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The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) (/ ˌhɪpəˈpɒtəməs /; pl.: hippopotamuses; also shortened to hippo (pl.: hippos), further qualified as the common hippopotamus, Nile hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae ...
List of amphibians. The temnospondyl Eryops had sturdy limbs to support its body on land. Red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas) with limbs and feet specialised for climbing. Japanese giant salamander (Andrias japonicus), a primitive salamander. The bright colours of the common reed frog (Hyperolius viridiflavus) are typical of a toxic species.
Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniotic, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all tetrapods excluding the amniotes (tetrapods with an amniotic membrane, such as modern reptiles, birds and mammals).
The term amniote comes from the amnion, which derives from Greek ἀμνίον (amnion), which denoted the membrane that surrounds a fetus. The term originally described a bowl in which the blood of sacrificed animals was caught, and derived from ἀμνός (amnos), meaning "lamb". [17]
Active. Amphibian Species of the World 6.2: An Online Reference (ASW) is a herpetology database. It lists the names of frogs, salamanders and other amphibians, which scientists first described each species and what year, and the animal's known range. The American Museum of Natural History hosts Amphibian Species of the World, which is updated ...
Crown tetrapods are defined as the nearest common ancestor of all living tetrapods (amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) along with all of the descendants of that ancestor. The inclusion of certain extinct groups in the crown Tetrapoda depends on the relationships of modern amphibians, or lissamphibians. There are currently three major ...
Class Amphibia (amphibians, some ancestral to the amniotes)—now a paraphyletic group; Class Synapsida (mammals and the extinct mammal-like reptiles) Class Sauropsida (reptiles and birds) While this traditional classification is orderly, most of the groups are paraphyletic, i.e. do not contain all descendants of the class's common ancestor. [46]
Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard -like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten extant salamander families are grouped together under the order Urodela from the group Caudata. [2]