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How to Classify Amphibians

Classifying amphibians requires a systemic approach. Scientific taxonomy involves classifying species in progressively more closely related groups. These begin with the three domains of life: Eukarya and the two bacterial domains, Bacteria and Archaea. Amphibians belong, naturally, to the first. They also belong to the kingdom Animalia, and within this the phylum Chordata, which includes all vertebrates. Within the Chordata, amphibians are traditionally grouped together in the class Amphibia. After you've noted this down, the next step to classifying an amphibian is to identify to which smaller groups it belongs.

Things You'll Need

Amphibian guidebook
Hand lens

Instructions

- 1
  Check whether or not the amphibian has legs or a tail. This tells you, if the amphibian is an adult, which taxonomic order it belongs to. Those without legs are caecilians, order Gymnophiona; those with legs but without visible tails are frog and toads, order Anura; and those with tails and legs are salamanders and newts, order Caudata.
- 2
  Examine the amphibian's skin. Some of the primary differences between families lie in the texture of the skin, and you can narrow down the possibilities by noting skin features. Most frogs differ from toads in having skin that is smooth and moist skin rather than dry and bumpy, for example.
- 3
  Refer to an up-to-date amphibian guidebook to determine the exact family, genus and species. Because taxonomy, especially that of amphibians, is regularly updated as new discoveries are made, the classification of each species, or even whether it is one or several species, can change.
- 4
  Examine the amphibian with a hand lens if you want to identify the smaller differences that separate one subspecies from another. Sometimes these are readily apparent, and sometimes very subtle; if you are in doubt, the exact location in which the amphibian was found provides another clue.

Animals & Science