Facts about Amphibians FACT: Amphibians are divided into three groups which include newts and salamanders,

frogs and toads, and caecilians. Newts and salamanders are slender-bodied amphibians that have a long tail and four legs. Newts spend most of their life on land and return to water to breed. Salamanders, in contrast, spend their entire lives in water. Frogs and toads belong to the largest of the three groups of amphibians. Adult frogs and toads have four legs but do not have tails. Caecilians are the least-known group of amphibians. Caecilians have no limbs and only a very short tail. They have a superficial resemblance to snakes, worms, or eels but are not closely related to any of these animals. FACT: There are between 5,000 and 6,000 species of known amphibians alive today. The IUCN estimates that there are about 6,000 known species of frogs, toads, salamanders, and caecilians. Other sources place the estimated number of amphibian species at about 5,000. Of the three groups of amphibians, frogs and toads are the most diverse, with about 29 families and 4,380 species. Newts and salamanders are the second most diverse group of amphibians, with about 10 families and 470 species. There are only 3 families of caecilians and 170 species. FACT: The first amphibians appeared approximately 370 million years ago during the Devonian Period. During the Devonian Period, a group of primitive fleshyfinned fishes known as the crossopterygians gave rise to the first amphibians. These creatures were the first vertebrates to colonize terrestrial habitats. The world of those early amphibians was quite different than it is today. There were no birds, no mammals, and no reptiles on land. There were only invertebrates and an assortment of prehistoric plants such as club mosses, ferns, and liverworts. The earliest fossil amphibian is considered to be Ichthyostega, an animal that had four limbs and lungs. FACT: Amphibians vertebrates. were the first four-limbed

FACT: Amphibians have a simple body structure, when compared to other vertebrates. Most adult amphibians have 4 limbs with 4 digits on the front limbs and 5 digits on the hind limbs (caecilians are the exception to this rule, having no limbs or digits). Most frogs and toads have a large head, muscular hind limbs, and no tail. Salamanders are long-bodied and have a tail; some species have a reduced number of digits or even lack hind limbs entirely. Amphibians lack a rib cage and have only short ribs. They also lack a diaphragm. FACT: Amphibians have delicate, permeable skin. The skin of amphibians is delicate and lacks the protection that scales (a characteristic of reptiles) or hair (a characteristic of mammals) provides these other groups of animals. Amphibian skin is permeable to water and is characterized by having numerous mucous glands that help keep their skin from drying out. All amphibians also have poison glands in their skin that produce a range of toxins depending on the species; some toxins are merely unpalatable while others are lethal. FACT: A group of salamanders known as the plethodontids have no lungs. The plethodontids, also called "lungless salamanders" must absorb oxygen through their skin and mouth to breath since they lack lungs. Of all salamanders, the plethodontids are the most diverse group, with about 376 species. They inhabit regions of North America, Central America, South America, southern Europe, Sardinia, and Korea. FACT: Most amphibians have a life cycle that progresses through three stages. Most amphibian species have a life cycle that involves three stages, egg, larva, and adult. The transition from larva to adult is known as metamorphosis and in some amphibians such as frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts, the transformation is dramatic. Most amphibians lay their eggs in water (though a few species lay their eggs on land). The eggs of amphibians have no hard shell and instead are encased in a gelatinous mass to prevent the egg from drying out. The life cycle of frogs and toads is perhaps the best known amphibian life cycle, with the tadpole being the larval stage. FACT: The largest amphibian is the Chinese giant salamander. As such, it is also the largest salamander in the world, growing to lengths of up to 6 feet. Other large amphibians include the Japanese giant salamander and the goliath frog. FACT: Amphibians are declining around the world. According to the IUCN, nearly one-third of all amphibians are known to be threatened or extinct. The

Early amphibians evolved two pairs of jointed limbs from fleshy-fins of their fish-like ancestors. Amphibians were therefore the first tetrapod, backboned animals that have four limbs. The innovation of limbs enabled early amphibians and their descendants to support their body on land and to move more freely in terrestrial habitats. In addition to the challenge of movement, the transition from water to land presented amphibian ancestors with other adaptive challenges such as breathing air and preventing desiccation.

largest numbers of threatened species are found in Colombia, Mexico, and Ecuador. Amphibians in the Caribbean are also under grave threat where high percentages of the amphibians that live in the region are threatened or extinct. In recent years, scientists and conservationists have been working to raise public awareness of a global decline in amphibian populations. Because frogs swallow their food whole, the size of their meal is only limited by the size of their mouth and their stomach. Tree frogs have adhesive pads on their toes for clinging to smooth surfaces. Frogs cannot live in the sea or any salt water. The eyes and nose of a frog are on top of its head so it can breathe and see when most of its body is under the water. Certain frogs can jump up to 20 times their own body length in a single leap. Some say that you will get warts from touching frogs and toads, but that is a myth. You get warts from human viruses, not from frogs and toads! In Japan frogs are symbols of good luck. Amphibians have been around for nearly 400 million years. In ancient Egypt, frogs were symbols of resurrection and were even mummified with the dead. Frogs don't drink water but absorb it through their skin. Some frogs and salamanders have tongues 10x the length of their body. The red-eyed tree frog lays its eggs on leaves over water so the tadpoles can drop right in. Most frogs can change their color somewhat to match their surroundings. A group of frogs is called an ARMY of frogs. Salamanders can re-grow their toes and tails. Many frogs and salamanders take care of their young, either by guarding their eggs, transporting their young or feeding their tadpoles. The paradoxical frog of South America has tadpoles up to 10 in. long while the mature adults are only 3 in. long. They get smaller as they age! In most species of frogs only the male croaks. Croaking attracts female frogs during mating season and lets other males know that this is HIS territory and others should back off! Bullfrogs stay tadpoles for about 2 years before they become frogs. Some frogs remain tadpoles for only 8 days. The Bullfrog is the largest frog native to North America. It can grow to 18 in. and weigh 1.2 pounds!

around the eggs until they become embedded in a honeycomb-like structure. After 12 to 20 weeks, fully formed young toads emerge by pushing out through the membrane covering the toads back. 3) A frog completely sheds its skin about once a week. After it pulls off the old, dead skin, the frog usually eats it. 4) When Darwins frog tadpoles hatch, a male frog swallows the tadpoles. He keeps the tiny amphibians in his vocal sac for about 60 days to allow them to grow. He then proceeds to cough up tiny, fully formed frogs. 5) When a frog swallows its prey, it blinks, which pushes its eyeballs down on top of the mouth to help push the food down its throat. 6) The wood frog of North America actually freezes in the winter and is reanimated in the spring. When temperatures fall, the wood frogs body begins to shut down, and its breathing, heartbeat and muscle movements stop. The water in the frogs cells freezes and is replaced with glucose and urea to keep cells from collapsing. When theres a thaw, the frogs warms up, its body functions resume and it hops off like nothing ever happened. 7) A group of birds is called a flock, a group of cattle is called a herd, but a group of frogs is called an army. 8) The glass frog has translucent skin, so you can see its internal organs, bones and muscles through its skin. You can even observe its heart beating and its stomach digesting food. 9) There is a frog in Indonesia that has no lungs it breathes entirely through its skin. 10) The waxy monkey frog secretes a wax from its neck and uses its legs to rub that wax all over its body. The wax prevents the skin of the frog from drying out in sunlight. 11) Most frogs have teeth, although usually only on their upper jaw. The teeth are used to hold prey in place until the frog can swallow it. 12) The biggest frog in the world is the Goliath frog. It lives in West Africa and can measure more than a foot in length and weigh more than 7 pounds as much as a newborn baby. 13) Theres a type of poison dart frog called the bluejeans frog; it has a red body with blue legs. It is also sometimes called the strawberry dart frog. 14) The red-eyed tree frog lays its eggs on the underside of leaves that hang over water. When the eggs hatch, the tadpoles fall into the water below. Toads use their eyeballs to help them swallow their prey.

1) One gram of the toxin produced by the skin of the golden poison dart frog could kill 100,000 people. 2 ) The female Surinam toad lays up to 100 eggs, which are then distributed over her back. Her skin swells

Amphibians live on all continents except Antarctica. The Spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) can survive the winter season with 65 percent of its body water as ice. Slimy salamanders (Plethodon glutinosus) produce one of the stickiest substances known to man it effectively glues shut the mouths of most would-be predators. The Goliath Frog of West Africa is the worlds biggest frog its body alone can reach almost a foot (12 inches) in length, and it weighs up to 7 lb - and also has the longest leap easily clearing 10 feet in a single hop. The Chinese giant salamander is the worlds biggest amphibian weighing in at well over 100 pounds and reaching up to two meters in length. The toxin in one individual of the most toxic poison dart frog, Phyllobates terribilis, could kill over 90 humans. Female grey tree frogs pick their mates based on how few predators are in the pool of water he is calling from. Male tungara frogs with the most attractive calls (to female tungara frogs, that is) also are most easily detected (and thereby eaten) by frog eating bats. The tail of the Tailed Frog (Ascaphus trueii) in the Pacific Northwest is actually a copulatory organ. It is very unique in that almost all other frogs can only perform external fertilization. Males of some European water frogs increase their fitness by clasping and releasing sperm on already deposited egg masses this is an effective strategy because males that do things the proper way usually dont fertilize the thousands of eggs that a female deposits during amplexus (the process in which a male frog grasps a female with his front legs while she lays eggs). A male African Bullfrog builds pools, canals, and dams in an effort to keep eggs and larvae that he has sired from drying up. Incredibly aggressive, he will also charge a biologist and inflict a nasty bite as high up as he can hop. Male gladiator frogs of Latin America use spikes on their forearms to mortally wound competing males during courtship rituals. In Brazil, the worlds only fruit eating frog leaps with its mouth wide open at ripe fruit hanging in trees. The larvae of some caecilian species have special mouthparts for scraping away and swallowing the inside of their mothers oviduct as a sole source of nutrition. Many salamanders can regenerate an entire leg (or tail). Thanks to cryoprotectant chemicals that act as antifreeze in and around their cells, wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) can freeze solid and hop away after thawing out.

The eggs of marbled salamanders (Ambystoma opacum) are deposited under cover in dry ponds where they can sit in stasis for over 8 months while waiting for the pond to fill. Hypoxic conditions occur within the eggs when the nest is inundated with water, triggering for the larvae to hatch out of their eggs. Amphiumas, eel-like aquatic salamanders of the southeastern US, have incredibly strong jaws that permit them to crush crayfish, their primary prey, with a single chomp. They also do a number on the fingers of biologists. Water-holding frogs that inhabit deserts down under store water in their bladder and in pockets of skin. Their pee is an important source of hydration for Aborigines crossing the arid outback. Waxy tree frogs of South America live up to their name by producing a wax-like cocoon around their bodies during dry periods. Depending on environmental conditions, tiger salamanders can reach sexual maturity as oversized aquatic, gilled larvae or metamorphose into the typical land-dwelling, air breathing adult form. Possession of Colorado River Toads is illegal in California due to the popularity of toad licking. These toads produce a powerful hallucinogen called bufotoxin. Tailed frog tadpoles have mouths that function like powerful suction cups. They depend on these mouths to hang on to rocks in the fast moving streams in which they live. The gliding frogs of Southeast Asia can hangglide between trees thanks to the extensive webbing between their toes. Spadefoot toads smell like peanut butter. Before the widespread use of crop fumigation, treefrogs used to commonly hitch rides among bananas being shipped from South America to US and European grocery stores. The Gastric Brooding Frog from Australia, now sadly thought to be extinct, incubates tadpoles inside it's tummy until they develop into frogs, which then come hopping out of the mouth. Tadpoles of some frogs change shape when they detect predators in their water the new shape allows them to swim faster and avoid being eaten. The changes happen over the course of a few weeks. The Chilean Four-eyed frog (Pleurodema thaul) has a pair of eyespot marks on its rear end. When the frog feels threatened it will expose the eyespots and cause them to swell up a bit, making it seem bigger than it really is! Suriname toads (Pipa pipa) mate in the water, and as the eggs are released the male fertilizes them and presses them to the back of the female. Over the next several hours, the skin grows around the eggs to enclose them in a cyst with a horny lid. After about 80 days, the eggs develop, and the young emerge out of the back of this toad as a bunch of tiny froglets.

A group of frogs is called an army of frogs, and a group of toads is a knot of toads. A rare Chinese frog the concave-eared torrent frog (Amolops tormotus ) - is the first amphibian known to communicate using ultrasound. Reaching a pitch in the ultrasonic range, these frogs perform arias to be heard over the rushing waters of their habitat, the Huangshan Hot Springs in China. Frogs produce a number of chemicals in their skin, including hallucinogens, glues and antimicrobials, to ward off infection and stop other animals from trying to eat them. Some Australian frogs create their own insect repellent, resembling the smell of rotten meat and others roasted cashew nuts or thyme leaves The Ornate horned frog (Ceratophrys ornate) uses its powerful jaws and sharp teeth to capture rodents, birds, and other small animals. A large frog can eat an entire mouse with one swallow. The spatulate-nosed tree frog of Central America has a head like that of a small alligator. When the weather is too hot and dry it crawls into a hole and plugs up the entrance with its nose. The water-holding frog survives in the dry Australian outback by taking in so much rainwater that it blows up like a balloon The eggs of the marsupial frog (Gastrotheca riobambae) from Australia are laid in a brood pouch on the mothers back and the young hatch out in a zipper-like fashion from the pouch. Some poison arrow frogs lay their eggs under leaves in the forest. They stand guard over the eggs. When the tadpoles hatch, they wriggle onto a parent's back and are transported to a pool of water. A special gooey glue secreted by the parent helps the tadpole to cling tightly. The young of the turtle frog (Myobatrachus gouldi) of western Australia bypass the tadpole stage - the adults burrow in the sand about three feet down - their nests are at the bottom of the holes - and they lay and fertilize eggs that develop directly into little froglets. Most species of frogs have an external fertilization mode known as amplexus. The male grabs the female from behind, waits until she extrudes her eggs, and then fertilizes them. In some species, if a male accidentally grabs another male, he will make a "release call" to indicate that he's the wrong sex. If you float an orange or an apple by a little frog that's in breeding condition and he grabs on-he'll stay on hours, maybe days, until something happens that makes him realize his mistake Its a dangerous world out there for most frogs but for Panama's red-eyed tree frogs, the trouble starts before they have even hatched. That's because hungry snakes are rather partial to their eggs, which are laid on leaves

overhanging water. Encapsulated frog embryos sense impending doom when they detect the vibrations from a snake's attack on the egg cluster. Once warned, the developing frogs prematurely hatch from their eggs, drop into the water below and swim to safety as nascent tadpoles. The embryos are able to distinguish vibrations caused by snakes from friendly vibrations cause by raindrops. Fire-bellied toads (Bombina spp.) are so-called because their underbellies are painted bright red, orange or yellow. When threatened, these toads will exhibit the so-called Unken Reflex in which the animal stiffens and curves its spine inward to expose the brightly colored underbelly as a warning. It will even flip over on its back to maximize this unmistakeable display. Male Midwife toads (Alytes spp.) from Spain, following mating, wrap the eggs around their legs and carry them around for safe keeping until the hatch (several weeks later). Upon hatching, they release the tadpoles into a pool of water to complete their development. Dull colors and pointed flaps of skin make the Asian horned frog look like the leaves it sits on. This frog also has tough spades on its feet for digging out a home in the dirt. Frogs shed their skin, typically about once a week and usually eat it afterwards American Bullfrogs the largest North American frog - are territorial and protect their territories by calls, displays, chases, jump attacks, and even wrestling. Male bullfrogs chorus at breeding ponds. Females also give aggressive calls and they respond to the breeding calls of the male frogs. A female gray treefrog picks her mate from the pool of water with the fewest predators. Amphibians are particularly sensitive to environmental changes due to the permeability of their skin. Biologists consider them to be a "canary in a coalmine" for ecosystems.

The most species rich genus of frogs is Pristimantis. There are more than 450 species in this genus, with more being described each year (get the latest number by searching the genus name here). These frogs occur in northern South America, mostly in the Andes, with some species found in southern Central America. They are small frogs whose eggs are laid on land and develop directly into small froglets, bypassing the tadpole stage. The most diverse genus of salamanders, with more than 120 species (get the latest number by searching the genus name here), is Bolitoglossa (the "web-footed salamanders"). Members of this genus are found from Mexico throughout Middle America and most of South America to central Bolivia. These are salamanders that lack an aquatic larval stage, are terrestrial rather than aquatic as adults, and frequently are arboreal. The best known species is probably Bolitoglossa pesrubra, common in the highlands of Costa Rica, where it has been seen by many biologists taking the classes of the Organization for Tropical Biology.

The most species rich genus of caecilians is Ichthyophis, numbering over 50 species, and occurs throughout much of southeastern Asia, including many of the Philippine, Malaysian and Indonesian islands. These animals burrow and are rarely seen unless one searches specifically for them. This family counts among them some of the most colorful caecilians with bright yellow stripes or yellow all over. The typical life cycle of amphibians is a larval stage that lasts a few months, followed by a brief metamorphic period, then a long, multiyear life on land. The adults return to the water to court and ultimately lay eggs. However, there are many exceptions. Among frogs, those of the genus Pristimantis lay eggs on land, which develop directly into miniatures of adults with no tadpole stage. These are the most widespread and commonly encountered frogs in the New World tropics. In Africa the genus Arthroleptis (known as "squeakers") are all direct developers. There are also many other direct developing frogs on Madagascar and in southeast Asia. Among salamanders most species of the largest family, Plethodontidae, are direct developers. There are also direct developing caecilians. A few species of frogs give birth to live young. Members of the African genus Nectophrynoides retain eggs in the oviduct and some nourish the young as they grow. These are born as miniatures of the adult. One Puerto Rican species of the genus Eleutherodactylus, now thought to be extinct (E. jasperi), also retained eggs in the oviduct and had live birth. Salamandra salamandra, S. atra and some related species either give birth to larvae or to completely metamorphosed juveniles. Many species of caecilians give birth to living young, usually fully metamorphosed at birth. Live-bearing caecilians provide nutrition to their developing embryos. The young have well developed jaws and teeth which they use to scrape secretions, called uterine milk, from the walls of the oviducts. Some amphibians have lost their lungs evolutionarily. Instead of needing to breathe air in, they absorb all of the oxygen that they need through their moist skin. There are lungless taxa in all three amphibian orders. The only lungless frog species that has been discovered is Barbourula kalimantanensis, the Bornean flat-headed frog. The largest family of salamanders, with over 400 species, is entirely lungless, the Plethodontidae. There are only two known lungless caecilians, one aquatic and one terrestrial. The terrestrial lungless caecilian is Caecilita iwokramae, which is also the smallest New World caecilian. Atretochoana eiselti is the only known lungless aquatic caecilian, and is found in Brazil. It also holds the record for largest lungless tetrapod alive today, reaching 1 meter in length.

Hydromantes platycephalus, the Mount Lyell Salamander, lives under rocks on talus slopes. When the rock is lifted up, the salamanders curl into a ball and roll away down the hillside away from potential predators. Glass frogs are frogs in the family Centrolenidae. Many frogs in this family have transparent skin (particularly on their underside), through which you can see their internal organs. Many have green bones! Frozen Frogs The wood frog, Rana sylvatica, live in places as far north as Canada and Alaska, and are able to survive the freezing winters by allowing itself to freeze, but limiting the damage by using cryoprotectants (such as glucose and urea in the blood) to reduce internal ice formation. Parental care and Reproduction Strawberry Poison Dart Frogs, Oophaga pumilio, avoid laying their eggs in ponds and streams. Instead, the eggs develop on land until the tadpoles are ready to hatch. Then the mother carries the tadpoles on her back to water-filled bromeliads (epiphytic plants) in the trees. The tadpoles complete their development in these tiny, predator-free pools, and the mother feeds them with unfertilized eggs. Males of Rhinoderma darwinii, Darwins Frog, brood their developing young in their vocal sacs until they metamorphose. Female Gastric-brooding frogs, Rheobatrachus silus, brood the developing young in their stomachs. They do not feed at all through the developmental period, and can have over 20 young. The Surinam toad, Pipa pipa, attaches its eggs to the backs of the females, where skin grows over them. The young then develop for several months in the safety of their mothers back until they emerge as fully metamorphosed froglets. Live-bearing caecilians provide nutrition to their developing embryos. The young have well developed jaws and teeth that they use to scrape secretions, called uterine milk, from the walls of the oviducts. The common reed frog, Hyperolius viridiflavus, found in forests and savannahs in Africa, is able to change its sex (from female to male) when there are not sufficient males in the population. The paradoxical frog, Pseudis paradoxa, gets its name from a unique life history trait it possesses. The tadpoles of this frog are very large (up to 22 cm), and can grow to three to four times the length of the adult. The largest amphibian in the world is the Chinese Giant Salamander, Andrias davidianus, reaching up to 1.8 m in length from the nose to the tip of the tail. An animal that was 1.15m long weighed 25 lbs! The largest frog is the Goliath Frog Conraua goliath, an African species that can reach up to 32 cm in length and weigh over 3 kg.

The largest caecilian is Caecilia thompsoni, which reaches 151.5 cm; the smallest is Grandisonia brevis at 11.2 cm but a female of Idiocranium russeli was gravid at 0.90 cm. The smallest salamander is probably Thorius arboreus. Several members of the genus Thorius achieve sexual maturity at about 15 mm snout to vent length. T. arboreus from the Sierra de Juarez of Oaxaca is the smallest species, because the largest known adult is a female (the larger of the two sexes in this genus) that was only 20.0 mm snout-vent length (Hanken and Wake, Copeia, 1998). The smallest known frog species is Paedophryne amauensis, a forest dwelling frog from Papua New Guinea with an average body size of 7.7mm. It is also the worlds smallest known vertebrate. How high can amphibians live? Lots of amphibians reach 4,000 m but very few frogs and salamanders go much higher. Caecilians generally are found below 1,500 m. The salamander that lives at the highest elevation is Pseudoeurycea gadovii, which can be found above 5000 meters on the volcano Pico de Orizaba in Mexico. The frog which inhabits the highest elevation may be Scutiger boulengeri, which has been found as high as 5,100m The highest frog could also be probably a member of the genus Telmatobius. Some species in this genus can be found at close to 5,000 m. The longest living amphibian is probably the olm, Proteus anguinus. Individuals have been kept in captivity for over 70 years, and the predicted maximum lifespan is over a century! Other long-lived amphibians include a Salamandra salamandra that lived for 50 years in captivity, and an Andrias japonicus that lived for 55 years. An Ambystoma maculatum in nature was estimated from skeletochronology to be 27 years old. A Bufo bufo lived 36 years in captivity (Duellman and Trueb 1986). Collective Nouns: A group of frogs can be called an army, chorus, or colony. A group of toads can be called a knot or a nest. A group of salamanders can be called a band. What is a Newt? All newts are salamanders, but not all salamanders are newts. The word Newt is refers to certain aquatic salamanders (specifically those found in the subfamily Pleurodelinae). The word eft is used to describe the terrestrial juvenile stage of the newt lifecycle. What do frogs have in their mouths that toads don't? Teeth. Most frogs have teeth on the upper jaw but none on the lower jaw (only one frog has teeth on the lower jaw: a South American species named Gastrotheca guentheri, Guenther's Marsupial Frog). The word "toad"

is an informal name applied to the large frog family Bufonidae, and these animals (along with some frogs in other families) all lack teeth entirely.