The key difference between reptile and amphibian is that the reptile possesses a dry skin covered with hardened scales while the amphibian possesses a slime skin without scales.
Kingdom Animalia includes eukaryotic, heterotrophic and mostly multicellular animals. There are two main groups of multicellular animals namely vertebrates and invertebrates. Vertebrates are the animals that possess a backbone. Vertebrates can be classified into five main groups such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Reptiles and amphibians are two of the most closely related class of creatures as members of both families are cold blooded. Furthermore, except crocodiles and its relatives, almost all reptiles and amphibians have a three-chambered heart.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is a Reptile
3. What is an Amphibian
4. Similarities Between Reptile and Amphibian
5. Side by Side Comparison – Reptile vs Amphibian in Tabular Form
6. Summary
What is a Reptile?
Reptile is a cold blooded vertebrate with a dry skin covered with scales or bony feathers. It belongs to a group of phylum Chordata. They live in terrestrial habitats and breed on lands by laying eggs, which are shelled and protected.
Figure 01: Reptile
They breathe from the lungs. They cannot regulate their body temperature as such need an external thermal source to keep them warm. Hence, in order to hasten metabolism, they need heat. So they are usually seen basking under the heat of the sun. There are four orders of class reptilian. They are a crocodile, Squamata, Testudines and sphenodontids. Lizards, turtles, snakes, crocodiles and geckos are some members of this class. Reptiles have better intellectual capacity due to their large brains. Furthermore, they have claws. Reptiles evolve from amphibians.
What is an Amphibian?
Amphibian is a cold blooded vertebrate with a moist skin without scales. It also belongs to the group of phylum Chordata. They live in both land and water and lay shell-less eggs in water. Larvae of amphibian breathe through gills while adult amphibian breathes through lungs.
Figure 02: Amphibian
Moreover, in an evolutionary pathway, amphibians evolved before reptiles. Amphibians are omnivores hence consume plants and insects. There is three main order of class amphibian. They are Anura, urodele and Apoda. Examples of amphibian include frogs, toads, salamanders and caecilians.
What are the Similarities Between Reptile and Amphibian?
- Reptiles evolved from amphibians.
- Both groups are vertebrates and multicellular.
- Reptile and Amphibian belong to Kingdom Animalia and phylum Chordata.
- They are mostly omnivores.
- Reptile and Amphibian are able to camouflage.
- Both are cold-blooded creatures that need external heat sources for warmth.
- They lay eggs for reproduction.
What is the Difference Between Reptile and Amphibian?
Reptile and amphibian are two vertebrates of the phylum Chordata. Reptile has a dry skin covered with scales while amphibian has a slimy skin that lacks scales. This is the key difference between reptile and amphibian. Another difference between reptile and amphibian is that the reptile lives inland and breeds on land by laying eggs, which are shelled but, amphibian lives in both water and land and breeds on water by laying soft shell-less eggs.
The below infographic describes the difference between reptile and amphibian in more detail.
Summary – Reptile vs Amphibian
Reptile and amphibian are closely related creatures as their evolutionary pattern is from fish to amphibian then to reptiles. But they differ from how they reproduce and how they breathe air. The eggs of reptiles have a leathery and hard outer shell, which protects the embryo inside while amphibian eggs are soft without the outer membrane. Reptiles breed on land while amphibians breed on water. When the reptile egg hatches, a miniature adult comes out while amphibian eggs are passing a larval stage, which has tails and gills. Most amphibians need water to live while reptiles can live in many places. This is the difference between reptile and amphibian.
Reference:
1.“Amphibian.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Sept. 2018. Available here
2.“Reptiles.” National Geographic. Available here
Image Courtesy:
1.”3110174″ by Schwoaze (CC0) via pixabay
2.”Amphibians”By Various; Litoria phyllochroa.JPGFile:Seymouria1.jpgFile:Notophthalmus viridescensPCCA20040816-3983A.jpgFile:Dermophis mexicanus.jpg (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia