Portal:Amphibians
The Amphibian Portal
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Amphibians are ectothermic, tetrapod vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal or freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Thus amphibians typically start out as larvae living in water, but some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this.
The young generally undergo metamorphosis from larva with gills to an adult air-breathing form with lungs. Amphibians use their skin as a secondary respiratory surface and some small terrestrial salamanders and frogs lack lungs and rely entirely on their skin. They are superficially similar to lizards but, along with mammals and birds, reptiles are amniotes and do not require water bodies in which to breed. With their complex reproductive needs and permeable skins, amphibians are often ecological indicators; in recent decades there has been a dramatic decline in amphibian populations for many species around the globe.
The earliest amphibians ("crown") evolved in the Carboniferous period from sarcopterygian fish with lungs and bony-limbed fins, features that were helpful in adapting to dry land. They diversified and became dominant during the Carboniferous and Permian periods, but were later displaced by reptiles and other vertebrates. Over time, amphibians shrank in size and decreased in diversity, leaving only the modern subclass Lissamphibia. (Full article...)
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Sexual selection in amphibians involves sexual selection processes in amphibians, including frogs, salamanders and newts. Prolonged breeders, the majority of frog species, have breeding seasons at regular intervals where male-male competition occurs with males arriving at the waters edge first in large number and producing a wide range of vocalizations, with variations in depth of calls the speed of calls and other complex behaviours to attract mates. The fittest males will have the deepest croaks and the best territories, with females known to make their mate choices at least partly based on the males depth of croaking. This has led to sexual dimorphism, with females being larger than males in 90% of species, males in 10% and males fighting for groups of females.
There is a direct competition between males to win the attention of the females in salamanders and newts, with elaborate courtship displays to keep the females attention long enough to get her interested in choosing him to mate with. Some species store sperm through long breeding seasons, as the extra time may allow for interactions with rival sperm. (Full article...)List of selected salamander articles
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Did you know? –
- ... that the caecilians Chthonerpeton indistinctum and Typhlonectes compressicauda (pictured) both give birth to live young?
- ...that the Desert Tree Frog is one of Australia's most widely distributed frogs?
- ... that eggs of the greenhouse frog are laid on land and have been found under a flower pot?
- ... that the black jumping salamander, the dwarf false brook salamander, the admirable false brook salamander, the Smith's false brook salamander and Thorius pennatulus are all endemic to Mexico, and critically endangered?
- ... that the male polkadot poison frog guards the eggs laid by the female and carries the newly hatched tadpoles to water?
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Caecilians (/sɪˈsɪliən/; New Latin for "blind ones") are a group of limbless, vermiform or serpentine amphibians. They mostly live hidden in the ground and in stream substrates, making them the least familiar order of amphibians. Caecilians are mostly distributed in the tropics of South and Central America, Africa, and southern Asia. Their diet consists of small subterranean creatures such as earthworms.
All modern caecilians and their closest fossil relatives are grouped as a clade, Apoda /ˈæpədə/, within the larger group Gymnophiona /dʒɪmnəˈfaɪənə/, which also includes more primitive extinct caecilian-like amphibians. The name derives from the Greek words γυμνος (gymnos, naked) and οφις (ophis, snake), as the caecilians were originally thought to be related to snakes. The body is cylindrical dark brown or bluish black in colour. The skin is slimy and bears grooves or ringlike markings. (Full article...)List of selected amphibian type articles
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Typhlonectidae, also known as aquatic caecilians or rubber eels, are a family of Gymnophiona amphibians found east of the Andes in South America.
They are viviparous animals, giving birth to young that possess external gills. Of the five genera in the family, Atretochoana, Potamotyphlus and Typhlonectes are entirely aquatic, while Chthonerpeton and Nectocaecilia are semiaquatic. Atretochoana reaches 100 cm (39 in) in length, but other species in the family range from 20 to 60 cm (7.9–23.6 in). (Full article...)Need help?
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