Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Warty frog species tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal, not from taxonomy or evolutionary history. An adult frog has a stout body, protruding eyes , anteriorly-attached tongue , limbs folded underneath, and no tail (the tail of tailed frogs is an extension of the male cloaca).
They have short vertebral columns, with no more than 10 free vertebrae and fused tailbones (urostyle or coccyx). [47] Frogs range in size from Paedophryne amauensis of Papua New Guinea that is 7.7 mm (0.30 in) in snout–vent length [48] to the up to about 35 cm (14 in) and 3.3 kg (7.3 lb) goliath frog (Conraua goliath) of central Africa. [49]
Frogs are a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (Ancient Greek an-, without + oura, tail). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" appeared in the early Triassic of Madagascar , but molecular clock dating suggests their origins may extend further back to the Permian , 265 million years ago.
Instead, frogs can choose to place eggs in phytotelmata. [3] However, there is a trade-off that comes with electing a smaller water source. Not much sunlight reaches these locations, so algae and other food sources cannot grow to feed the inhabitants. [4] Tropical frogs must use alternative methods of feeding their tadpole offspring.
Example species Example photo Ascaphidae (Fejérváry, 1923) 1: Tailed frogs: Tailed frog (Ascaphus truei) Bombinatoridae (Gray, 1825) 2: Fire-belly toads: European fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina) Alytidae (Fitzinger, 1843) 3: Painted frogs or disc-tongued frogs: Portuguese or Iberian painted frog (Discoglossus galganoi) Leiopelmatidae ...
The ground-dwellers are often found under leaf litter within forests, occasionally venturing out at night to hunt. The two main shapes for the microhylids are wide bodies and narrow mouths and normal frog proportions. Those with narrow mouths generally eat termites and ants, and the others have diets typical of most frogs. Egg-laying habits are ...
Tree frogs typically have well-developed discs at the finger and toe tips, they rely on several attachment mechanisms that vary with circumstances, tree frogs require static and dynamic, adhesive and frictional, reversible and repeatable force generation; the fingers and toes themselves, as well as the limbs, tend to be rather small, resulting ...
Characteristic of these toad-like frogs is their parental care; the males carry a string of fertilised eggs on their backs, hence the name "midwife". The female expels a strand of eggs, which the male fertilizes externally. He then wraps them around his legs to protect them from predators in the water.