The programed cell death of the cutaneous epithelial tissue during tail regression stages in anuran tadpoles of the blackspotted frog, Rana nigromaculata were visualized by the histochemical and transmission electron microscopic techniques. Metamorphotic changes in the tail regression during the period of the Shumway stage number 31 to 33 are characterized by the disappearance of mucous layer and formation of compound epithelium through cutaneous thickening. Following the TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated biotinylated d-uridine triphosphate nick end labeling) staining technique, the apoptotic cells were detected at the distal region of the tail skin initially, but they can be seen at the proximal region according to their following development. It has been also revealed that the number of the TUNEL-positive cells gradually increased from apical to basal direction of the epithelial layers during the tail regressing stages. Following the TEM observation, the early apoptotic cells shown in the epithelium demonstrated condensation and margination of the chromatin material at the nuclear periphery. Another epithelial apoptotic cells were shown nuclear fragmentation, membrane blebbing and cytoplasmic condensation. Following the process of the apoptotic degradation, well preserved organelles and nuclear fragments can be identified in the cytoplasm of lysosome-rich cells, however they soon reduced to lysosomal residual bodies through the progressive degradation.