachians seemed to have originated in Africa/India, the salamanders in East Asia and the caecilians in tropical Pangaea. Other researchers, while agreeing with the main thrust of this study, questioned the choice of calibration points used to synchronise the data. They proposed that the date of lissamphibian diversification should be placed in

1326-412: The 1950s. More than one third of species are considered to be threatened with extinction and over 120 are believed to have become extinct since the 1980s. The number of malformations among frogs is on the rise and an emerging fungal disease, chytridiomycosis , has spread around the world. Conservation biologists are working to understand the causes of these problems and to resolve them. The use of

1377-534: The anuran lineage proper all lived in the early Jurassic period. One such early frog species, Prosalirus bitis , was discovered in 1995 in the Kayenta Formation of Arizona and dates back to the Early Jurassic epoch (199.6 to 175 million years ago), making Prosalirus somewhat more recent than Triadobatrachus . Like the latter, Prosalirus did not have greatly enlarged legs, but had

1428-465: The civil parish had a population of 4378. On 1 April 1933 the parish was abolished and merged with Weymouth and Chickerell . The major industry in the area was Whitehead Torpedo Works, which has now closed. As the major employer in the village, Whitehead's funded the building of two schools, which opened in 1897. Whitehead's expertise also led to the Royal Naval establishment at Portland becoming

1479-540: The common names frog and toad has no taxonomic justification. From a classification perspective, all members of the order Anura are frogs, but only members of the family Bufonidae are considered "true toads". The use of the term frog in common names usually refers to species that are aquatic or semi-aquatic and have smooth, moist skins; the term toad generally refers to species that are terrestrial with dry, warty skins. There are numerous exceptions to this rule. The European fire-bellied toad ( Bombina bombina ) has

1530-399: The county town, Dorchester . The village has a population of around 5,500. All Saints' Church in the village is known to have been frequented by King George III during his summer visits to Weymouth between 1790 and 1805. The church was the main place of worship for Weymouth citizens until the first sizeable church was built in the main part of the town in the 19th century. The victims of

1581-481: The early Triassic period of Madagascar (about 250 million years ago), and Czatkobatrachus polonicus , from the Early Triassic of Poland (about the same age as Triadobatrachus ). The skull of Triadobatrachus is frog-like, being broad with large eye sockets, but the fossil has features diverging from modern frogs. These include a longer body with more vertebrae . The tail has separate vertebrae unlike

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1632-668: The fictional factory of Reseal9. Significant Other Inc. was performed at The Vault Theatre in Waterloo. Wyke Regis Infant school is situated along Portland Road, while Wyke Regis Junior school is on the High Street. There is a Nursery school within the grounds of the Infant school. All Saints Church of England Academy is a secondary school situated on the Portland Road. The school is a Church of England school. Wyke Regis

1683-533: The fused urostyle or coccyx in modern frogs. The tibia and fibula bones are also separate, making it probable that Triadobatrachus was not an efficient leaper. A 2019 study has noted the presence of Salientia from the Chinle Formation , and suggested that anurans might have first appeared during the Late Triassic . On the basis of fossil evidence, the earliest known "true frogs" that fall into

1734-413: The hedges, along with Garden Spiders and Great Green Bush Crickets. Serotine Bats and Pipistrelle Bats have also been seen around this area. To the south of Wyke Tunnel, the damp environment has spawned Pendulous Sedge and Heart's Tongue ferns. Common frogs and Blackcaps are found within this area, as well as foxes and badgers. The Buxton Road Bridge region often has many species of a butterfly during

1785-481: The late Carboniferous , some 290 to 305 million years ago. The split between Anura and Caudata was estimated as taking place 292 million years ago, rather later than most molecular studies suggest, with the caecilians splitting off 239 million years ago. In 2008, Gerobatrachus hottoni , a temnospondyl with many frog- and salamander-like characteristics, was discovered in Texas . It dated back 290 million years and

1836-675: The long sweep of Chesil Beach on which many ships ran aground, the village, as well as the neighbouring Isle of Portland gained a reputation for both smuggling and the looting of wrecks. This reputation is reflected today in the name of a local public house, the Wyke Smugglers previously known as the Wyke Hotel. Located close to the Fleet Lagoon of Chesil Beach is the Wyke Regis Training Area . In 1931

1887-414: The naval base at Portland. The stone structured emplacement would have given low-level defence to Weymouth and Portland harbours. The mounting gun ring still remains, and this would have held a 40 mm Bofors Gun. The dividing partitions surrounding the ring, still survive, which would have been ready-use ammunition lockers and general equipment storage cupboards, as does the rooms below that are reached by

1938-489: The nineteenth century, and is paralleled widely in other Germanic languages , with examples in the modern languages including German Frosch , Norwegian frosk , Icelandic froskur , and Dutch (kik)vors . These words allow reconstruction of a Common Germanic ancestor * froskaz . The third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary finds that the etymology of * froskaz

1989-567: The summer, including Red Admiral , Comma , and Holly Blue . Mice may also be spotted within the area. Between Sandsfoot and Wyke Halts, various wildlife from Common Lizards to the Common Blue butterfly are often found. Amongst the reeds are Wasp Spiders and the rare Bithyinian Vetch and Little Robin plants. At the Sandsfoot Gardens , the vantage spot over Portland Harbour is popular for seeing overwintering birds such as

2040-544: The tailless character of these amphibians. The origins of the word frog are uncertain and debated. The word is first attested in Old English as frogga , but the usual Old English word for the frog was frosc (with variants such as frox and forsc ), and it is agreed that the word frog is somehow related to this. Old English frosc remained in dialectal use in English as frosh and frosk into

2091-450: The trail ends). In 1870 the first intermediate station at Rodwell was opened and later improved in 1908, with a new passing loop, platform and signal box. The line's use was improved further in 1909 when new halts were added at Westham and Wyke Regis, and again in 1932 with a stop at Sandsfoot Castle Halt. The railway closed on 9 April 1965. Along the route, the remains of the station platforms, and other relics, including tunnels can be seen as

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2142-474: The trail is along the northern side of Portland Harbour , passing the Tudor Sandsfoot Castle . The Rodwell Trail travels along the former route of the Weymouth and Portland Railway , which was constructed in 1865 to carry passengers and Portland stone between the two settlements. In 1891 it would be extended to serve Whitehead's Torpedo Factory at Wyke Regis (within close proximity of where

2193-428: The typical three-pronged pelvic structure of modern frogs. Unlike Triadobatrachus , Prosalirus had already lost nearly all of its tail and was well adapted for jumping. Another Early Jurassic frog is Vieraella herbsti , which is known only from dorsal and ventral impressions of a single animal and was estimated to be 33 mm ( 1 + 1 ⁄ 4  in) from snout to vent. Notobatrachus degiustoi from

2244-718: The village, which is also around halfway along the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site . Frog See text A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek ἀνούρα , literally 'without tail'). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" Triadobatrachus is known from the Early Triassic of Madagascar (250   million years ago ), but molecular clock dating suggests their split from other amphibians may extend further back to

2295-467: The water. The eggs hatch into aquatic larvae called tadpoles that have tails and internal gills . They have highly specialised rasping mouth parts suitable for herbivorous , omnivorous or planktivorous diets. The life cycle is completed when they metamorphose into adults. A few species deposit eggs on land or bypass the tadpole stage. Adult frogs generally have a carnivorous diet consisting of small invertebrates , but omnivorous species exist and

2346-548: The word toad , first attested as Old English tādige , is unique to English and is likewise of uncertain etymology. It is the basis for the word tadpole , first attested as Middle English taddepol , apparently meaning 'toad-head'. About 88% of amphibian species are classified in the order Anura. These include over 7,700 species in 59 families , of which the Hylidae (1062 spp.), Strabomantidae (807 spp.), Microhylidae (758 spp.), and Bufonidae (657 spp.) are

2397-438: The world. The suborder Neobatrachia is further divided into the two superfamilies Hyloidea and Ranoidea . This classification is based on such morphological features as the number of vertebrae, the structure of the pectoral girdle , and the morphology of tadpoles. While this classification is largely accepted, relationships among families of frogs are still debated. Some species of anurans hybridise readily. For instance,

2448-587: The wrecks of the East Indiaman ship Earl of Abergavenny , including its captain John Wordsworth, brother of poet William Wordsworth , are buried in the churchyard, as are bodies recovered from Alexander . Construction of the church started around 1451; it took four years to build and was dedicated on 19 October 1455. The church is constructed of local stone brought from quarries on Portland and at Upwey. Thanks to treacherous local currents and

2499-545: Was already commonplace. The evolution of modern Anura likely was complete by the Jurassic period. Since then, evolutionary changes in chromosome numbers have taken place about 20 times faster in mammals than in frogs, which means speciation is occurring more rapidly in mammals. According to genetic studies, the families Hyloidea , Microhylidae , and the clade Natatanura (comprising about 88% of living frogs) diversified simultaneously some 66 million years ago, soon after

2550-473: Was hailed as a missing link , a stem batrachian close to the common ancestor of frogs and salamanders, consistent with the widely accepted hypothesis that frogs and salamanders are more closely related to each other (forming a clade called Batrachia) than they are to caecilians. However, others have suggested that Gerobatrachus hottoni was only a dissorophoid temnospondyl unrelated to extant amphibians. Salientia (Latin salire ( salio ), "to jump")

2601-566: Was reconnected and installed. The Rodwell Trail featured on the BBC factual programme Railway Walks presented by Julia Bradbury , which was first broadcast on BBC Four in October 2008, and repeated on BBC Two in April 2009. Portland's Merchant's Railway was also featured on the programme as a continuation of the same walk. The walk was included in the book accompanying the series. The trail

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