Frogs - Detailed nature illustration - Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur

Reproduction engraving of: Frogs

Original title Batrachia - Frösche

Hyla Poster - Vertebrates of the class Amphibia, order Anura (Batrachia or Anura)

Illustration from the book Kunstformen der Natur, which is a collection of artistic lithographs of natural sciences published by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel between 1899 and 1904.

This naturalistic illustration is part of an overall style inspired by Ernst Haeckel, which greatly influenced the emerging Art Nouveau movement at the beginning of the ^20th century. This work, illustrating the impressive beauty and great diversity of the biological world, was complemented by a certain amount of scientific information, some excerpts of which are reproduced below.

This information is over 120 years old and some of it may be outdated!

Scientific classification:

 Vertebrate Phylum (Vertebrata)
Main class Gnathostomes (Gnathostoma)
Class of Amphibians (Amphibia)
Subclass of scaly amphibians (Lissamphibia)
Legion of Frogs (Batrachia) or Tailless Amphibians (Anura, Ecaudata)
Order of Ground Frogs (Ranacea) and Tree Frogs (Hylacea)

Scientific notice (extract) accompanying the poster print of Batrachia - Frogs :

The frog legion is generally considered to be the modern group of tailless amphibians (Anura), as opposed to the ancient tailed amphibians (salamanders and relatives, Urodela); the latter having reduced their tails and further developed their two pairs of limbs. In true frogs, in particular, the hind limbs are primarily developed and have become powerful jumping organs. The organism of frogs, although more advanced compared to other amphibians, is nevertheless at a medium level of development among vertebrates. All amphibians are middle-ranking vertebrates; although they are much more developed than the fish from which they descend, they are inferior to their descendants, the reptiles. In the Carboniferous period, amphibians marked the appearance for the first time of terrestrial vertebrate organisms, with four five-toed limbs (Pentadactylia or Tetrapoda); The older vertebrates of the Devonian period were still mainly aquatic fish with polypterous fins (Pinnata). The ancient tailed amphibians, still alive today such as newts (Perennibranchia), retain gills throughout their lives in addition to lungs; they can alternate between breathing through gills in water and through lungs on land. Frogs still repeat this ancestral development today in their individual embryonic development; according to the biogenetic principle, their ontogenesis (individual development) appears as a condensed recapitulation of their phylogenetic history (evolution). From the eggs laid by most species in spring, commonly called "eggs," emerge the tailed tadpoles, which initially have no limbs and swim actively thanks to their lanceolate, transparent tails. They do not yet have a tongue and breathe first through external gills, later through internal gills. The entire body structure of tadpoles still resembles that of fish, not that of the adult frogs they become in just a few weeks. The processes of this metamorphosis are extremely informative and provide irrefutable evidence for the theory of evolution based on biogenetics. Among warm-zone amphibians, many species have shortened or lost this ancestral embryonic development (palingenetic) by adapting to specific living conditions (coenogenetic). This adaptation is often accompanied by unusual forms of parental care, sometimes involving the mother, sometimes the father, or even both parents. Some frogs (especially South American species) carry their young on their backs for a time, sometimes free (Fig. 6), sometimes hidden in a pouch or bag (Fig. 1).

Species present on the naturalist board of Frogs - Hyla :

• Notodelphys ovifera
• Hyla meridionalis
• Hyla tuberculosa
• Amphignathodon güntheri
• Rhacophorus pardalis
• Hylodes lineatus
• Limnodytes erythraeus
• Ceratobatrachus gütheri
• Breviceps mossambicus
• Rana pipiens