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Amphibians: Class Amphibia
Amphibians: Class Amphibia
Class Amphibia
Amphibians
• Animals that can live on land and in water
• Frogs
• Caecilians
Salamanders
• More than 300
species
• Long body
• Four walking limbs
• tail
Salamanders
• Walk with a side-to-side movement that
may be similar to ancient tetrapods
Invertebrates Vertebrates
Insects Fish
Worms Frogs
Snails
Frogs
• Over 3000 species
• Largest group of living amphibians
Adult Frogs
• Tailless bodies
• Long, muscular hind limbs
• Webbed feet
• Exposed eardrums
• Bulging eyes
Adult Frogs
• Bodies adapted for jumping
– Elongated bones in their hips, legs and feet
for increased speed and power
– Hind legs have fused bones that absorb the
shock of landing
Toads
• One family of frogs
• Rougher, bumpier
skin
• Shorter legs- not
good jumpers
• Glands make toxins
that protect them from
predators – also in
tropical frogs
Frogs
• Live in every
environment on Earth
except at the poles
and the driest
deserts.
Caecilians
• Legless, burrowing amphibians
• Live in the tropics, such as South America
Caecilians
• 160 species
• Range from 4 inches
to 5 feet
• Banded bodies that
make them look like
giant earthworms
Caecilians
• Are predators
• Search for earthworms
and grubs
• Have no arms or legs for
burrowing, so have to
move like an earthworm.
• Use hydrostatic skeleton
to stiffen it’s body and
drive its head forward like
a battering ram.