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Southwestern Center for Herpetological Research
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RE: Six-legged Frog

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Posted by: tspuckler at Mon Oct 3 11:41:14 2011  [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by tspuckler ]  
   

Serious response? Here? Oh, maybe you set your expectations too high, Terry.

The extra-leg thing is caused by a parasite called a trematode, so it's been going on for a long time. There is a theory that agricultural runoff causes an increase in trematodes. Therefore, frogs with malformations are now more commonplace.

The trematode (or fluke) has a comlex life cycle, first inhabiting a snail, then a tadpole and then a bird. The extra legs are a feature to make the frog easier to catch so the fluke can be transported into its final host - a amphibian-eating bird.

There is some additional information on this in the link below.

P.S.: Time Lord - it tasted like frog legs with a couple "bonus" legs.
Trematode Life Cycle


   

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<< Previous Message:  RE: Six-legged Frog - rtdunham, Thu Sep 29 14:05:37 2011