The Order Anura has 33 families, 358 genera and 7243 species. (2020)

Member of the order Anura (Ancient Greek an = without + oura = tail) include all frogs and toads. The use of the common names frog and toad has no taxonomic justification. From a classification perspective, all members of the order Anura are frogs, but only members of the family Bufonidae are considered true toads.

The use of the term frog in common names usually refers to species that are aquatic or semi-aquatic and have smooth, moist skins. The use of the term toad generally refers to species that are terrestrial with dry, warty skins.

As with all of the creation, there are numerous exceptions to this rule. Examples of exceptions include the European fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina) which has a slightly warty skin and prefers a watery habitat, and the Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus zeteki) is in the toad family Bufonidae and has a smooth skin.

The Order Anura includes both frogs and toads which are a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians.

The body plan of an adult frog is generally characterized by a stout body, protruding eyes, cleft tongue, limbs folded underneath, and the absence of a tail in adults. Besides living in fresh water and on dry land, the adults of some species are adapted for living underground or in trees. The skin of the frog is glandular, with secretions ranging from distasteful to toxic.

Frogs typically lay their eggs in water. The eggs hatch into aquatic larvae called tadpoles that have tails and internal gills. They have highly specialized rasping mouth parts suitable for herbivorous, omnivorous or planktivorous diets. The life cycle is completed when they metamorphose into adults. Some species deposit eggs on land or bypass the tadpole stage.

Adult frogs generally have a carnivorous diet consisting of small invertebrates, but omnivorous species exist and a few feed on fruit. Frogs are extremely efficient at converting what they eat into body mass. They are an important food source for predators and part of the food web dynamics of many of the world's ecosystems. The skin is semi-permeable, making them susceptible to dehydration, so they either live in moist places or have special adaptations to deal with dry habitats.

Frogs produce a wide range of vocalizations, particularly in their breeding season, and exhibit many different kinds of complex behaviours to attract mates, to fend off predators and to generally survive.

Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rain forests. Frogs are also one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders.

The skin of frogs vary in colour from well-camouflaged dappled brown, grey and green to vivid patterns of bright red or yellow and black to advertise toxicity and warn off predators.

Golden poison dart frogs from Columbia have the deadliest poison on earth.

The oldest fossil which has been called proto-frog appeared in the early Triassic period (in Madagascar), but molecular clock dating suggests their origins may extend further back into the Permian period about 265 million years ago.

Warty species of frog tend to be called toads but the distinction between frogs and toads is based on informal naming conventions concentrating on the warts rather than taxonomy or evolutionary history.

Toad is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. A distinction between frogs and toads is not made in scientific taxonomy, but is common in popular culture, in which toads are associated with drier skin and more terrestrial habitats than animals commonly called frogs.

Frogs travel from non-breeding areas to breeding areas of ponds and lakes. The call of the toads is the an important cue used by toads in the homing to ponds. Toads, like many amphibians, exhibit breeding site fidelity, which is the tendency of an organism to stay in or habitually return to a particular area (philopatry).

Individual Bufo americanus toads return to their natal ponds to breed where they are likely to encounter siblings as potential mates. Although inbred examples within a species is possible, siblings rarely mate because toads recognize and avoid mating with close kin.

Advertisement vocalizations given by males appear to serve as cues by which females recognize kin. Kin recognition thus allows avoidance of in breeding and consequentially reduction of biological fitness of the species (or in breeding depression).

The following section will divide the order Anura in to three sub-orders and then list the families that are in each sub-order.

From Latin archeao meaning old and batrachia meaning frog, this suborder contains a grouping of various primitive frogs and toads. These frogs and toads are mainly found in Eurasia, New Zealand, Borneo and the Philippines, with one family (Alytidae), represented by two species is found in the Pacific northwest and northern rocky mountains of north America.

All species in this family have pond dwelling tadpoles.

This family contains three extant genera and five genera with extinct species.

This is a family of 12 species of painted Frogs and midwife toads, including genus Discoglossus which is sometimes considered a separate family.

Distribution: Eastern Europe, North Africa, western Mediterranean islands.

Iberian midwife toad (Alytes cisternasii)

Southern midwife toad (Alytes dickhilleni)

Moroccan midwife toad (Alytes maurus)

Majorcan midwife toad (Alytes mulentensis)

Common midwife toad (Alytes obstetricans)

West Iberian painted frog (Discoglossus galganoi)

Spanish painted frog (Discoglossus jeanneae)

Corsican painted frog (Discoglossus montalentii)

Common painted frog (Discoglossus picus)

Tyrrhenian painted frog (Discoglossus sardus)

Moroccan painted frog (Discoglossus scovazzi)

Hula painted frog (Latonia nigriventer)

Bominatoridae is a family of toads found in Eurasia, called Fire test toads, with two extant genera and two extinct genera and eight species. The species in this family have flattened bodies and some are highy toxic.

The common name of Genus Bombina, fire-bellied is derived from the brightly colored red or yellow-black patterns in the toads underside (ventral) parts serving as aposematic coloration and warning to predators of the likely four of toxic properties.

Philippine flat-headed frog [jungle toad] (Barbourula busuangensis) NT

Bornean flat-headed frog [jungle toad] (Barbourula Kalimantanensis) EN

European fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina)

Hubie firebelly toad (Bombina microdeladigitora)

Yunnan firebelly toad (Bombina maxima)

Orientalfire-bellied toad (Bombina orientalis)

Apennine yellow-bellied toad (Bombina pachypus)

yellow-bellied toad (Bombina veriegata)

This primitive frog family is monotypic, has only one genus and four extant species, all of which are only found in New Zealand.

Three extinct species are known by subfossil remains, also from New Zealand, becoming extinct within the last one thousand years.

Archey′s frog, (Leiopelma archeyi) CR

Hamilton′s frog, (Leiopelma hamiltoni) VU

Hochstetter′s frog, (Leiopelma hochstetteri) LC

Maud Island frog, (Leiopelma pakeka) VU

This primitive frog family is monotypic, has only one genus and two extant species, all of which are only found in the northwest north America, one along the northwest coast areas of northern California up to southeastern British Columbia. The second species is found in the northern rocky mountains of Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon.

This family is called the tailed frogs due to the existence of a visible tail appendage and make this frog distinct from all other frogs.

Habitat is cold fast moving streams with cobblestone bottoms. These frogs are mostly aquatic, adults emerge during cool wet conditions to forage terrestrially but still feed underwater. Size is from one to two inches in length

Mountain tailed frog (Ascapus montanus) 1949

Coastal tailed frog (Ascapus truei) 1888

Litter frogs and short legged toads, 268 species

Found throughout Asia, on Borneo and Natuna Islands. This genus of frogs are called Borneo frogs, Slender=armed frogs or Dwarf litter frogs and contains over 80 species with 25 found in China.

This genus are small frogs, are well camouflaged on the ground but their call is loud and can be abundant along streams.

Found in southern China, northern India, Southeast Asia and island of the South China Sea and the Philippians. This genus of frogs is called eastern spadefoot toads and also know as large-eyed litter frogs and contains 36 species

Endemic to southwestern China with one species in northern Vietnam, and likely in Laos. There is also some in Northeast India which could be either Oreolalax or Scutiger. This genus of frogs contains 19 species.

Found in China, Burma, Nepal and northern India, these frogs are in high altitude habitats are also known as lazy toads. This genus of frogs contains 24 species.

Asian Spadefoot toads, 106 species also known as Asian horned frogs

This genus of this family are endemic to South China, Tibet, Northern India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Borneo, Sumatra, Philippines, Indonesia.

The spadefoot toads are a family of frogs with six species in one extant genus and they are native to Europe, the Mediterranean, northwest Africa and western Asia.

The European spadefoot toads are small to large sized frogs, up to almost four inches in length, which are often inconspicuously colored. They are predominantly burrowing frogs, which burrow in sandy soils. They have hardened protrusions on their feet to aid in digging, which is the source of the common name.

They emerge from the ground during periods of rain and breed in pools, which are usually temporary. All of the species in this family have free living aquatic tadpoles.

Western spadefoot toad (Pelobates cultripes)

Common spadefoot toad (Pelobates fuscus)

Pelobates spadefoot toad (Pelobates syriacus)

Moroccan spadefoot toad (Pelobates varaldii)

Pallas spadefoot toad (Pelobates evepertinus)

Five species

This family of frogs has a single extant genera and five species, are also know as the parsley frogs, are found in southwestern Europe and the nations of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and extreme southeast Russia, known collectively as the Caucasus.

41 Species

One Species

Seven Species