The class Amphibia contains amphibians which are some of my favorite animals. There are three major types which are frogs & toads (order Anura), salamanders (order Caudata), and caecilians (order Apoda). All these orders share certain characteristic including being endothermic, meaning they are unable to regulate their own body temperature. They have both lungs and gills, typically they have gills in the larvae stage but then develop lungs in the adult stage. Their eggs are anamniotic, meaning they are covered by a gelatinous mass that protects the eggs and prevents them from drying out. The warmer and moister an area the more likely it is that they will have more species of Amphibia.

The order Anura contains both frogs and toads, and over 3,400 species! They have longer hind legs than front legs which gives them the ability to hop. The tail is lost in the adult stage and adult males are typically the only ones that vocalize, and they do so to attract mates. Within the order, there are a few distinct families which include the tailed-frog (Ascaphidae),  spadefoot toads (Pelobatidae), narrow-toed toads (Leptodactylidae), true toads (Bufonidae), and true frogs (Ranidae). These are only 5 families. I will post later but this is a good start. If you learned the basic characteristic of each family it will greatly improve the speed and accuracy with which you can identify species.

• tailed-frog (Ascaphidae)
  • this family only has one species (Ascaphus truei) that lives in the Pacific Northwest
  • 

Continue reading →