Frog   Glossary   D

Daphnia: Daphnia (also called water fleas) are tiny, small animals that make up a group of freshwater free-floating plankton. They are useful for feeding tiny carnivorous tadpoles and African dwarf frogs. For more information on daphnia and their life cycle, see Daphnia.
Dendrobatid: A Poison-Arrow, or Dart frog. Sometimes called the "torrent" frog.
Deposition: As used with amphibians, the act or process of depositing eggs.
Deposition site: The place or spot chosen by the female amphibian to lay the eggs.
Detritus: A gathered collection of used waste materials that have combined together, sometimes on a cellular level that have become visible.
Dichromatic: Exhibiting two different color phases within one species; often a sex-linked characteristic.
Diflucan: Diflucan, or Fluconazole is an antifungal medication. It is used to treat yeast infections of the mouth, throat, and esophagus; and fungal infections throughout the whole body and in the blood. Fluconazole is also used to prevent fungal infections from occurring in people with suppressed immune systems such as cancer-chemotherapy patients, organ transplant patients, and AIDS patients. It has recently been used by Herpers for curatives with their pets.
Digene: A group of parasitic flukes or flatworms whose first stage of development infects snails. At the second stage of it's life it is endoparasitic in vetebrates and usually reproduces sexually. Vetebrates of all classes except cyclostomata are used as hosts.
Dimorphism: The occurrence of two forms distinct in build and/or coloration or sex among animals of the same species; often sex-linked.
Direct Development: The tadpoles metamorphose within the egg capsule and have no free-swimming aquatic stage. This means that they are never tadpoles that swim in water, rather they stay in the egg and fully develop. An example would be froglets of the species type Eleutherodactylus. (See picture above)
Dissection To cut open and examine the internal organs, flesh and organs of an animal. For a cool virtual frog dissection, see Froguts.com. Then click on "demo", found in top right corner. After clicking "demos", choose frog, let it load and follow the instructions.
Distilled Water: Water that is placed in a closed system and allowed to evaporate. The evaporated water is then collected and called 'distilled'...as all of the impurities that may have been unseen in the water tank, were left in tank (closed system) bottom and did not rise up with the water molecules when evaporating.
Diurnal: Sleeps at night and is awake during the day. Humans are an example of a diurnal animal. The opposite of "diurnal" is 'nocturnal'.
Dorsum: Pertaining to the back or upper surface of a frog or toad.
Dorsolateral: Pertaining to the upper sides of an animal.
Dorsolateral ridge: A glandular longitudinal ridge on the upper sides of some frogs.
Dorsum: The upper surface of an animal.
Dysecdysis: The excessive sloughing off of the frogs' skin. Frogs naturally shed and eat their skins. If done in excess, the frog can have an underlying problem.

Neurergus kaiseri, or the Luristan newt, is very endangered

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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