Definitions for amphibians
am·phib·ians

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1. amphibians

   Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal or freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Thus amphibians typically start out as larvae living in water, but some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this. The young generally undergo metamorphosis from larva with gills to an adult air-breathing form with lungs. Amphibians use their skin as a secondary respiratory surface and some small terrestrial salamanders and frogs lack lungs and rely entirely on their skin. They are superficially similar to reptiles like lizards but, along with mammals and birds, reptiles are amniotes and do not require water bodies in which to breed. With their complex reproductive needs and permeable skins, amphibians are often ecological indicators; in recent decades there has been a dramatic decline in amphibian populations for many species around the globe. The earliest amphibians evolved in the Devonian period from sarcopterygian fish with lungs and bony-limbed fins, features that were helpful in adapting to dry land. They diversified and became dominant during the Carboniferous and Permian periods, but were later displaced by reptiles and other vertebrates. The origin of modern amphibians belonging to Lissamphibia, which first appeared during the Early Triassic, around 250 million years ago, has long been contentious. However the emerging consensus is that they likely originated from temnospondyls, the most diverse group of prehistoric amphibians, during the Permian period.The three modern orders of amphibians are Anura (the frogs), Urodela (the salamanders), and Apoda (the caecilians). A fourth group, the Albanerpetontidae, became extinct around 2 million years ago. The number of known amphibian species is approximately 8,000, of which nearly 90% are frogs. The smallest amphibian (and vertebrate) in the world is a frog from New Guinea (Paedophryne amauensis) with a length of just 7.7 mm (0.30 in). The largest living amphibian is the 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) South China giant salamander (Andrias sligoi), but this is dwarfed by prehistoric temnospondyls such as Mastodonsaurus which could reach up to 6 metres in length. The study of amphibians is called batrachology, while the study of both reptiles and amphibians is called herpetology.

U.S. National Library of MedicineRate this definition:5.0 / 2 votes

1. Amphibians

   VERTEBRATES belonging to the class amphibia such as frogs, toads, newts and salamanders that live in a semiaquatic environment.

How to pronounce amphibians?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say amphibians in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of amphibians in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of amphibians in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of amphibians in a Sentence

1. Mark Coggins, "The Immortal Game" (novel):

   Carbon atoms on a distant planet rearranged themselves into DNA, microorganisms formed, grew backbones, swam around the ocean, mutated into amphibians and crawled onto dry land—and finally a cab appeared at the mouth of the alley.

2. Steve Brusatte:

   As Pangea split there were huge volcanic eruptions, about 200 million years ago, and these plunged the world into chaos: environmental destruction and rapid climate swings, the big amphibians couldn't cope well and many species went extinct, but dinosaurs and mammals made it through.

3. Katherine Krynak:

   Amphibians are declining so rapidly that scientists are oftentimes describing new species from museum specimens because the animals have already gone extinct in the wild, and very recently.

4. Louise Rollins-Smith:

   Amphibians, especially certain groups of frogs, produce and store large amounts of antimicrobial peptides in specialized granular glands in the skin, when the skin is injured or the frog is alarmed, they release large amounts of the peptides to protect the skin.

5. Peter Marra:

   Birds are in crisis, the take-home message is that our findings add to mounting evidence with other recent studies showing massive declines in insects, amphibians and other taxa, signaling a widespread ecological crisis.

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References

1. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibians