Amphibian
hideOrder Temnospondyli - extinct Subclass Lepospondyli - extinct Subclass Lissamphibia Order Anura Order Caudata Order Gymnophiona
Amphibians (class Amphibia), such as frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians, are ectothermic (or cold-blooded) animals that metamorphose from a juvenile water-breathing form, to an adult air-breathing form. Though amphibians typically have four limbs, the Caecilians are notable for being limbless. Unlike other land animals (amniotes), amphibians lay eggs in water. Amphibians are superficially similar to reptiles.
Amphibians are ecological indicators, and in recent decades there has been a dramatic decline in amphibian populations around the globe. Many species are now threatened or extinct.
Amphibians evolved in the Devonian Period and were top predators in the Carboniferous and Permian Periods, but many lineages were wiped out during the Permian-Triassic extinction. One group, the metoposaurs, remained important predators during the Triassic, but as the world became drier during the Early Jurassic they died out, leaving a handful of relict temnospondyls like Koolasuchus and the modern orders of Lissamphibia.
For more information about Amphibian, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with amphibian
Killer fungus threatening amphibians
Nov 23, 2009 |
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Amphibians like frogs and toads have existed for 360 million years and survived when the dinosaurs didn't, but a new aquatic fungus is threatening to make many of them extinct, according to an article in the ...
Scientists find frog legs trade may facilitate spread of pathogens
Nov 19, 2009 |
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Most countries throughout the world participate in the $40-million-per-year culinary trade of frog legs in some way, with 75 percent of frog legs consumed in France, Belgium and the United States. Scientists ...
Amphibians as environmental omen disputed
Nov 11, 2009 |
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Amphibians, for years considered a leading indicator of environmental degradation, are not uniquely susceptible to pollution, according to a meta-analysis to be published in Ecology Letters.
Timber harvest impacts amphibians differently during life stages
Nov 03, 2009 |
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Frogs are croaking in clear-cut forests, but not exactly in their traditional manner. University of Missouri researchers found that removing all of the trees from a section of the forest had a negative effect ...
Catching a killer one spore at a time
Oct 19, 2009 |
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A workshop at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama has dramatically improved the ability of conservationists and regulatory agencies to monitor the spread of chytridiomycosis—one of the deadliest ...
10 percent of world's major species at threat: report
Sep 29, 2009 |
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Almost 10 percent of the world's mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish are in danger of extinction due to climate change and other factors, according to an Australian report released Tuesday.
First genetic link between reptile and human heart evolution
Sep 02, 2009 |
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Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease have traced the evolution of the four-chambered human heart to a common genetic factor linked to the development of hearts in turtles and other ...
Mathematical keys to a sixth sense -- the lateral-line system
Aug 28, 2009 |
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Biophysicists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen are leading an effort to develop and apply models of the so-called lateral-line system found in fish and some amphibians. This sensory organ enables an animal, even in ...
Research suggests EPA pesticide exposure test too short, overlooks long term effects
Aug 17, 2009 |
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The four-day testing period the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) commonly uses to determine safe levels of pesticide exposure for humans and animals could fail to account for the toxins' long-term effects, University ...
The first gene-encoded amphibian toxin isolated
Aug 17, 2009 |
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Researchers in China have discovered the first protein-based toxin in an amphibian -a 60 amino acid neurotoxin found in the skin of a Chinese tree frog. This finding may help shed more light into both the ...
Flying frog among 353 new Himalayan species: WWF
Aug 10, 2009 |
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Over 350 new species including the world's smallest deer, a "flying frog" and a 100 million-year old gecko have been discovered in the Eastern Himalayas, a biological treasure trove now threatened by climate ...
Disease threat may change how frogs mate
Jul 27, 2009 |
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Dr Amber Teacher, studying a post-doctorate at Royal Holloway, University of London, has discovered evidence that a disease may be causing a behavioural change in frogs. The research, published in the August edition of Molecular Ec ...
Biologists rediscover endangered frog population
Jul 25, 2009 |
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For the first time in nearly 50 years, a population of a nearly extinct frog has been rediscovered in the San Bernardino National Forest's San Jacinto Wilderness. Biologists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessing ...
Smallest salamander in U.S. discovered
Jul 07, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources weren’t looking for anything new when they went exploring in the northeast part of the state. But ...
'Pelvis Has Left the Building'
Jun 04, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- New research shows that when two species of stickleback fish evolved and lost their pelvises and body armor, the changes were caused by different genes in each species. That surprised researchers, ...
