Editing Frog (section)

==Etymology and taxonomy==
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 term ''toad'' generally refers to species that are terrestrial with dry, warty skins.<ref name=Salientia/><ref>{{cite book |title=Frogs |last=Badger |first=D. |author2=Netherton, J. |year=1995 |publisher=Airlife Publishing |isbn=978-1-85310-740-5 |page=19 }}</ref> There are numerous exceptions to this rule. The [[European fire-bellied toad]] (''Bombina bombina'') has a slightly warty skin and prefers a watery habitat<ref name=Bb>{{cite web |url=http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi/amphib_query?where-genus=Bombina&where-species=bombina |title=''Bombina bombina'' |author=Kuzmin, Sergius L. |date=September 29, 1999 |work=AmphibiaWeb |publisher=University of California, Berkeley |access-date=June 15, 2012}}</ref> whereas the [[Panamanian golden frog]] (''Atelopus zeteki'') is in the toad family Bufonidae and has a smooth skin.<ref>{{cite iucn |url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/54563/54341110 |title=''Atelopus zeteki'' |author1=Lips, K |author2=Solís, F. |author3=Ibáñez, R. |author4=Jaramillo, C. |author5=Fuenmayor, Q. |year=2010 |access-date=August 2, 2012}}</ref>

=== Etymology ===
The origin of the order name ''Anura''—and its original spelling ''Anoures''—is the [[Ancient Greek]] [[alpha privative]] prefix {{wikt-lang|grc|ἀν-}} ({{grc-transl|ἀν-}} from {{wikt-lang|grc|ἀ-}} before a vowel) 'without',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a)1 |title=ἀ |last1=Liddell |first1=Henry George |last2=Scott |first2=Robert |work=A Greek-English Lexicon |publisher=Perseus Digital Library |date=1940 }}</ref> and {{wikt-lang|grc|οὐρά}} ({{grc-transl|οὐρά}}) 'animal tail'.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=ou)ra/ |title=οὐρά |last1=Liddell |first1=Henry George |last2=Scott |first2=Robert |work=A Greek-English Lexicon |publisher=Perseus Digital Library |date=1940 }}</ref> meaning "tailless". It refers to the tailless character of these amphibians.<ref name="BaillyBook">{{Cite book |last=Bailly |first=Anatole |date=1981 |title=Abrégé du dictionnaire grec français |location=Paris |publisher=Hachette |isbn=978-2010035289 |oclc=461974285 }}</ref><ref name="BaillyWeb">{{Cite web |url=http://www.tabularium.be/bailly/ |title=Greek-french dictionary online |last=Bailly |first=Anatole |website=www.tabularium.be |access-date=December 9, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite OED|anuran, n. and adj.}}</ref>

The origins of the word ''frog'' are uncertain and debated.<ref name=":0">{{cite OED|frog, n.1 and adj.}}</ref> The word is first attested in [[Old English]] as {{lang|ang|frogga}}, but the usual Old English word for the frog was {{lang|ang|frosc}} (with variants such as {{lang|ang|frox}} and {{lang|ang|forsc}}), and it is agreed that the word ''frog'' is somehow related to this. Old English {{lang|ang|frosc}} remained in dialectal use in English as ''frosh'' and ''frosk'' into the nineteenth century,<ref>{{cite OED|frosh {{!}} frosk, n.1.}}</ref> and is paralleled widely in other [[Germanic languages]], with examples in the modern languages including [[German language|German]] {{lang|de|Frosch}}, [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] {{lang|no|frosk}}, [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] {{lang|is|froskur}}, and [[Dutch language|Dutch]] ''{{Not a typo|(kik)vors}}''.<ref name=":0" /> These words allow reconstruction of a [[Proto-Germanic language|Common Germanic]] ancestor {{lang|gem-x-proto|*froskaz}}.<ref>Jerzy Wełna, '[https://repozytorium.amu.edu.pl/bitstream/10593/18454/1/31welna.pdf Metathetic and Non-Metathetic Form Selection in Middle English]', ''Studia Anglica Posnaniensia'', 30 (2002), 501–18 (p. 504).</ref> The third edition of the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' finds that the etymology of {{lang|gem-x-proto|*froskaz}} is uncertain, but agrees with arguments that it could plausibly derive from a [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] base along the lines of {{lang|ine-x-proto|*preu}}, meaning 'jump'.<ref name=":0" />

How Old English {{lang|ang|frosc}} gave rise to {{lang|ang|frogga}} is, however, uncertain, as the development does not involve a regular [[Sound change|sound-change]]. Instead, it seems that there was a trend in Old English to coin nicknames for animals ending in -''g'', with examples—themselves all of uncertain etymology—including ''dog'', ''hog'', ''pig, stag'', and ''{{Not a typo|(ear)wig}}''. ''Frog'' appears to have been adapted from {{lang|ang|frosc}} as part of this trend.<ref name=":0" />

Meanwhile, the word ''toad'', first attested as Old English {{lang|ang|tādige}}, is unique to English and is likewise of uncertain etymology.<ref>{{cite OED|toad, n.}}</ref> It is the basis for the word ''tadpole'', first attested as [[Middle English]] {{lang|enm|taddepol}}, apparently meaning 'toad-head'.<ref>{{cite OED|tadpole, n.1.}}</ref>

=== Taxonomy ===
About 88% of [[amphibian]] species are [[Biological classification|classified]] in the [[Order (biology)|order]] Anura.<ref name="Pou92">{{cite book |last1=Pough |first1=F. H. |last2=Andrews |first2=R. M. |last3=Cadle |first3=J. E. |last4=Crump |first4=M. L. |last5=Savitsky |first5=A. H. |last6=Wells |first6=K. D. |title=Herpetology |edition=third |year=2003 |publisher=Benjamin Cummings |isbn=978-0-13-100849-6 }}</ref> These include over 7,700 species<ref name="AOTW"/> in 59 [[Family (biology)|families]], of which the [[Hylidae]] (1062 spp.), [[Strabomantidae]] (807 spp.), [[Microhylidae]] (758 spp.), and [[True toad|Bufonidae]] (657 spp.) are the [[Species richness|richest in species]].<ref name=amdb>{{cite web |url=http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/Amphibia/Anura |title=Anura Fischer von Waldheim, 1813 |last=Frost |first=Darrel R. |year=2023 |work=Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.2 |publisher=American Museum of Natural History |access-date=November 12, 2024}}</ref>

[[File:Bombina bombina 1 (Marek Szczepanek) tight crop.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Dark-coloured toad facing left|[[European fire-bellied toad]] (''Bombina&nbsp;bombina'')]]

The Anura include all modern frogs and any [[fossil]] species that fit within the anuran definition. The characteristics of anuran adults include: 9 or fewer presacral vertebrae, the presence of a urostyle formed of fused vertebrae, no tail, a long and forward-sloping ilium, shorter fore limbs than hind limbs, [[Radius (bone)|radius]] and [[ulna]] fused, [[tibia]] and [[fibula]] fused, elongated [[ankle bone]]s, absence of a prefrontal bone, presence of a [[hyoid bone|hyoid plate]], a [[Mandible|lower jaw]] without teeth (with the exception of ''[[Gastrotheca guentheri]]'') consisting of three pairs of bones (angulosplenial, dentary, and mentomeckelian, with the last pair being absent in [[Pipoidea]]),<ref>Duellman, William E. {{Google books|CzxVvKmrtIgC|Biology of Amphibians|page=319}}</ref> an unsupported tongue, [[lymph]] spaces underneath the skin, and a muscle, the protractor lentis, attached to the [[Lens (anatomy)|lens of the eye]].<ref name=ToLAnura>{{cite web |url=http://www.tolweb.org/Anura/16963 |title=Anura |author=Cannatella, David |author-link=David C. Cannatella |date=January 11, 2008 |publisher=Tree of Life web project |access-date=August 8, 2012}}</ref> The anuran larva or tadpole has a single central respiratory [[Spiracle (vertebrates)|spiracle]] and mouthparts consisting of [[keratin]]ous beaks and [[Denticle (tooth feature)|denticles]].<ref name=ToLAnura/>

[[File:Atelopus zeteki1.jpg|thumb|alt=Panamanian golden frog|[[Panamanian golden frog]] (''Atelopus&nbsp;zeteki'')]]

Frogs and toads are broadly classified into three suborders: [[Archaeobatrachia]], which includes four families of primitive frogs; [[Mesobatrachia]], which includes five families of more evolutionary intermediate frogs; and [[Neobatrachia]], by far the largest group, which contains the remaining families of modern frogs, including most common species throughout the world. The suborder Neobatrachia is further divided into the two superfamilies [[Hyloidea]] and [[Ranoidea]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ford |first=L.S. |author2=Cannatella, D. C. |year=1993 |title=The major clades of frogs |journal=Herpetological Monographs |volume=7 |pages=94–117 |doi=10.2307/1466954 |jstor=1466954}}</ref> This classification is based on such [[Morphology (biology)|morphological]] features as the number of vertebrae, the structure of the [[pectoral girdle]], and the morphology of tadpoles. While this classification is largely accepted, relationships among families of frogs are still debated.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Faivovich |first=J. |author2=Haddad, C. F. B. |author3=Garcia, P. C. A. |author4=Frost, D. R. |author5=Campbell, J. A. |author6=Wheeler, W. C. |title=Systematic review of the frog family Hylidae, with special reference to Hylinae: Phylogenetic analysis and revision |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=294 |pages=1–240 |doi=10.1206/0003-0090(2005)294[0001:SROTFF]2.0.CO;2 |year=2005 |citeseerx=10.1.1.470.2967 |s2cid=83925199}}</ref>

Some species of anurans [[hybrid (biology)|hybridise]] readily. For instance, the [[edible frog]] (''Pelophylax esculentus'') is a hybrid between the [[pool frog]] (''P. lessonae'') and the [[marsh frog]] (''P. ridibundus'').<ref>{{cite web |url=http://amphibiaweb.org/cgi-bin/amphib_query?where-genus=Pelophylax&where-species=esculentus |title=''Pelophylax esculentus'' |author=Kuzmin, S. L. |date=November 10, 1999 |access-date=October 12, 2012}}</ref> The fire-bellied toads ''Bombina bombina'' and ''[[Yellow-bellied toad|B. variegata]]'' are similar in forming hybrids. These are less fertile than their parents, giving rise to a [[hybrid zone]] where the hybrids are prevalent.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/1521/1/Koehler_Sonja.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://edoc.ub.uni-muenchen.de/1521/1/Koehler_Sonja.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |title=Mechanisms for partial reproductive isolation in a ''Bombina'' hybrid zone in Romania |last=Köhler |first=Sonja |year=2003 |work=Dissertation for thesis |access-date=June 5, 2012}}</ref>
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