Caecilians are amphibians that lack limbs. They look a bit like
earthworms or snakes and can grow up to 1.5 m (5 ft) in length.
As they generally live underground, they are the most under-
studied group of amphibians. No. Some caecilians give birth to
live young and some salamanders have larvae that essentially
resemble the adult stage, but with external gills. There are
many terrestrial frog species that emerge as froglets directly
from the egg, bypassing the tadpole stage altogether. This
adaptation allows them to live far from water bodies (on
mountain tops for instance), and provides the parents with an
increased ability to guard their eggs, which are laid on land.
It also removes a serious risk that aquatic larvae must face:
predation by fish or dragonfly larvae. Many terrestrial
salamanders employ this strategy as well. (Photo credit:
Fogden). Amphibians are the oldest land vertebrates.
Ichthyostega was an amphibian species that lived in Greenland
362 million years ago. The Northern & Southern Gastric Br