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Living Amphibians

Frogs and toads, salamanders and newts, and caecilians

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taxon links [up-->]Salientia [up-->]Caudata [down<--]Terrestrial Vertebrates Interpreting the tree
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This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.

The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.

example of a tree diagram

You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.

For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification. To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.

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Containing group: Terrestrial Vertebrates

Introduction

This group, which includes all living amphibians, as well as their extinct relatives, goes by two formal names: Lissamphibia or Amphibia.

Other Names for Living Amphibians

References

Bolt, J. R. 1991. Lissamphibian origins. Pages 194–222 in: Origins of the Major Groups of Tetrapods: Controversies and Consensus (H. P. Schultze and L. Trueb, eds.) Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.

Duellman, W. E. and L. Trueb. 1994. Biology of Amphibians. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

Feller, A. E. and S. B. Hedges. 1998. Molecular evidence for the early history of living amphibians. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 9: 509– 516.

Hedges, S. B. and L. R. Maxson. 1993. A molecular perspective on lissamphibian phylogeny. Herpetol. Monogr. 7: 27–42.

Trueb, L. and R. Cloutier. 1991. A phylogenetic investigation of the inter- and intrarelationships of the Lissamphibia (Amphibia: Temnospondyli). Pages 223–313 in: Origins of the Major Groups of Tetrapods: Controversies and Consensus. (H. P. Schultze and L. Trueb, eds.) Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.

Trueb, L. and R. Cloutier. 1991. Toward an understanding of the amphibians: two centuries of systematic history. Pages 175–193 in: Origins of the Major Groups of Tetrapods: Controversies and Consensus. (H. P. Schultze and L. Trueb, eds.) Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.

Zardoya, R. and A. Meyer. 2000. Mitochondrial evidence on the phylogenetic position of caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona). Genetics 155:765-775.

Zardoya, R., and A. Meyer. 2001. On the origin of and phylogenetic relationships among living amphibians. PNAS 98:7380-7383.

Information on the Internet

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Scientific Name Dendrobates leucomelas
Location captive, North Carolina Zoo
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source Bumblebee frog
Source Collection Flickr
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2008 Valerie
Scientific Name Gymnopis multiplicata
Location Costa Rica
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source Caecilian (Gymnopis multiplicata)
Source Collection Flickr
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2005 Teague O'Mara
Scientific Name Eurycea longicauda
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Source Long-tailed Salamander
Source Collection Flickr
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License - Version 2.0.
Copyright © 2004 Jack Goldfarb
About This Page

All Rights Reserved.

Citing this page:

Tree of Life Web Project. 1995. Living Amphibians. Frogs and toads, salamanders and newts, and caecilians. Version 01 January 1995 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Living_Amphibians/14997/1995.01.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

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