AMPHIBIANS

The Amphibia contains approximately 6,640 living species of 'pentadactyl tetrapods' that diverged from the reptilian (avian/mammalian) lineage almost 400 Million years ago. Generally three subclasses of the Amphibia are recognised but two of these are extinct. All modern amphibians belong to the subclass Lissamphibia. Some have legs, some are legless; some have tails, some are tailess; most have slimy semi-permeable skin, some have dry warty skin; most have to return to water to breed but many have found intreguing ways of getting around the problem.

Three orders* are recognised:
Anura (or Salienta): Frogs and toads (tailless amphibians) 49 families 5,860 species
33 families are represented in the photo library.

Caudata (or Urodela): Newts and salamanders (tailed amphibians) 9 families 597 species
Four families are represented.

Gymnophiona (or Apoda): Caecilians (legless amphibians) 3 families 183 species
Two families are represented.

* Some authors treat the sirens (Sirenidae) as a separate order

The list below is based on American Museum of Natural History Amphibian Species of the World
Online Reference version 5.4.
The common names for families are adopted from the AMNH list with additional proposed names in inverted commas.
New species are being described on a regular basis so the species counts will increase continually.

The photo library contains representatives of all three orders and the Amphibia pages will eventually be expanded to include lists of all species in the collection (as with the Reptilia) pages.
In the meantime if you are looking for a particular species please contact us using the enquiry form.

LISSAMPHIBIA
LIVING AMPHIBIANS

ANURA Frogs & toads	CAUDATA Newts & salamanders	GYMNIOPHONA Caecilians
CAPE RAINFROG Breviceps gibbosus Jan Marais Nature Reserve, West Cape Prov., S.Africa	IBERIAN RIBBED NEWT Pleurodeles walti Iberian Peninsula, Europe	SAO TOME CAECILIAN Schistometopum thomense Sao Tome, Gulf of Guinea
click on images to enlarge