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The largest living amphibian is the 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) [41] but this is a great deal smaller than the largest amphibian that ever existed—the extinct 9 m (30 ft) Prionosuchus, a crocodile-like temnospondyl dating to 270 million years ago from the middle Permian of Brazil. [42]
Many temnospondyls are much larger than living amphibians, and superficially resemble crocodiles, which has led many taxa to be named with the suffix -suchus.The largest taxa, which were predominantly the Mesozoic stereospondyls, had skulls exceeding one meter in length, and the entire animal would have been several meters in length (for reference, the largest living amphibian, Andrias, is ...
Oviparity occurs in all birds, most reptiles, some fishes, and most arthropods. Among mammals , monotremes (four species of echidna , and the platypus ) are uniquely oviparous. In all but special cases of both ovuliparity and oviparity, the overwhelming source of nourishment for the embryo is the nutrients stored in the yolk, pre-deposited in ...
The eyes of most frogs are located on either side of the head near the top and project outwards as hemispherical bulges. They provide binocular vision over a field of 100° to the front and a total visual field of almost 360°. [83] They may be the only part of an otherwise submerged frog to protrude from the water.
Most labyrinthodonts had special sense organs in the skin, forming a lateral line organ for perception of water flow and pressure, like those found in fish and a number of modern amphibians. [10] This would enable them to pick up the vibration of their prey and other waterborne sounds while hunting in murky, weed filled waters.
Most amniotes still require regular access to drinking water for rehydration, like the semiaquatic amphibians do. They have better homeostasis in drier environments, and more efficient non-aquatic gas exchange to power terrestrial locomotion , which is facilitated by their astragalus .
[17] [18] Unlike other modern amphibians (frogs and salamanders) the skull is compact and solid, with few large openings between plate-like cranial bones. The snout is pointed and bullet-shaped, used to force their way through soil or mud. In most species the mouth is recessed under the head, so that the snout overhangs the mouth. [10]
For several decades, this name has been used for a group that includes all living amphibians, but excludes all the main groups of Paleozoic tetrapods, such as Temnospondyli, Lepospondyli, Embolomeri, and Seymouriamorpha. [1] Most scientists have concluded that all of the primary groups of modern amphibians—frogs, salamanders and caecilians ...