Amphibians

Ampibya

This page uses many images and text. 

It is not recommended for people with limited or slow internet connections to read through this page, would benefit from the addition of more images.

Amphibians (IPA: /amˈfibeːənz/) are cold-blooded vertebrate animal of a class that comprises the frogs, toads, caecilians, newts, and salamanders. They are distinguished by having an aquatic gill-breathing larval stage followed by a terrestrial lung-breathing adult stage.

Etymology

The word amphibian derives from the Ancient Greek term ἀμφίβιος (amfíbios), which means 'both kinds of life', ἀμφί (amfí) meaning 'of both kinds' and βιος (bios) meaning 'life'.

List of Real-life Amphibians

Stegocephalia


Lepospondyli


Temnospondyli


Caecilians or Snakeworms (Gymnophiona)

The Caecilians (New Latin for 'blind ones') (IPA: /sɪˈsɪliən/) are a group of limbless, vermiform (worm-shaped) or serpentine (snake-shaped) amphibians. They mostly live hidden in soil or in streambeds, and this cryptic lifestyle renders caecilians among the least familiar amphibians. Modern caecilians live in the tropics of South and Central America, Africa, and southern Asia. Caecilians feed on small subterranean creatures such as earthworms. The body is cylindrical and often darkly coloured, and the skull is bullet-shaped and strongly built. Caecilian heads have several unique adaptations, including fused cranial and jaw bones, a two-part system of jaw muscles, and a chemosensory tentacle in front of the eye. The skin is slimy and bears ringlike markings or grooves, which may contain tiny scales. Modern caecilians are grouped as a clade, Apoda, one of three living amphibian groups alongside Anura (frogs) and Urodela (salamanders). Apoda is a crown group, encompassing modern, entirely limbless caecilians. There are more than 200 living species of caecilian distributed across 10 families. The caecilian total group is an order known as Gymnophiona, which includes Apoda as well as a few extinct stem-group caecilians.


Allocaudata

The Albanerpetontidae are an extinct family of small amphibians, native to the Northern Hemisphere during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The only members of the order Allocaudata, they are thought to be allied with living amphibians belonging to Lissamphibia. Albanerpetontids were small (several cm to several tens of centimetres in length) and superficially lizard-like. The skin of albanerpetontids was embedded with bony, fish like scales.


Salamanders and Newts (Urodela/Caudata)

The Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten extant salamander families are grouped together under the order Urodela from the group Caudata. Eastern North America, particularly the Appalachian Mountains, has the largest salamander variety. The majority of species are located in the Holarctic region, while several are also found in the Neotropical region. This particular kind of amphibian has the ability to regenerate lost limbs as well as other damaged body parts. In order to heal brain and spinal cord injuries and prevent damaging scarring while recovering from heart surgery, researchers want to reverse engineer the regenerative processes.



Efadefish (Piscinotritonia)


Frogs (Salientia/Anura)


List of Mythical Amphibians

Stegocephalia


Lepospondyli


Temnospondyli


Caecilians or Snakeworms (Gymnophiona)


Allocaudata


Salamanders and Newts (Urodela/Caudata)


Efadefish (Piscinotritonia)


Frogs (Salientia/Anura)