A little flat-headed frog from Borneo, thought to be extinct, has been re-discovered. And, the most interesting thing about the frog is that it is an amphibian but does not have lungs for breathing, but instead breathes through its skin

The species of the only lungless toad in the world is a small, flat-headed frog scientifically named Barbourula kalimantanensis, part of the Bombinatoridae family.

It was first discovered in 1970 (from only two specimens) in Indonesia, but it wasn’t until 2008 that the frog was found not to contain lungs. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and rivers.

Bickford added, “The thing that struck me most then and now is that there are still major firsts (e.g., first lungless frog!) to be found out in the field. All you have to do is go a little ways beyond what people have done before, and—voila!” [EurekAlert]

How did the frogs develop breathing without lungs?

Scientists currently are leaning toward that theory that the frog once had lungs long time ago but had difficulties going from the surface to the bottom of fast-moving water in cold streams because of the buoyancy of air-filled lungs.

Thus, the frogs slowly evolved from breathing through lungs to breathing through their skin, and eliminated the presence of lungs in their bodies.

Scientists already know that amphibians rarely breathe through their skin because it is more difficult to get sufficient oxygen into their bodies than with the process of breathing through lungs.

Only cold-blooded animals breathe through their skins because they don’t move as much, so do not expend as much oxygen.

The scientific community knows of only one family of salamanders and one species of caecilians that are lungless amphibians, besides B. kalimantanensis.

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/17520/1066/

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