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VERTEBRATES > Amphibians > Flashcards

Amphibians Flashcards

1
Q

There is debate on which group gave rise to the amphibians. What is the strongest suggestions ?

A

That Temnospondyls gave rise to Amphibians and Reptilomorphs gave rise to amniotes.

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2
Q

What are the three groups of amphibians?

A
  • Urodeles: newts and salamanders
  • Anurans: frogs and toads
  • Caecilians
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3
Q

What are the main Urodeles characteristics?

A
  • Most generalised
  • Usually have 4 limbs
  • Some have gills as adults
  • Most have internal fertilisation
  • Same movement seen in the sarcopterygian fish
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4
Q

What are the main characteristics of the Anurans?

A
  • Large and diverse group.
  • jumping / swimming.
  • Fertilisation usually external.
  • Body has shortened - advantage for swimming/ jumping.
  • Urostyle - fused vertebrates - makes more robust.
  • Long hind limbs (swimming or jumping).
  • 4 digits
  • Tibia & fibula combined shock absorption.
  • Large orbits - well developed eyes - binocular vision.
  • Movement and limb length can vary - fore and hindlimbs length can vary
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5
Q

What are the main characteristics of the Caecillians?

A
  • Most specialised
  • No appendages
  • Legless
  • burrowing / aquatic - living in lots of vegetation
  • Eyes covered by skin
  • Some have dermal scales (not seen in any other amphibian)
  • Sensory tentacles
  • Internal fertilisation
  • Some lay eggs and brood young
  • Some birth live young - viviparity
  • Some can feed young - vaparine milk
  • Annulu folds in skin
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6
Q

What is a toads form of defence?

A

Poison glands in skin to deter predation

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7
Q

How do frogs hunt?

A

Jump / ambush / more cryptic - sit and wait (only move when they need to).

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8
Q

What are the conservation issues for amphibians?

A
  • Most threatened taxa (41% threatened with extintion).
  • Declining more rapidly than birds and mammals.
  • Conservation status underestimated.
  • Only 16% of species known.
  • Chytridiomycosis - fungus spreading and killing off frogs.
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9
Q

What is unusal about ‘darwins frog’?

A
  • Male raises tadpoles in vocal sac
  • Female lays few large eggs
  • Male stays with clutch
  • Larvae start to produce muscle contractions that stimulate the male to swallow them
  • They develop inside the dads vocal sac and come out of the mouth when developed.
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10
Q

Skin

Shared Derived features of Amphibians

A
  • Breath through their skin
  • Thin epidermis
  • Smooth, moist, permeable (O2 & H20)
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11
Q

What are the issues with having a thin epidermis and breathing through skin?

A
  • Suffer from high rates of water loss
  • Need to stay in/near water
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12
Q

Ear

Shared derived features of amphibians

A
  • Use separate regions on the inner ear to detect higher and lower frequencies
  • Good hearing in water and air.
  • Have an extra bone in the ear compared to any other vert: Operculum columella (function still not fully known).
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13
Q

What region of amphibian ear detects high frequencies and what is it used for?

A
  • Papilla basilaris
  • Used to detect mate calls
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14
Q

What region of amphibian ear detects low frequencies?

A

Papilla amphibiorum

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15
Q

Vision

Shared derived features of amphibians

A
  • Green and red photoreceptors (only red rods in most verts)
  • Most amphibians - 4 types of photoreceptors (one more than other verts).
  • Can possibly see colours at different light intensities
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16
Q

Pedicellate teeth

Shared derived features of amphibians

A
  • Complex teeth
  • Pedicel composed of dentine and separated by connective tissue (the diving zone)
  • Connective tissue not calcified
17
Q

What is the Levator bulbi muscle?

Shared derived features of amphibians

A
  • Muscle that moves the eye only
  • Can contract and bulge eyes
  • Allows them to enlarge buccal cavity
18
Q

What are the main shared derived features of amphibians?

A
  1. Skin
  2. Ear (Operculum columella)
  3. Vision
  4. Pedicellate teeth
  5. Levator bulbi muscle
19
Q

What is unusual about Ceacilian reproduction and parental care?

A
  • Birth live offspring (size = 60% of adults)
  • Thought to have internal fertilisation
  • Young have specialised feeding teeth
  • Mother sheds and regrows skin - providing offspring with food (skin full of fat)
20
Q

What are the two forms of maternal nutrition in Caecilians?

A
  • Viviparous: Oviductal scraping of uterine milk
  • Oviparous: Skin Feeding (skin contains more fat during this stage to become more nutricious to young).
21
Q

what are the 3 reproductive modes of caecilians?

A

Oviparous: Aquatic larvae
Oviparous: Direct development
Viviparous: Terrestrial and aquatic

22
Q

What is the name of the extra bone amphibians have in their ear?

A

Operculum columella

23
Q

Other name for caecilians?

A

Gymnophonia (Apoda)

24
Q

What has foetal dentition in viviparous Caecilians most likely evolved from?

A
  • Evolved from an oviparous reproduction mode that skin fed.
  • Skin feeding is the ancient form and viviparity has most likely evolved from that.
25
Q

Urodeles reproduction

A
  • Mostly internal fertilisation
  • Males deposits spermatophore
  • Males have developed complex courting behaviours to get the female to take up their spermatophore.
  • Most species lay eggs underwater
  • Terrestrial species: (ovo)viviparity - female maintains developing eggs/embryos until the end of gestation
26
Q

Urodeles courtship behaviours

A
  • Large variety of courtship display
  • Pheromone transfer: Tail fanning, Skin slapping, Biting, Rubbing
  • Most species lay eggs underwater
27
Q

What is Paedomorphis?

A
  • When some larval traits are retained into the adult stage.
  • Paedomorphosis can be facultative depending on environmental conditions.
28
Q

Anurans characteristics

A
  • All carnivores
  • Can have reduced skeleton
  • Skeleton highly specialised for jumping
  • Elongated limbs
  • Urostyle - shock absorption pelvis
  • Short or no ribs
  • Tibia and fibula fused to form tibio-fibula
29
Q

New species of Anurans are constantly being found

A
  • Tolkien frog discovered in 2023 (only one seen).
  • Nasikabatrachidae - new family discovered (2003) - first new family described since 1926) - specialised for burrowing.
30
Q

What is the ancestral larval mode of amphibians?

A

Thought to be aquatic larvae

Caecilians can no longer reproduce with aquatic larvae

31
Q

Where are terrestrial reproduction modes most common in amphibians?

A

Warmer / wetter environments like the Tropics

32
Q

Why do amphibians lay eggs on terrestrial environments ?

A
  • Predation in aquatic areas in higher
  • Species laying eggs on land have increased survival rates
  • Risk of predation is lowered but not lost.
33
Q

What are some amphibian adaptations to overcome difficulties of laying eggs in terrestrial habitats?

A
  • Foam nests - evolved convergently - tropics
  • Eggs laid on leaves that overhang water - evolved convergently in 3 groups - tadpoles fall into water - sometimes males protects clutch.
  • Viviparity / ovoviviparity - some species show viviparity
34
Q

1.

When laying eggs on land they have reduced predation but must be protected about desication. What are the trade-offs?

A
  • Bigger eggs - bigger larvae - more chance of survival
  • Less eggs
  • More costly
  • Longer development
  • Parental care
  • Quality vs quantity

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