CHAPTER 25: - Resembled aquatic forms in retaining a tail

complete w fin rays and opercular bones

EARLY TETRAPODS & MODERN AMPHIBIANS
EARLY DIVERSIFICATION OF TETRAPODS
- Superclass Tetrapoda - remaining vertebrate groups
- Lissamphibia
- 2 MAJOR EXTANT BRANCHES OF PHYLOGENY:
- Contains modern amphibians
- Amphibians
(Temnospondyls)
- Amniotes (nonavian reptiles, birds,
- 4 digits on forelimb rather than 5
mammals)
- Arose during carboniferous period
- Amphibians
- Produce 3 major groups of extant
- Ectothermic
amphibians
- Depend on freshwater streams or pools for
- FROGS (Anura/ Salienta)
reproduction
- SALAMANDERS (Caudata/ Urodela)
- Impt physical differences that animals must
- CAECILIANS (Apoda/ Gymnophiona)
accommodate from water to land
- Lepospondyls and anthracosaurs judged
- Oxygen content
from skull structure to be closer to amniotes
- Density
MODERN AMPHIBIANS
- Temperature regulation
- Metamorphosed amphibians use CUTANEOUS
- Habitat diversity
RESPIRATION on land
- Oxygen is at least 20 times more abundant in air
- Many have lungs which exist throughout larval life
- It diffuses more rapidly thru air than in water
and are activated for breathing air at metamorphosis
DEVONIAN ORIGIN OF TETRAPODS
- Except for salamanders (no metamorphosis)
- Internal nares, air-filled cavity, and paired limbs of
- Live entirely on land, no aquatic larval phase)
aquatic tetrapod ancestor made possible evolution of
- Terrestrial amphibians
terrestrial breathing and support
- Thin skin (moisture for protection against
- Air-filled cavity
desiccation against air)
- Illustrates principle of exaptation
Caecilians : Order Gymnophiona (Apoda)
- “Lungs” and “swim bladders” are
- Inhabit tropical forests of south america, africa, india,
HOMOLOGOUS
southeast asia.
- Double circulation
- Long, slender body, small dermal scales, many
- Deoxygenated blood to lungs for oxygenation
vertebrae, long ribs, no limbs, terminal anus
- Oxygenated blood from lungs to body tissues
- Small eyes and mostly blind as adults
- Eusthenopteron
- Special sensory tentacles on snout
- Devonian lobe-fin fish
- Burrowing / aquatic lifestyle
- Upper arm bone (humerus) and 2 forearm
- Food: worms n small invertebrates
bones (radius and ulna)
- Fertilization of eggs takes place inside female body
- Could push itself thru bottom mud of pools w
- Males have protrusible copulatory organ
its fins
- Viviparity is common
- Tiktaalik
Salamanders : Order Urodela (Caudata)
- Morphologically intermediate with
- Tailed amphibians
lobe-finned fishes and tetrapods
- Limbs set at right angles to the trunk
- Inhabited shallow, O2 depleted streams/
- Forelimb and hindlimb equal size
swamps
- In some aquatic/burrowing forms, limbs are
- Place snout above water to breath
rudimentary or missing
- Acanthostega
- Carnivorous (larvae and adults)
- Earliest known devonian tetrapods
LIFE CYCLE
- Well formed tetrapod limbs with clearly
- Some are aquatic / terrestrial throughout entire life
formed digits on both forehand and
- Ancestral condition: metamorphite
hindlimbs
- Aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults occupy moist
- Limbs were too weakly constructed to
places under stones / rotten logs
support animal
- Internal fertilization
- Ichthyostega
- Female recovers in her cloaca a packet of
- Stronger vertebrae and associated muscles
sperm (spermatophore)
to support body in air
- Aquatic species
- New muscles to elevate head
- Eggs hatch to produce aquatic larva w
- Strengthened shoulder and hip girdles
external gills and finlike tail
- Protective rib cage
- Terrestrial species
- Ears modified for detecting air borne sounds
- Direct development
RESPIRATION
- Skin as extensive vascular nets (respiratory
exchange)
- May have external gills, lungs, both, or none
- Lungs become the primary means of respiration after
metamorphosis
- Amphiumas of family Amphiumidae have aquatic life
history w reduced metamorphosis
- Cutaneous respiration is supplemented by pumping
air thru the mouth
- Gases exchanged across vascularized
membranes of buccal (mouth) cavity
- Buccopharyngeal breathing
PAEDOMORPHOSIS
- Retain into adulthood features that occurred only in
preadult stages of their ancestors
- perennibranchiate : nonmetamorphic species
- “Permanently gilled”
- Mudpuppies of Necturus
- Some metamorphose to terrestrial forms under
certain environmental conditions
- Axolotls - gilled individuals
- Ambystoma
- When pond evaporates, axolotls
metamorphoses into terrestrial form, losing
its gills
- Can be forced to metamorphose by Thyroxine
(t4)
- Thyroid hormones (T3 &T4) are essential in
amphibian metamorphosis
FROGS AND TOADS: Order Anura (Salienta)
- Anura: old group fr Jurassic period
- Familiar frogs : Family Ranidae
- Tree frogs (family Hylidae)
- True toads (Family Bufonidae)
- Short legs, stout bodies, thick skins
- Prominent warts
- Largest anuran: Conraua goliath - west african
- Largest American frog: Lithobathes catesbeianus
- Leopard frogs - Lithobathes pipiens
- Green frogs - Lithobathes clamitans
- Bullfrogs - Lithobathes catesbeianus
HABITATS AND DISTRIBUTION
- Larger frogs are solitary except breeding season
- Males are noisy during breeding season
- Family Ranidae live in temperate and tropical regions
except new zealand, oceanic islands and southern
south america
- In winter frogs hibernate in O2 rich water of pools n
streams
- Diffusion of O2 across skin
- Energy derived from glycogen n fat bodies
- When in danger, frogs inflate their lungs so that they r
difficult to swallow
INTEGUMENT AND COLORATION
- Skin is thin and moist
- Attached loosely to body
- Skin contains 2 Layers:
- Outer stratified epidermis
- Inner spongy dermis
- Epidermal layer
- is shed periodically when it “molts”
- Keratin (tough fibrous protein)
- Limits abrasion and loss of water
- 2 types of integumentary glands
- Small mucous glands secrete
protective mucous waterproofing
- Large granular glands produce
whitish watery poison irritable to
predators
- All amphibians produce skin poison but strength
varies
- Family Dendrobatidae
- Produce toxic skin secretions
- Most lethal animal secretions known
- Phyllobates (south american)
- Frog skin color is produced by chromatophores in
dermis (topmost to bottommost)
- xanthophores : yellow / orange / red
- Iridophores : silvery light-reflecting
- Melanophores: black / brown melanin
- Green color is produced by interaction of
xanthophores (yellow pigment) and iridophores
(reflecting and scattering light) - TYNDALL
SCATTERING to produce BLUE COLOR
SKELETAL AND MUSCULAR SYSTEM
- Well developed endoskeleton of bone and cartilage
- Musculoskeletal system is specialized for jumping
and swimming by simultaneous extensor thrusts of
hindlimbs
- Extreme shortening of body
- 9 trunk vertebrae and rodlike urostyle (fused caudal)
- Frogs skull is lighter, less ossified, flattened in profile,
contain fewer bones
- 3 main joins:
- Hip, knee ankle
- shoulder , elbow, wrist
- Foot is 5 rayed (pentadactyl) , hand is 4 rayed
- Limb muscles r homologous to radial muscles that
move fins of fishes
- Anterior and ventral group (protraction, adduction)
- Posterior and dorsal group (retraction, abduction)
RESPIRATION AND VENTILATION
- Use 3 respiratory surfaces for gas exchange
- Skin (cutaneous breathing)
- Mouth (buccal breathing)
- Lungs
- Frogs and toads rely more on lung than salamanders
- Lungs are supplied by pulmonary arteries (6th aortic
arch)
- Blood returns directly to left atrium by pulmonary
veins
 - Frog lungs are ovoid, elastic sacs w inner surfaces
divided into network of septa subdivided into small
terminal air chambers called FAVEOLI
- Positive pressure breathing
- Fills lungs by forcing air into them
- Vocal cords in larynx
- Male vocal sacs are more developed
- Pass air back and forth over vocal cords
between lungs and large pair of sacs (vocal
pouches)
- Serve as effective resonators in males to
attract mates
CIRCULATION
- Closed system of arteries and veins
- 2 evolutionary challenges:
- Provide blood circuit to lungs (6th aortic
arch)
- Separate pulmonary circulation from the rest
of body’s circulation
- 2 atria, 1 ventricle
- Blood from body enters sinus venosus
- Goes to right atrium
- Exits as pulmonary artery to lungs
- From lungs, pulmonary vein goes to left atrium
- Left atrium receives blood from lungs n skin
- Ventricle separation is aided by spiral valve in conus
arteriosus
FEEDING AND DIGESTION
- Carnivorous as adults
- Highly glandular free end of tongue produces sticky
secretion that adheres to prey
- Teeth r present on: Premaxillae, maxillae, vomers
- Used to grasp prey not chew
- Digestive tract is short in adults
- Produces variety of enzymes for digesting proteins,
carbohydrates, and fats
- Larval stages are herbivorous (tadpoles)
- Long digestive tract cos plant matter requires
time consuming fermentation
NERVOUS SYSTEM AND SPECIAL SENSES
- 3 fundamental parts:
- Forebrain (telencephalon)
- olfaction
- Midbrain (mesencephalon)
- vision
- Hindbrain (rhombencephalon)
- Anterior cerebellum
- Equilibrium n movement
- Posterior medulla
- Sensory neurons except
vision
- Auditory reflexes,
respiration, swallowing,
vasomotor control
- Frogs ear
- Middle ear closed externally by tympanic
membrane (eardrum) and contains
columella (Stapes) that transmits vibrations
to inner ear
- Inner ear contains UTRICLE from which arise
3 semicircular canals, and a SACCULE
bearing a diverticulum or LAGENA
- LAGENA is partly covered by tectorial
membrane
- Vision is the dominant sense
- Lachrymal glands and eyelids keep eyes moist
- Eyes are at rest adjusted for distant objects, lens is
moved forward to focus on nearby objects
- Retina
- Contain rods and cones (color vision)
- Iris
- Well developed circular and radial muscles
- Can rapidly expand or contract the aperture
(pupil) to accommodate changing
illumination
- Upper lid is fixed
- Lower lid is folded into a transparent nictitating
membrane
REPRODUCTION
- Since ectothermic, they breed, feed, and grow in warm
seasons
- Amplexus: courtship of males and females
- After fertilization, jelly layers absorb water and swell
- Zygote -> cleavage -> blastula -> gastrulation ->
embryo w tail bud
- Hindlimbs appear first during metamorphosis while
forelimbs remain hidden by folds of operculum
- Leopard frogs complete metamorphosis in 3 months
- Bullfrogs take 2 - 3 years
- Most frogs abandon their eggs, tropical dendrobatids
(poison dart frogs) tend their eggs
- Young squirm to parents back
- Tadpoles of darwin develop into froglets in their
fathers vocal pouch
- Australian gastric brooding frogs develop in mothers
stomach
- Marsupial frogs carry their developing eggs in a pouch
on the back
- Surinam frogs do backward somersaults during
mating
- Eggs n sperm slide into space between
mating pair
- Male presses d fertilized eggs into females
back which develops a spongy incubating
layer that sloughs off when young hatches
- Eleutherodactylus
- Mating occurs in land, hatch directly into
froglets
- No larval stage
- Puerto rican E. jasperi evolved internal
fertilization n birth offspring
- Migration totally depends on breeding habits