Portal:Frogs

The Frogs Portal

Various types of frog

A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ἀνούρα, literally without tail in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" Triadobatrachus is known from the Early Triassic of Madagascar, but molecular clock dating suggests their split from other amphibians may extend further back to the Permian, 265 million years ago. Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforest. Frogs account for around 88% of extant amphibian species. They are also one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. Warty frog species tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal, not from taxonomy or evolutionary history.

An adult frog has a stout body, protruding eyes, anteriorly-attached tongue, limbs folded underneath, and no tail (the tail of tailed frogs is an extension of the male cloaca). Frogs have glandular skin, with secretions ranging from distasteful to toxic. Their skin varies in colour from well-camouflaged dappled brown, grey and green to vivid patterns of bright red or yellow and black to show toxicity and ward off predators. Adult frogs live in fresh water and on dry land; some species are adapted for living underground or in trees.

Frogs typically lay their eggs in water. The eggs hatch into aquatic larvae called tadpoles that have tails and internal gills. They have highly specialized rasping mouth parts suitable for herbivorous, omnivorous or planktivorous diets. The life cycle is completed when they metamorphose into adults. A few species deposit eggs on land or bypass the tadpole stage. Adult frogs generally have a carnivorous diet consisting of small invertebrates, but omnivorous species exist and a few feed on plant matter. Frog skin has a rich microbiome which is important to their health. Frogs are extremely efficient at converting what they eat into body mass. They are an important food source for predators and part of the food web dynamics of many of the world's ecosystems. The skin is semi-permeable, making them susceptible to dehydration, so they either live in moist places or have special adaptations to deal with dry habitats. Frogs produce a wide range of vocalizations, particularly in their breeding season, and exhibit many different kinds of complex behaviors to attract mates, to fend off predators and to generally survive. (Full article...)

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Frogs and toads produce a rich variety of sounds, calls, and songs during their courtship and mating rituals. The callers, usually males, make stereotyped sounds in order to advertise their location, their mating readiness and their willingness to defend their territory; listeners respond to the calls by return calling, by approach, and by going silent. These responses have been shown to be important for species recognition, mate assessment, and localization. Beginning with the pioneering experiments of Robert Capranica in the 1930s using playback techniques with normal and synthetic calls, behavioral biologists and neurobiologists have teamed up to use frogs and toads as a model system for understanding the auditory function and evolution. It is now considered an important example of the neural basis of animal behavior, because of the simplicity of the sounds, the relative ease with which neurophysiological recordings can be made from the auditory nerve, and the reliability of localization behavior. Acoustic communication is essential for the frog's survival in both territorial defense and in localization and attraction of mates. Sounds from frogs travel through the air, through water, and through the substrate. Frogs and toads largely ignore sounds that are not conspecific calls or those of predators, with only louder noises startling the animals. Even then, unless major vibration is included, they usually do not take any action unless the source has been visually identified. The neural basis of communication and audition gives insights into the science of sound applied to human communication. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various frog-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Torrent treefrog
Litoria nannotis
Hylidae
Australia (from Torrent frog)
Image 2Big-eyed tree frog, Leptopelis vermiculatus, Hyperoliidae, Tanzania (from Tree frog)
Image 3Powdered glass frog, Cochranella pulverata, Centrolenidae, Honduras to Ecuador (from Tree frog)
Image 4Black torrent frog
Micrixalus saxicola
Ranidae
India (from Torrent frog)
Image 5Freddo Frog advertisement, 1930 (from Frogs in culture)
Image 6White-lipped bright-eyed frog, Boophis albilabris, Mantellidae, Madagascar (from Tree frog)
Image 7Red-eyed treefrog, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica (from Tree frog)
Image 8Dead Frog with Flies by Ambrosius Bosschaert II, c. 1630 (from Frogs in culture)
Image 9American green tree frog, Dryophytes cinereus or Hyla cinerea, Hylidae, central and southeastern United States (from Tree frog)
Image 10"My Old Friend Dr. Frog". Promotional postcard for "Frog In Your Throat" Company throat medicine (from Frogs in culture)
Image 11A frog being eaten by King Stork, an illustration by Milo Winter in a 1919 Aesop anthology (from Frogs in culture)
Image 12Vietnamese folk painting "Nhân nghĩa" (from Toad)
Image 13Common toad, female and male on her back. (from True toad)
Image 14Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee 2016 (from Frog jumping contest)
Image 15Gray tree frog, Hyla versicolor, Hylidae, eastern North America (from Tree frog)
Image 16Malabar tree toad, Pedostibes tuberculosus, Hyperoliidae, India (from Tree frog)
Image 17Crapaud et Grenouille ("Frog and Toad") by Jean Carriès, between 1889 and 1894 (from Frogs in culture)
Image 18Hermenegildo Bustos, Still life with fruit, 1874 (from Frogs in culture)
Image 19Frog pictured in the coat of arms of Baloži (from Frogs in culture)
Image 20American toad (Anaxyrus americanus) (from True toad)
Image 21Moche frog, 200 AD (from Frogs in culture)
Image 22Gladiator treefrog (Hypsiboas rosenbergi), Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica (from Tree frog)
Image 23Roman lamp mount shaped like a frog. (from Frogs in culture)
Image 24Wrestling frogs from Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga, cartoon, Japan, 12th century (from Frogs in culture)
Image 25Wallace's flying frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus) (from Flying frog)
Image 26Early Dynastic (c. 3000 BC) frog statuette) (from Frogs in culture)
Image 27Vietnamese folk painting "Lão oa giảng độc" (from Toad)
Image 28Entre ciel et terre, by Gustave Doré, 1862 (from Frogs in culture)
Image 29Ascaphus montanus tadpole (supine position), showing the large oral sucker (from Tailed frog)
Image 30Eungella torrent frog
Taudactylus eungellensis
Myobatrachidae
Australia (from Torrent frog)
Image 31European treefrog (Hyla arborea) (from Tree frog)
Image 32Detail of Josiah Wedgwood's Frog Service, 1773–4, made for Catherine the Great of Russia (from Frogs in culture)
Image 33Old Dutch tile from Friesland (from Frogs in culture)
Image 34Common tree frog, Polypedates leucomystax, Rhacophoridae, southern to eastern Asia (from Tree frog)
Image 35Frog and Mouse by Getsuju, a Japanese artist of the Edo period (from Frogs in culture)

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Did you know?

...that both species of Corroboree frog are critically endangered?
... that the frog Paedophryne swiftorum (pictured) was discovered by a student on a 2008 Cornell University expedition to Papua New Guinea?
... that dancing frogs, found in the Western Ghats in India, wave their hindlegs while calling to attract mates?
...that the Wrinkled Toadlet (pictured) is also commonly known as the Chubby Gungan?
... that the call made by Limnodynastes dorsalis, a frog species in Western Australia, is similar to the sound of a plucked banjo string?