The use of the common names "frog" and "toad" has no taxonomic justification. From a taxonomic perspective, all members of the order Anura are frogs, but only members of the family Bufonidae are considered "true toads". The use of the term "frog" in common names usually refers to species that are aquatic or semi-aquatic with smooth and/or moist skins, and the term "toad" generally refers to species that tend to be terrestrial with dry, warty skin. An exception is the
fire-bellied toad (
Bombina bombina): while its skin is slightly warty, it prefers a watery habitat.
Frogs and toads are broadly
classified into three suborders:
Archaeobatrachia, which includes four families of primitive frogs;
Mesobatrachia, which includes five families of more evolutionary intermediate frogs; and
Neobatrachia, by far the largest group, which contains the remaining 24 families of "modern" frogs, including most common species throughout the world. Neobatrachia is further divided into the Hyloidea and Ranoidea.
[3] This classification is based on such morphological features as the number of vertebrae, the structure of the
pectoral girdle, and the morphology of tadpoles. While this classification is largely accepted, relationships among families of frogs are still debated. Future studies of
molecular genetics should soon provide further insights to the evolutionary relationships among anuran families.
[4]
Some species of anurans
hybridise readily. For instance, the
Edible Frog (
Rana esculenta) is a hybrid of the
Pool Frog (
R. lessonae) and the
Marsh Frog (
R. ridibunda).
Bombina bombina and
Bombina variegata similarly form hybrids, although these are less fertile, giving rise to a
hybrid zone.
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