Author:
Qjure
Book:
Qjurious
Type:
Info
Chapter:
4-533.00.00
Anura
English: Frogs, Toads.
Synonym: Anura; Salientia.
Name: Anura means without tail in Ancient Greek.
Genera: 7299 species; 53 families.
Region: widely distributed; tropics to subarctic regions.
Zoology
Frogs are largely carnivorous, of short-bodied, tailless amphibians. They are also one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders.
An adult frog has a stout body, protruding eyes, anteriorly-attached tongue, limbs folded underneath, and no tail (except in tailed frogs). Frogs have glandular skin, with secretions ranging from distasteful to toxic. Their skin varies in colour from well-camouflaged dappled brown, grey and green to vivid patterns of bright red or yellow and black to show toxicity and ward off predators. Adult frogs live in fresh water and on dry land; some species are adapted for living underground or in trees.
Taxonomy
Warty frog species tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal, not from taxonomy or evolutionary history.
Archaeobatrachia
Mesobatrachia
Neobatrachia
Craugastoridae (850 spp.)
Hylidae (724 spp.)
Microhylidae (688 spp.)
Bufonidae (621 spp.)