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.
Sixty years ago, residents of a canal-crossed borough in Mexico City could pluck axolotls—the large salamander reminiscent of a tiny dragon—out of the water with their hands because they were so plentiful. Now it's almost ...
Ecology
Aug 12, 2025
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Connecticut College researchers have found that chemical byproducts produced by the amphibian-killing fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis—commonly known as Bd—may actually help ghost shrimp survive. Their study, published ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 8, 2025
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A group led by University of São Paulo (USP) researchers in Brazil has described a new genus of frogs, Dryadobates, also known as rocket frogs, which was previously considered a single species. The study was published in ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 17, 2025
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After decades working as a fisherman on a high-altitude Mexican lake, Froylan Correa is now helping to save an endangered amphibian with gills resembling a lion's mane and a remarkable regenerative ability.
Plants & Animals
Jul 10, 2025
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The Hong Kong newt (Paramesotriton hongkongensis), which has an orange-spotted belly and is typically 15 centimeters in length, is Hong Kong's only native salamander species. The newt, listed as near-threatened by the International ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 7, 2025
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Dodging fire-ants, snakes and millions of nighttime creepy-crawlies, a group of trekkers advances through the humid Bornean rainforest, scanning with flashlights for some of the jungle's most unlikely stars: frogs.
Ecology
Jul 4, 2025
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99
Have you ever wondered how city life affects animals like frogs? A new study reveals that urban Túngara frog tadpoles develop faster—but end up being smaller—than tadpoles from forests, probably resulting in smaller adults. ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 30, 2025
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High in the cloud-wrapped peaks of the Cordillera de Huancabamba, where the Andes dip and twist into isolated ridges, a team of Peruvian scientists has brought three secretive frogs out of obscurity and into the scientific ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 25, 2025
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Axolotls are known for their ability to regrow limbs, organs and even parts of the brain and heart. But the tailed amphibian with the scientific name Ambystoma mexicanum can do even more. Its mucous membrane protects it from ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 17, 2025
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169
A giant, strong-jawed salamander once tunneled through ancient Tennessee soil. And thanks to a fossil unearthed near East Tennessee State University, scientists now better understand how it helped shape Appalachian amphibian ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 17, 2025
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