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The skin is slimy and bears ringlike markings or grooves and may contain scales. [2] Modern caecilians are a clade, the order Gymnophiona / ˌ dʒ ɪ m n ə ˈ f aɪ ə n ə / (or Apoda / ˈ æ p ə d ə /), one of the three living amphibian groups alongside Anura and Urodela (salamanders).
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. [7] The study of amphibians is called batrachology, while the study of both reptiles and amphibians is called herpetology.
In the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, Carl Linnaeus described the Amphibia as: [1]. Animals that are distinguished by a body cold and generally naked; stern and expressive countenance; harsh voice; mostly lurid color; filthy odor; a few are furnished with a horrid poison; all have cartilaginous bones, slow circulation, exquisite sight and hearing, large pulmonary vessels, lobate liver ...
The Lissamphibia (from Greek λισσός (lissós, "smooth") + ἀμφίβια (amphíbia), meaning "smooth amphibians") is a group of tetrapods that includes all modern amphibians. Lissamphibians consist of three living groups: the Salientia ( frogs and their extinct relatives), the Caudata ( salamanders and their extinct relatives), and the ...
The word skin originally only referred to dressed and tanned animal hide and the usual word for human skin was hide. Skin is a borrowing from Old Norse skinn "animal hide, fur", ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *sek-, meaning "to cut" (probably a reference to the fact that in those times animal hide was commonly cut off to be used as garment).
Its skin is filled with capillaries that penetrate the epidermis, allowing gas exchange. Its skull shows evidence of muscles not found in any other organism. [ 6 ] The Vienna specimen of Atretochoana is a large caecilian at a length of 72.5 cm (28.5 in), [ 7 ] while the Brasília specimen is larger still at 80.5 cm (31.7 in). [ 8 ]
They are most active in cold temperatures, specifically between 9.1 and 20.2 degrees Celsius. [16] [17] During the day, N. maculosus seeks refuge under rocks or logs and plant debris. [15] They forage during the night and eat a variety of prey, but have preference for crayfish. [4] During the winter and spring, N. maculosus will also eat fish. [5]
Temnospondyli (from Greek τέμνειν, temnein 'to cut' and σπόνδυλος, spondylos 'vertebra') or temnospondyls is a diverse ancient order of small to giant tetrapods—often considered primitive amphibians—that flourished worldwide during the Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic periods, with fossils being found on every continent.