Frogs and Toads
Anura
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek ἀνούρα, literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough skin texture due to wart-like parotoid glands tend to be called toads, but the distinction between frogs and toads is informal and purely cosmetic, and does not reflect taxonomy or evolutionary history.
Frogs are widely distributed, ranging from the tropics to subarctic regions, but the greatest concentration of species diversity is in tropical rainforest and associated wetlands. They account for around 88% of extant amphibian species, and are one of the five most diverse vertebrate orders. The oldest fossil "proto-frog" Triadobatrachus is known from the Early Triassic of Madagascar (250 million years ago), but molecular clock dating suggests their divergence from other amphibians may extend further back to the Permian, 265 million years ago.
53 branches of this order, most-observed first · about 7,889 known species
Typical Frogs
familyRanidae
True Toads
familyBufonidae
Hylid Tree Frogs
familyHylidae
Terraranas
superfamilyBrachycephaloidea
Old World Tree Frogs
familyRhacophoridae
Australasian Tree Frogs
familyPelodryadidae
Narrow-mouthed Frogs
familyMicrohylidae
Fork-tongued Frogs
familyDicroglossidae
Southern Frogs
familyLeptodactylidae
Australian Ground Frogs
superfamilyMyobatrachoidea
Poison Frogs
superfamilyDendrobatoidea
North American Spadefoots
familyScaphiopodidae
African Box-headed Frogs
familyPyxicephalidae
Leaf Frogs
familyPhyllomedusidae
African Reed Frogs
familyHyperoliidae
Fire-bellied Toads
familyBombinatoridae
Disc-tongued Frogs
familyAlytidae
Glass Frogs
familyCentrolenidae
Asian Toads
familyMegophryidae
Mantellas
familyMantellidae
European Spadefoot Toads
familyPelobatidae
Squeakers
familyArthroleptidae
Grassland Frogs
familyPtychadenidae
Rain frogs
familyBrevicipitidae
Clawed Frogs
familyPipidae
Puddle Frogs
familyPhrynobatrachidae
Parsley Frogs
familyPelodytidae
Escuerzos and Smooth-horned Frogs
familyOdontophrynidae
Neotropical Horned Frogs
familyHemiphractidae
Patagonian Frogs
familyAlsodidae
Tailed Frogs
familyAscaphidae
South American Wood Frogs
familyBatrachylidae
Leaping Frogs
familyRanixalidae
Common Horned Frogs
familyCeratophryidae
Triangle Frogs
familyCeratobatrachidae
Hylodid Frogs
familyHylodidae
Robust Frogs
familyNyctibatrachidae
Button Frogs
familyCycloramphidae
Mexican burrowing toads
familyRhinophrynidae
Dancing Frogs
familyMicrixalidae
Ghost Frogs
familyHeleophrynidae
New Zealand Primitive Frogs
familyLeiopelmatidae
Shovelnose Frogs
familyHemisotidae
Chilean Toads
familyCalyptocephalellidae
South American Water Frogs
familyTelmatobiidae
Darwin's Frogs
familyRhinodermatidae
Tukeit Hill Frogs
familyAllophrynidae
Slippery Frogs
familyConrauidae
Seychelles Frogs
familySooglossidae
Purple Frogs
familyNasikabatrachidae
African Torrent Frogs
familyPetropedetidae
Toothed Frogs
familyOdontobatrachidae
Ericabatrachidae
familyEricabatrachidae
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Anura in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 20979.