Amphibians are a major clade of tetrapod vertebrates (class Amphibia) encompassing anurans (frogs and toads), caudates (salamanders and newts), and gymnophionans (caecilians). They are characterized by permeable, glandular skin that plays key roles in osmoregulation, gas exchange, and secretion of bioactive peptides, making them sensitive bioindicators of environmental change. Most species exhibit biphasic life histories with aquatic, gilled larvae and terrestrial, lung-breathing adults, though direct development and paedomorphosis also occur. Amphibians occupy pivotal positions in trophic networks and evolutionary biology, representing the earliest diverging extant lineage of tetrapods and providing critical models for studies of metamorphosis, regeneration, endocrine disruption, and emerging infectious diseases such as chytridiomycosis.
Researchers at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum recently uncovered a slipup from decades ago: the misidentification of a poison frog specimen from Peru used as a holotype. A holotype ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 15, 2025
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Despite the vast numbers of animal species already identified, the natural world is still capable of springing a few surprises. Deep in the cloud forests of the Serra do Quiriri mountain range in the southern Brazilian Atlantic ...
La Trobe University academics have developed a noninvasive way to monitor hormones in frogs in an important step toward protecting the vulnerable animals from extinction.
Plants & Animals
Dec 9, 2025
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The axolotl, a type of salamander that stays in the tadpole form throughout its life, is a master of regeneration. Axolotls have been observed to regrow several body parts, including limbs, eyes, and even parts of their brains.
A remarkable resistance to venom has been discovered in a frog that feasts on hornets despite their deadly stingers. This frog could potentially serve as a model organism for studies on mechanisms underlying venom tolerance.
Plants & Animals
Dec 4, 2025
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Anyone walking through the Tarumã neighborhood in Curitiba (the capital of the state of Paraná, Brazil) today may find it difficult to imagine the area as it was in the past. Between the buildings, racetrack, and the city's ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 20, 2025
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Seven new species of a distinctive frog-like insect have been discovered by a scientist from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Cambridge, England.
Plants & Animals
Nov 13, 2025
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Frogs need water. Almost all of the world's 7,900 known frog species breed in fresh water. And when it rains, these amphibians erupt into a chorus of calls—croaks, trills, cheeps and bellows—to attract a mate.
Plants & Animals
Nov 13, 2025
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It is early evening in Australia's top end, and a hunter stalks its prey. Keenly alert, the northern quoll follows the sound of rustling in the leaf litter. It must be some kind of frog, the small carnivorous marsupial decides, ...
Ecology
Nov 11, 2025
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An international team of researchers has discovered three new, bizarre, and wart-covered species of tree toads from Tanzania that give birth to fully developed toadlets. A key element of the study was the examination of specimens ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 6, 2025
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