Why are frogs, toads and newts called amphibia?


The word amphibia comes from two Greek words: amphi meaning of both kinds and bios meaning life. Amphibia are a class of vertebrate (back-bones) animals that can live both in water and on land. They are descended from fishes that lived more than 300 million years ago.

The first amphibia to crawl out of the water were heavily built, and slow and clumsy on land, but more active in water. They had long bodies and tails, and some developed into the highly efficient class of reptiles.

About 160 million years ago many amphibia became extinct. But a few survived to develop into the present-day frogs, newts, salamanders and the wormlike caecilians.

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7 Responses to Why are frogs, toads and newts called amphibia?

  1. lets_be_true_frends_4_ever says:

    The word amphibia comes from two Greek words: amphi meaning of both kinds and bios meaning life. Amphibia are a class of vertebrate (back-bones) animals that can live both in water and on land. They are descended from fishes that lived more than 300 million years ago.

    The first amphibia to crawl out of the water were heavily built, and slow and clumsy on land, but more active in water. They had long bodies and tails, and some developed into the highly efficient class of reptiles.

    About 160 million years ago many amphibia became extinct. But a few survived to develop into the present-day frogs, newts, salamanders and the wormlike caecilians.
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  2. tuhdang says:

    plural?
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  3. Julie says:

    because they can live on/in both land and water
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  4. dogluver8906 says:

    because they can live in both water and on land
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  5. be away says:

    u need to go back to school dear!!!!
    References :
    http://www.distantmemories.piczo.com

  6. tigercub says:

    Because they are of cold-blooded vertebrates, intermediate in many characters between fishes and reptiles and having gilled aquatic larvae and air-breathing adults…
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