Anura
Anura is the amphibian order comprising frogs and toads. Adults lack tails and typically have long hind limbs adapted for jumping or swimming.
Amphibia: Amphibia is the vertebrate class that includes frogs, salamanders, and caecilians. Anura is one of the three living orders within this class.
Anuran reproduction: Anuran reproduction includes the mating, fertilization, and egg-laying strategies used by frogs and toads. Its wide range of breeding modes helps explain anurans’ varied habitats.
Amphibian conservation: Amphibian conservation is the protection and recovery of amphibian species, populations, and habitats. Anuran declines are a major part of the global amphibian conservation crisis.
Caudata: Caudata is the amphibian order comprising salamanders and newts, which retain tails as adults. Adult tails distinguish salamanders from the tailless adult form typical of anurans.
Frog evolution: Frog evolution is the evolutionary history of anurans, from early relatives to living frogs and toads. It explains how the distinctive tailless adult form arose.
Amphibian metamorphosis: Amphibian metamorphosis is the developmental transition from an aquatic larva to a distinct adult form. Most anurans transform from aquatic tadpoles into four-limbed adults.
Amplexus: Amplexus is the mating embrace in which a male frog or toad clasps a female. This common posture positions males to fertilize eggs as females release them.
Chytridiomycosis: Chytridiomycosis is a lethal amphibian disease caused by chytrid fungi, including Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. The disease has caused severe declines and extinctions among anuran populations.
Gymnophiona: Gymnophiona is the amphibian order comprising limbless, mostly burrowing caecilians. Caecilians show a radically different amphibian body plan from frogs and toads.
Triassic: The Triassic is the geologic period from about 252 to 201 million years ago. Some of the earliest known frog relatives lived during this period.