(Class Amphibia)

I. Introduction & Defining Characteristics

II. Classification
III. External Structure & Locomotion
IV. Feeding
V. Circulation, Gas Exchange,Temperature Regulation
VI. Nervous & Sensory Functions
VII. Excretion & Osmoregulation
VIII. Reproduction, Development & Metamorphosis
• The name amphibian means “double life.”

Defining Characteristics:
• Cold-blooded
• Moist and smooth skin
• Permeable skin
• Live dual lives – undergo metamorphosis
 : Animalia
: Chordata
: Amphibia
:
Order Gymnophiona
Order Caudata
Order Anura
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Tropical
Aquatic (stream substrate), hidden underground (wormlike burrowers – have
strong skull)
Worms and other invertebrates in the soil
Elongated, segmented (ring-shaped folds in the skin), tail are short or absent,
skin is smooth and slimy (due to secretions), short retractile tentacle (sensory
purposes), skin covers eyes (“nearly blind”)
Internal
Mostly viviparous (about 75%), others are oviparous
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Terrestrial
Moist forest-floor litter, caves, some are aquatic
Range from few centimeters – 1.5m (Japanese giant salamander)

Possess a tail throughout life, both pairs of legs

Internal fertilization (reproduce using a spermatophore)

Mostly oviparous – larval stages metamorphosis to adult
Complete metamorphosis;
Incomplete metamorphosis (paedomorphic) – obligate (e.g., Axolotl) and
facultative
4,000
Terrestrial
Moist environments (except in high altitudes), some oceanic islands, very
few in dry deserts
Adults – lack tails, hindlimbs are long & muscular, webbed feet
Larval Stages (Tadpoles) – well-developed tails, limbless
External (eggs and larvae are aquatic)
 Smooth, moist Dry and warty
More slim Stout body type
More aquatic More terrestrial
Shorter and not as strong –
Long, powerful legs built for
usually crawls or have small
jumping
hops
Lay eggs in a cluster or clump Lays eggs in a long chain
Longer Shorter
• Highly glandular – its secretions aid in protection

• Granular glands – the glands that produce secretions that are toxic to
varying degrees; distributed throughout the skin
• Granular gland secretions – neurotoxic, myotoxic, antibacterial and antifungal effects

• Chemicals are secreted when:

• Experiences stress
• To discourage predators
• Protect from bacterial and fungal infections
• Chromatophores – responsible for skin color and color changes

• Cryptic coloration (camouflage), aposematic coloration and mimicry are

all common in amphibians
• Cryptic coloration (camouflage) – use to disguise their appearance, usually to blend in
with their surroundings
• Aposematic (or warning) coloration – used by noxious organisms to signal their
unprofitability to potential predators (to discourage predators)
• Mimicry – ability of organisms to resemble another organism
• To provide support against gravity, and to support relatively powerful muscles
that propel across land

• Amphibian skull – flattened, relatively smaller and has fewer bony elements

• Jaw structure & musculature – to crush prey held in mouth

• Vertebral column – to provide support and flexibility on land (like the arch
of a suspension bridge)
• Zygapophysis – supportive processes; interlocking of each vertebra to
prevent twisting

Salamander skeleton divided into 4 regions 3 bones of the pelvic girdle of a frog
• Adult amphibians – carnivores
• Main factor for eating – prey size & availability

• Tadpoles (anuran larvae) – herbivores

• Salamander larvae – active predators (they hunt for tiny aquatic invertebrates);
they hunt by sight and feed on any small moving object

• Tooth structure is unique – pedicellate teeth (tooth somewhat flexible – can bend
inward but not outward)

• Teeth – only used for holding not chewing (frogs, salamanders and caecilians
SWALLOW their food)
 Prey Capture Mechanism

Salamanders use their jaws to capture prey Frogs use tongue and jaw to capture prey
(may happen in 0.05-0.15 s)
• Frogs blink their eyes (eyes sink downwards) during swallowing – help force
food down toward the esophagus
Caecilians obtain food by grabbing
• Closed circulatory system and uses a double circulation system (composed of two
circuits – pulmonary & systemic)

• Heart is three-chambered – 2 atria & 1 ventricle (not a wide-open chamber)

• They also have a Lymphatic systemic

• Lymphatic hearts – pump fluid through the lymphatic system
• Lymphatic spaces between body-wall muscles and the skin – transport & store water absorbed
across the skin
• Function:
• Returns fluids, proteins, and ions filtered from capillary beds
• Transports water absorbed across the skin
From the body, deoxygenated blood travels back to the Spiral valve
heart entering: in conus
arteriousus
→

Simultaneously, oxygenated blood from the lungs & skin

is delivered to the:
→

Both atria empty into the ventricle – a single ventricle

sends blood to both the respiratory organs and the body
Deoxygenated
blood

Oxygenated
blood
• Cutaneous respiration – gas exchange across the skin (skin richly supplied by
capillary beds – permit skin to function as respiratory organ)

• Buccopharyngeal respiration – gas exchange occur across moist surfaces

of the mouth & pharynx

• Most amphibians possess lungs

• Lungs of salamander – simple sacs
• Lungs of anurans – subdivided increasing surface area for gas exchange
 External gills – respiration by
Pulmonary (lung) ventilation occurs by a
amphibian larvae & some adults
buccal pump mechanism
(e.g., axolotl)
• Amphibians are cold-blooded animals and therefore they are ectothermic – depend
on external heat sources to maintain body temperature

• Temperature regulation is mainly behavioral

• Cooling as a result of evaporative heat loss
• Nocturnal – remain in cooler burrows or under moist leaf litter
• Basking after a meal (common behavior) – increased body temperature increases the rate of all
metabolic reactions

• Amphibians have correspondingly wide temperature tolerances

• Salamanders (between -2 and 27°C)
• Anurans (between 3 and 41°C)
• Basically the same w/ other vertebrates – have central brain, spinal cord &
nerves (but is less well developed than reptiles, birds & mammals)

• Amphibian Brain
▪ Forebrain (cerebrum) – contains olfactory centers, regulate color change & visceral
functions
▪ Midbrain – contains optic tectum – a region that assimilates sensory information and
initiates motor responses; also processes visual sensory information
▪ Hindbrain (cerebellum) – functions in motor coordination and in regulating heart rate &
mechanics of respiration
a system of tactile sense organs (connected w/ sense of touch) – present in all
aquatic larvae, aquatic adult salamanders and some adult anurans

respond to low-frequency vibrations in the water and movements of the water

relative to the animal (as they are always in contact w/ water when they are
underwater); on land, lateral-line receptors are less important
located in the nasal epithelium & lining of the mouth, tongue & all over the skin

Olfaction – used in mate recognition, detecting noxious chemicals & locating

food
one of the most important sense as they are primarily sight feeders - they often
respond to the movements of their prey

have binocular vision & well-developed depth perception necessary for capturing prey
transmits both substrate-borne vibrations & airborne vibrations

high frequency (1k-5k Hz) airborne vibrations

tympanic membrane → middle ear ossicle (stapes) → inner ear
High-frequency sounds – used for example, for mating calls

low frequency (100-1k Hz) substrate-borne vibrations

front appendages → pectoral girdle → middle ear ossicle (operculum) → inner
ear
Low-frequency sounds – may warn of approaching predators

muscles attached to operculum and stapes - can lock either or both ossicles allowing
an anuran to screen out either high- or low-frequency sounds

Salamanders lack tympanic membrane and middle ear – can only hear low-
frequency vibrations.
• Excretory System:
• Kidneys (2) – filter wastes out of the blood & combine them w/ water to form urine
• Ureter – where urine travels
• Urinary Bladder – storage
• Cloaca (or vent) – an opening; urine leaves the body through the cloaca when bladder is full

• Nitrogenous products amphibians excrete – either ammonia or urea

• Ammonia – usually excreted by amphibians that live in freshwater as being the
IMMEDIATE END PRODUCT of protein metabolism – no energy expended in
converting
• Urea – excreted more by amphibians that live on land; less toxic than ammonia and can
be stored in the urinary bladder
• One of the biggest problems that amphibians face - Osmoregulation

• In water, must rid the body of excess water and conserve essential ions

• On land, amphibians limit water loss and conserve water by behaviors that
reduce exposure to desiccating conditions
• Nocturnal terrestrial amphibians – daylight hours (retreat to areas of high humidity)
• Diurnal amphibians – rehydrate by entering the water (live in areas of high humidity)
• Reducing evaporative water loss by reducing the amount of body surface exposed
to air

Skin
• Permeable
• most important source of water loss and
gas exchange; but is ALSO
• most important structure for rehydration
o flattening its body on moist surfaces and
the skin absorbs water (water
reabsorption)
• Amphibians are dioecious – ovaries and testes are located near the dorsal body
wall

• Fertilization usually external (caecilians & most salamanders are exceptions)

• Salamanders rely on olfactory and visual cues in courtship and mating.

• For Anurans, male vocalization and tactile cues are important.
• Amplexus
• a positioning where the male is dorsal to the
female
• Usually lasts for 1-24hrs but may last for days
in some species
• Male releases sperm as the female releases
eggs
• Males possess enlarged digits to squeeze the
eggs out of females
• Sound production – primarily a reproductive function of male anurans

• Advertisement calls
• Attract females to breeding areas
• Announce to other males that a given territory is occupied
• Species specific
• Help induce psychological & physiological readiness to breed

• Release calls
• Inform a partner that a frog is incapable of reproducing
• Unresponsive females give release calls if a male attempts amplexus (males being mistaken as
females)
• Distress calls
• Not associated w/ reproduction
• Either sex produces these calls
• In response to pain or being seized by a predator
• May be loud enough to be released by the predator

• Sound production apparatus – larynx & vocal cords

• Most common form of parental care – attendance of the egg clutch

• Maternal care – occur in species w/ internal fertilization

• Paternal care – may occur in species w/ external fertilization
• Aeration of eggs
• Protection of eggs from predators
• Removal of dead and infected eggs

• Eggs may be transported by a parent (e.g., females of the genus Pipa carry eggs
on their backs)
 End of mother’s tail

Rheobatrachus females brooded tadpoles in The young lick/feed on a secretion from a gland at the end of their
their stomachs mother’s tail

Young caecilian
The young developed hooked teeth and eventually began feeding on their mother’s
skin (that their mother grew for them)
• Relatively minor
o Reproductive structures develop
o Gills lost
o Fins lost

• Many other salamanders

undergo incomplete
metamorphosis (paedomorphic)
• Obligate paedomorphosis (e.g.,
Axoltl)
• Facultative paedomorphosis