How FROG lost her lungs

A rare and primitive frog discovered in Borneo has no lungs and seems to have evolved backwards, scientists say. The animal apparently absorbs oxygen through its skin - meaning it has re-acquired a trait thought to have existed in animals millions of years ago. No other known frog breathes that way.

Biologist, David Bickford, said studying the animal could help shed light on how lungs evolved in the first place.

"The evolution of lunglessness in tetrapods (amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) is exceedingly rare, previously known only from amphibians - two families of salamanders and a single species of caecilian (blindworm)," they wrote.

"Here we report the first case of complete lunglessness in a frog, Barbourula kalimantanensis, from the Indonesian portion of Borneo."

StoryTeller: David Bickford, National University of Singapore
Gasp! Scientists find first lungless frog