What is "tailed frog"

n. A member of one of two species of frogs in the (taxlink Ascaphus genus) genus, having distinctive tails.

n. western North American frog with a tail-like copulatory organ [syn: bell toad, ribbed toad, tailed toad, Ascaphus trui]

The tailed frogs are two species of frogs in the genus Ascaphus, the only taxon in the family Ascaphidae . The "tail" in the name is actually an extension of the male cloaca. The tail is one of two distinctive anatomical features adapting the species to life in fast-flowing streams. These are the only North American frog species that reproduces by internal fertilization.

Its scientific names means ‘without a spade’, from the privative prefix a- and the Ancient Greek (, ‘spade, shovel’), referring to the metatarsal spade, which these frogs do not have.