Anura

The order Anura includes the frogs and toads. They are one of the most successful living amphibia, judged by number of species. There are about 7400 different species of amphibians, and about 6500 are in the Anura.^[1][2]

There is no fundamental difference between frogs and toads. Frogs have a short body, webbed digits (fingers or toes), protruding eyes, forked tongue and no tail. They are exceptional jumpers: many of their features, particularly their long, powerful legs, are adaptations to improve jumping performance. They often live in semi-aquatic or humid areas.^[3]

A popular distinction is often made between frogs and toads on the basis of their appearance. The warty skin of toads is an adaptation for making their toxic slime. Apart from these glands, their skin is dry, and that is an adaptation to drier habitats. These features have evolved a number of times independently: convergent evolution. The distinction has no taxonomic basis: the Anura are not divided into frogs and toads. The only family exclusively given the common name "toad" is the Bufonidae (the "true toads"), but many species from other families are also called "toads".^[3]

Frogs have smooth (soft) skin, while toads have rough (hard) skin. Frogs need their skin to be wet in order for them to get oxygen.^[4]p6 Frogs and toads have broad heads and plump bodies.^[5]p6 They have short fore limbs and long webbed hind feet. This helps them to move and swim in water. They can also use their legs to crawl, hop and leap. Frogs are good jumpers, and some can leap up to six feet in the air. Tree frogs can climb on any surfaces, they use their sticky hands to do this. The tympanum membrane can only be seen on frogs. The tympanum membrane can be found between the frog's ears and eyes.^[5] Frogs have tiny teeth inside their mouths. They are found on the lower jaw.^[4]p6 The African bullfrog is the only species where the males are longer than the females.^[4]p6 Males can reach up to 24.1 cm-25.4 cm in length, while the female only grows up to 11.4 cm. Frogs belonging to the suborder Neobatrachia, such as the poison dart frogs and Mantellinae frogs, can kill humans. Like most poisonous animals, they get their toxin from their food.^[4]p8

1. ↑ Pough F.H.; et al. (2003). Herpetology. 3rd ed, Benjamin Cummings. ISBN 0131008498.
2. ↑ AmphibiaWeb
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Zweifel, Richard G; Cogger H.G. & Kirshner D. 1998. Encyclopedia of reptiles and amphibians. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 91–92. ISBN 0-12-178560-2
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Morgan, Sally 2004. Amphibians. Heinemann-Raintree. ISBN 1410910466
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Grenard, Steve 2007. Frogs and toads: your happy healthy pet. Wiley. ISBN 0470165103