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Amphibians
 | Are in the class Amphibia within the subphylum Vertebrata. |
| Are cold-blooded. They cannot maintain their body temperature by
internal means. |
| Have a moist skin with no protective scales or shells. |
| Lay soft, gelatinous eggs with no shell. |
| Lay their eggs in water or some other situation where they will remain
moist. |
| Start their life in the water in a gilled larval state (called tadpoles in
frogs and toads). |
| Have no claws on their toes. |
Currently, there are about 4,000 recognized species of amphibians in the world, divided
into 3 living orders. Within Kansas 30 species and subspecies are recorded from 9
families in 2 orders.
The following list is adapted from "A Checklist of the Vertebrate Animals of
Kansas", 3rd edition, 2005, by George Potts and Joseph Collins. This
publication is available from the Kansas University Natural History Museum, 1345 Jayhawk
Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045-7163.
For a pdf version of the Kansas list, click here  .
(On a Windows system, download the file by right clicking on the link and choose
"Save Target As" to save it to your hard drive, then open it from there.
You will need Acrobat Reader to view this file. If you don't have that software
already, you can get it for free from Adobe.)
| There is a species portrait page done for the Barred Tiger Salamander. |
| Range maps and population status for the ten amphibian species on the Kansas Threatened
& Endangered Species list may be found in the Kansas Wildlife
Refuge. |
Order Caudata - Salamanders
- (9 Species in Kansas)
Family Ambystomatidae - Mole Salamanders
Barred
Tiger Salamander - Ambystoma mavortium
Smallmouth Salamander - Ambystoma texanum
Eastern Tiger Salamander -
Ambystoma tigrinum
Family Salamandridae - Newts
Eastern Newt - Notophthalmus
viridescens
Family Plethodontidae - Woodland
Salamanders
Longtail
Salamander - Eurycea longicauda
Cave Salamander
- Eurycea lucifuga
Grotto Salamander
- Eurycea spelaea
Family Proteidae - Mudpuppies
Red River Mudpuppy - Necturus
louisianensis
Common Mudpuppy - Necturus maculosus
Order Anura - Frogs & Toads - (21
Species in Kansas)
Family Scaphiopodidae - Spadefoot Toads
Plains Spadefoot - Spea bombifrons
Family Bufonidae - True Toads
American Toad - Bufo americanus
Great Plains Toad - Bufo cognatus
Green Toad - Bufo
debilis
Red-spotted Toad - Bufo punctatus
Woodhouse's Toad - Bufo woodhousii
Family Hylidae - Treefrogs & Allies
Northern Cricket Frog - Acris crepitans
Cope's Gray Treefrog - Hyla chrysoscelis
Gray Treefrog - Hyla versicolor
Spotted Chorus Frog - Pseudacris clarkii
Spring Peeper
- Pseudacris crucifer
Boreal Chorus Frog - Pseudacris maculata
Strecker's Chorus Frog
- Pseudacris streckeri
Family Ranidae - True Frogs
Crawfish Frog - Rana areolata
Plains Leopard Frog - Rana blairi
Bullfrog - Rana catesbeiana
Green Frog - Rana
clamitans
Southern Leopard Frog - Rana sphenocephala
Family Microhylidae - Narrowmouth Toads
Eastern Narrowmouth
Toad - Gastrophryne carolinensis
Great Plains Narrowmouth Toad - Gastrophryne
olivacea
For more information on
amphibians, see these resources:
| For detailed information on the distribution of amphibians in Kansas,
visit the Kansas Herpetofaunal Atlas.
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| If you have a strong interest in Great Plains amphibians, you may wish
to join
the Kansas Herpetological Society.
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| For information on amphibians worldwide, see AmphibiaWeb!
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| An alternate taxonomy for Kansas amphibians may be found in the "Scientific and Standard English Names of
Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico" by the Society for the
Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. This paper is available for download here.
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| Visit the Tree of Life website to see how
cladistic analysis presents the classification of animals.
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Top of Page
- This page was spun
by Jim Mason -
Questions or comments? Send Email to Jim Mason 
Or write us at:
Great Plains Nature Center
6232 E. 29th Street North
Wichita, KS 67220-2200
Call: 316-683-5499
Fax: 316-688-9555
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