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Amphibians are ectothermic, tetrapod vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arboreal or freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Thus amphibians typically start out as larvae living in water, but some species have developed behavioural adaptations to bypass this.
The African clawed frog is a species of African aquatic frog of the family Pipidae. Its name is derived from the three short claws on each hind foot, which it uses to tear apart its food. The word Xenopus means 'strange foot' and laevis means 'smooth'.
Xenopus is a genus of highly aquatic frogs native to sub-Saharan Africa. Twenty species are currently described within it. The two best-known species of this genus are Xenopus laevis and Xenopus tropicalis, which are commonly studied as model organisms for developmental biology, cell biology, toxicology, neuroscience and for modelling human disease and birth defects.
The Pipidae are a family of primitive, tongueless frogs. The 41 species in the family Pipidae are found in tropical South America and sub-Saharan Africa.
The African dwarf frog is a type of aquatic frog native to parts of Equatorial Africa. It is common in the pet trade and is often mistaken for the African clawed frog, a similar-looking frog in the same family. African dwarf frogs (Hymenochirus) are also known as dwarf clawed frogs. Their common name is obtained from their place of origin and the claws on their front legs.
Hymenochirus boettgeri, also known as the Zaire dwarf clawed frog or the Congo dwarf clawed frog, is a species of frog in the family Pipidae. It is found in Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and east to the Central African Republic and to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It presumably occurs in the Republic of the Congo but has not been recorded there. It is a common species over most of its wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of least concern.