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Blue poison dart frog. Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν herpetón, meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (including snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodilians, and tuataras).
Some amphibians such as newts and salamanders, and some frogs such as fire-bellied toads and wood frogs. Some reptiles such as crocodilians, turtles, water snakes and marine iguanas. Waterbirds, especially penguins, waterfowls, storks and shorebirds. Some rodents such as beavers, muskrats and capybaras.
The decline in amphibian and reptile populations has led to an awareness of the effects of pesticides on reptiles and amphibians. [177] In the past, the argument that amphibians or reptiles were more susceptible to any chemical contamination than any land aquatic vertebrate was not supported by research until recently. [177]
The largest living amphibian is the 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) South China giant salamander (Andrias sligoi), but this is dwarfed by prehistoric temnospondyls such as Mastodonsaurus which could reach up to 6 m (20 ft) in length. The study of amphibians is called batrachology, while the study of both reptiles and amphibians is called herpetology.
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).
Marine reptiles are reptiles which have become secondarily adapted for an aquatic or semiaquatic life in a marine environment. Only about 100 of the 12,000 extant reptile species and subspecies are classed as marine reptiles, including marine iguanas , sea snakes , sea turtles and saltwater crocodiles .
It belongs to a lineage believed to have given rise to the three living branches of amphibians - frogs, salamanders and limbless caecilians. Creature named for Kermit the Frog offers clues on ...
The majority of amphibians — except the order Gymnophiona , which are mainly terrestrial burrowers — have a fully aquatic larval form known as tadpoles, but those from the order Anura (frogs and toads) and some of the order Urodela (salamanders) will metamorphosize into lung-bearing and sometimes skin-breathing terrestrial adults, and most ...