Frog is a well known amphibious which belongs to the group known as order Anura which is taken from Greek words, ‘an’ which means ‘without’ and ‘oura’ which means ‘tail’. The order Anura is further classified into three suborders known as: Archaeobatrachia, Mesobatrachia and Neobatrachia. The order Anura comprises of over 5,280 species in about 29 families. These families contain both frogs and toads. Although, both are closely associated, there are some minute differences between them. Frogs bear a smooth, thin and slimy skin and mostly found near the water source while toads are rough and warty and usually found away from water source. Frogs are commonly found all over the world with an exception of Antarctica and there are several different types of frogs found across the world.
Different Types of Frogs and Toads
Most of you have a good idea about the frogs because these are the most common amphibians which we come across in our lives. But you may not be aware of the different types of frogs. Frogs are classified into different types on the basis of their calls, habitat, body structure, color and so on. Let us have a brief look at some of the different types of frogs.
Tree Frogs
Tree frogs as the name suggest are found on trees or tall vegetation. These frogs are small in size and their small size enables them to move briskly on the thin branches and twigs. Majority of the tree frogs have green color with varied patterns which help them to disguise the enemies. The two most common and popular types of tree frogs include green tree frog and the glass frog. There are other types of tree frogs as well such as gray tree frog or North American tree frog which usually appear in the spring season for coupling. They bear a warty skin which can be either green or gray.
Bullfrogs
Bullfrogs are given this name because of their large body size. Bulldogs usually remain near the water source and fall under the family called Ranidae. Ranidae is known to be the family of true frogs. This family of frogs comprises of so many large and small sized true frogs among which ‘Goliath Frog’ is the largest. Bullfrogs are also a true frog which are found across the world in huge numbers and referred to as greedy eaters. American bullfrog (Rana catesberiana) is found in North America. Similar to American type, African bullfrogs are also known for their huge sizes and dispersed all over the African countries. Bullfrogs are usually lived in freshwaters, lakes, canals, pasture lands, moist savanna, dry savanna, or ditches. Bullfrogs are normally used for dissection purposes in schools and in many parts of the world they are grown up as a pet.
Fire-bellied Toads
Fire-bellied toads fall under the group Bombina, which is comprised of eight species. Fire-bellied toads have small size and are called fire-bellied because having bright-colored bellies. The most prominent of these bright colors include red, orange, black and yellow. The mating calls of these toads are similar to that of dog barking, but hardly noticeable. Fire-bellied toads are often grown as colorful pets.
Northern Leopard Frog
Commonly found in United States and Canada, fall under the family of Ranidae. Like bullfrogs, these frogs are also large in size. The skin on their back is green to brown having big round dark-colored spots with a light-colored border ring. These frogs are commonly found near the water source with intense aquatic vegetation. Northern leopard frogs produce mating calls similar to snores. These frogs are widely used for research purposes.
Northern Cricket Frog
Northern cricket frog (Acris crepitans) is also commonly found in many regions of United States. These frogs belong to the family of tree frogs that is Hylidae. However, northern crocket frogs don’t live on trees like tree frogs. These are miniature frogs which can grow to the length of 1.5 inches. The skin on their back has blotchy patterns and is often found in gray, brown or green color. These are given the name as cricket frogs because of having a mating call similar to that of cricket.
Poison Dart Frog
Poison dart frogs are the venomous type of which possess harmful, poisonous and toxic alkaloids. Their bright colors send words of warning to the enemies and predators. These frogs fall under the family of Dendrobatidae. These frogs are commonly found in Central and South America. These small frogs are frequently found in rain forest and known for having a high level of parental care. These are found in variety of colors and out of them strawberry poison dart frog is the most popular. However, there are some species of poison dart frogs which are not very poisonous and kept as exotic or colorful pets. Wild ones are certainly venomous species.
Mentioned are only the few popular types of frogs and toads. There are several others which cannot be covered in this article. You can do a research on those different types of frogs and toads, if you are interested to explore the fascinating world of these amphibians.