Scientists have discovered six new species of frog the size of a thumbnail in the forests of Mexico, with one earning the distinction of Mexico's smallest frog.
Plants & Animals
Apr 26, 2022
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11
Non-native bullfrogs and sunfish species, introduced for consumer and sport purposes, are known to alter ecosystems and hinder native amphibians and fish in the Pacific Northwest highlands. But scant research exists about ...
Evolution
Apr 21, 2022
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5
When it comes to mating wood frogs, it turns out that sound matters.
Plants & Animals
Apr 20, 2022
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160
An international team of biologists and researchers have identified two new species of endangered glass frogs near active mining areas in the Andes, discoveries they say highlight the region's "cryptic diversity" while simultaneously ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 22, 2022
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106
The question of how pesticides affect public health and the environment has generated a lot of attention in Québec. Pesticides are widely used and often end up in our natural environment.
Plants & Animals
Feb 07, 2022
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10
While frog and salamander declines worldwide have made scientists outspoken about the need to preserve amphibian genetic diversity, two University of California, Berkeley, biologists emphasize another important reason for ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 03, 2022
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274
Although tropical forest ecosystems around the world have been modified and fragmented by agroforests planted to produce commodities such as coffee, rubber and areca palm, amphibian communities can survive in those transformed ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 26, 2022
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64
In 2018, Rainforest Trust celebrated its 30th anniversary by hosting an auction offering naming rights for some new-to-science species. The funds raised at the auction benefited the conservation of the newly recognized species. ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 11, 2022
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10
An international group of researchers have found evidence of tropical frogs adapting to warming temperatures, but warn that human-induced climate change still poses a huge threat to species' survival.
Plants & Animals
Dec 08, 2021
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4
A team of researchers from Brown University, the University of Vienna and Smith College has found that giving male Bornean rock frogs testosterone pushes them to exaggerate their provocative kicking gestures. In their paper ...
Archaeobatrachia Mesobatrachia Neobatrachia - List of Anuran families
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura (meaning "tail-less", from Greek an-, without + oura, tail), formerly referred to as Salientia (Latin saltare, to jump). The name frog derives from Old English frogga, (compare Old Norse frauki, German Frosch, older Dutch spelling kikvorsch), cognate with Sanskrit plava (frog), probably deriving from Proto-Indo-European praw = "to jump".
Most frogs are characterized by long hind legs, a short body, webbed digits (fingers or toes), protruding eyes and the absence of a tail. Most frogs have a semi-aquatic lifestyle, but move easily on land by jumping or climbing. They typically lay their eggs in puddles, ponds or lakes, and their larvae, called tadpoles, have gills and develop in water. Adult frogs follow a carnivorous diet, mostly of arthropods, annelids and gastropods. Frogs are most noticeable by their call, which can be widely heard during the night or day, mainly in their mating season.
The distribution of frogs ranges from tropic to subarctic regions, but most species are found in tropical rainforests. Consisting of more than 5,000 species described, they are among the most diverse groups of vertebrates. However, populations of certain frog species are declining significantly.
A distinction is often made between frogs and toads on the basis of their appearance, caused by the convergent adaptation among so-called toads to dry environments; however, this distinction has no taxonomic basis. The only family exclusively given the common name "toad" is Bufonidae, but many species from other families are also called "toads," and the species within the toad genus Atelopus are referred to as "harlequin frogs".
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
