African treefrogs live in most of central and southern Africa. Some species are also found on the large island of Madagascar and the tiny island of Seychelles, which are in the Indian Ocean east of southern Africa. Some people keep African treefrogs as pets, but most people are happy to enjoy the frogs only by listening to them calling in the wilds of Africa. …
Asian treefrogs live in southeastern Asia, the southern half of Africa, and Madagascar. In southeastern Asia, species live in southern India, Sri Lanka, central and southern China, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia. In Africa, they live in a stretch of land across the center of the continent from about the Ivory Coast in the west to Somalia in the east, and then…
Depending on the species, narrow-mouthed frogs may live in southern North America, central and northern South America, Central America, southern Africa and Madagascar, southeast Asia including the Philippines and the East Indies, and/or northern Australia and New Guinea. Some native people in South America, New Guinea, and perhaps some other areas eat narrow-mouthed frogs, but they do not tak…
All of the species in this family live in Madagascar, a large island nation in the Indian Ocean off southern Africa. Scientists know very little about the diet of Madagascaran toadlets, but they believe the frogs are mainly insect-eaters. Although toadlets, like the red rain frog, will eat crickets in captivity, this does not necessarily mean that they normally eat crickets in the wild. The t…
Almost all salamanders live in the Northern Hemisphere. One species even lives north of the Arctic Circle. Only a few species of salamanders live south of the equator, and those live in North and South America as far south as Bolivia. Adult salamanders eat spiders, insects, worms, crustaceans such as crayfish, mollusks such as slugs and snails, fish and fish eggs, tadpoles, other salamanders,…
Sirens live in North America from the far northeastern part of Mexico north to the southwestern part of Michigan and east to Maryland. Dwarf sirens live in the southeastern part of the United States from Florida to South Carolina. Sirens and dwarf sirens live in still to slowly flowing, often swampy, water with a muddy bottom and sometimes with floating and rooted plants. Sirens and dwarf sir…
Asiatic salamanders live only in Asia. Their range extends from Japan, Taiwan, and the mainland of China westward to Afghanistan, Iran, and Kazakhstan in central Asia. To the north, Asian salamanders live on the Kamchatka peninsula, the island of Sakhalin, and in Siberia and Mongolia westward beyond the Ural Mountains. Siberian salamanders are the only Asiatic salamanders that enter European …
Asiatic giant salamanders and hellbenders live in the eastern part of China, the southern part of Japan, and the eastern part of the United States. Asiatic giant salamanders and hellbenders live in cool streams and rivers with gravel- or rock-covered bottoms. Chinese giant salamanders live in mountain streams, usually at heights less than 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) above sea level. Japanese gi…
Pacific giant salamanders live in wooded areas that have clear streams for larvae. Most of these salamanders live in coniferous woodlands, or those covered with trees that bear their seeds inside cones. These salamanders do especially well in areas with Douglas firs and redwoods. Adult Pacific giant salamanders live under rocks or logs. The larvae usually live in small, trout-free streams, bu…
Mole salamanders live in North America from southern Canada to just south of Mexico City, Mexico. Mole salamanders live in woodlands and grasslands, including partially dry pine and juniper woodland with vernal pools, ponds, or streams for breeding. A vernal (VUHR-nehl) pool is one that forms in the spring but then dries up for the rest of the year. Species that do not go through metamorphosi…
Newts and European salamanders live in scattered areas across the Northern Hemisphere, including western and eastern North America, Europe, Japan and other areas in Asia, and the northern part of Africa. Newts and European salamanders eat small invertebrate prey, including insects, earthworms, slugs, and snails. Invertebrates (in-VER-teh-brehts) are animals without backbones. In the water-dwe…
Olms live in southeastern Europe, and mudpuppies live in eastern North America. The Appalachian Mountains form a wedge separating the coastal waterdogs from the inland mudpuppies. Olms live in the limestone cave systems along the Adriatic Sea from western Slovenia and northeastern Italy in the north to Montenegro in the south. Most of them live in western Slovenia. Olms and mudpuppies have lo…
Torrent salamanders are small, short-tailed, greenish yellow, large-eyed salamanders. They are 3 to 4.5 inches (8 to 11 centimeters) long with a stocky body, a broad head, eyes that stick out, and a short snout. The legs are small but sturdy. The tail is short, is flat from side to side, and has a small ridge along the top. These salamanders have lungs that do not function. Torrent salamander…
Lungless salamanders live in southern Canada, much of the United States, and Mexico except the north-central parts of these countries. They also live in Central America and central South America. Most of the species live in the eastern and central parts of the United States. Six species live in the middle western Mediterranean region of Europe. Lungless salamanders live in forest, woodlands, …
Amphiumas live in an area that extends from southeastern Virginia southward along the coastal plain and throughout Florida, westward along the coastal plain and from southwestern Alabama and all of Mississippi and Louisiana to the easternmost part of Texas and most southeastern part of Oklahoma northward to the extreme southeastern portion of Missouri. Amphiumas live in swamps, marshes, ditch…
Some caecilians live in moist soil that is rich in decayed plant matter. They also live in leaf litter and sometimes even in the lower parts of plants. Other caecilians live in water all or most of the time. Caecilians eat insects that are harmful to people. The burrowing movements of land-dwelling caecilians turn soil and thus keep it in good condition. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) li…
American tailed caecilians live in northern South America, including parts of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Surinam, and Venezuela. American tailed caecilians live in tropical rainforests in moist spots full of leaf litter, rotten logs, and burrows in the soil. The larvae live mainly in streams. Larvae (LAR-vee) are animals in an early stage that change body form in …
Asian tailed caecilians live in India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, southern China, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Malay Archipelago west of Wallace's line. Asian tailed caecilians live in leaf litter and soil in tropical rainforests. Many species do well, however, in areas that have been cleared of trees for farming. Little is known about the feeding habits of Asi…
Kerala caecilians live in the Western Ghats, which are mountains in Kerala State, which is in southern India. Kerala caecilians live in moist soil and leaf litter in rainforests and areas that have been cleared of trees within the rainforest region. These animals usually are found in moist soil near streams, marshes, and other bodies of water. Kerala caecilians eat earthworms and insects. Ker…
Buried-eyed caecilians live in Cameroon in the west of Africa and Malawi and Tanzania in the east of Africa. No caecilians of any kind have been found in central Africa. This distribution pattern is odd, because the vast region of the upper Congo seems ideally suited for caecilians. Caecilians probably live in central Africa but just have not been found. Buried-eyed caecilians live in tropica…
Tailless caecilians live in Central and South America; the eastern and western parts of Africa, but not the Sahara; the Seychelles; India; Sri Lanka; the Philippines; and the region that extends from southern China through the Malay Peninsula. Tailless caecilians help to control damaging insects, such as termites. Because they actively burrow, rather than following root channels or other read…
