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.
If the eastern red-backed salamander has an equivalent of Usain Bolt, Sophia Zaslow is determined to find it. Since her undergraduate years, the Binghamton University doctoral student in biological sciences has conducted ...
Plants & Animals
May 26, 2026
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The Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is famous because adults look like overgrown babies, or tadpoles, retaining juvenile features as adults and capable of remarkable regeneration of lost limbs or tails. New studies ...
It may sound too bizarre to be true, but the Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa), a fish that inhabits rivers, lakes, and swamps in Mexico and Texas, exists over much of its range in populations that are 100% female. In 1932, ...
Plants & Animals
May 22, 2026
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Behind the scenes at Brookfield Zoo Chicago, a record-breaking conservation milestone is helping secure the future of one of the world's most imperiled amphibians. Months of meticulous care and coordination enabled Brookfield ...
Plants & Animals
May 20, 2026
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Metamorphosis, that profound transformation enabling certain animals to shift between habitats such as from an aquatic to a terrestrial environment, is generally viewed in terms of its benefits. A team of researchers from ...
Plants & Animals
May 8, 2026
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A new study comparing invasive cane toads in Japan and Australia has found substantial changes in body size and shape have developed much more rapidly than suggested by long-held ideas of the pace of evolution. Researchers ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 21, 2026
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Maintaining connections between natural habitats may support beneficial microbes that help wildlife defend against disease. In a new study of tropical amphibians, a team led by Penn State biologists found that amphibians ...
Ecology
Apr 20, 2026
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Some animals can regrow lost body parts. Salamanders and frog tadpoles can rebuild entire limbs after amputation. Mammals cannot. For decades, biologists have tried to understand why. Now a team led by Can Aztekin at EPFL ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 9, 2026
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Researchers have discovered a new species of glassfrog in Ecuador—the Dajomes glassfrog—named after Neisi Dajomes, the first Ecuadorian woman to receive an Olympic gold medal, which she won in Tokyo 2020 in women's 76 kg ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 8, 2026
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Why are frogs diverse in some parts of Africa's rainforests and less so in others? The patterns of cooling and glaciation during the last ice age would probably not have been your first answer or even your last-ditch guess, ...
Evolution
Apr 7, 2026
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