Amphibia

Vertebrata

Agnatha Gnathostomata

Pisces Amphibia Reptilia Aves Mammalia

Labyrinthodontia Lepospondyla Lissamphibia

 class
Amphibia

subclass subclass

Labyrinthodontia* Lepospondyli* Lissamphibia

1. Ichthyostegalia Diplocaulus, 1. Anura

o Eg- Ichthyostega, Ophiderpeton, Eg- Rana, Bufo, Hyla,
r Elpistostege Microbrachis, Pipa, Alytes
1. Rachtomi
d Saupleura o
Eg- Loxxoma,
e 2. Temnospondyli 2. Urodela r
Cacops
r Eg- Salamandra, d
2. Stereospondyli Necturus e
E.g.- r
3. Anthracosauria Capitosaurus, 3. Apoda
Eg- Palaeogyrinus, Buettneria, Eg- Ichthyopis,
Pteroplax, Typhlonectus
Seymouria
General Characters of Amphibia
• Aquatic or semiaquatic (fresh water), air and water breathing, carnivorous, cold blooded (poikilothermal),
oviparous, tetrapod vertebrates.
• Head distinct, trunk elongated. Neck and tail may be present or absent.
• Limbs usually two pairs (tetrapod), some limbless. Toes 4-5 (pentadactyle) or less. Paired fins absent.
Median fins if present, without fin rays.
• Skin soft, moist and glandular. Pigment cells (chromatophores/melanophores) present.
• Exoskeleton absent. Digits clawless. Some with concealed dermal scales.
• Endoskeleton mostly bony. Notochord does not persist. Skull with two occipital condyles.
• Mouth large. Upper or both jaws with small homodont teeth. Tongue often protrusible. Intermaxillay
glands keep it moist. Alimentary canal terminal into cloaca.
• Respiration by lungs, skin and mouth lining. Larvae with external gills which may persist in some aquatic
adults. Paired sacs of lungs with laryngeal chamber which communicates to pharynx by glottis.
• Air is sucked in through nostrils by lowering of mouth. External nares are closed by special pad. The skin
near buccal cavity is vascular and it aids in release of CO2.
• Heart 3-chambered (2-auricle and 1-ventricle). The ventral aorta has transverse and longitudinal spiral
valves that direct blood to carotid and systemis arches.
• Aortic arches 1-3 pairs.
• Erythrocytes are large, oval and nucleated.
• Kidneys mesonephric. Water balance is regulated. Exchanges thorugh skin, bladder and kidney are
influence by corticosteroids, prolactins and octapeptides. Urinary bladder large. Urinary ducts open into
cloaca. Excretion ureotelic.
• Brain poorly developed. 10 spinal nerves Cranial nerves 10 pairs.
• Autostylic skull N and free hyomandibula is converted into columella auris lying in the upper part of
spiracle between inner ear and tympanic membrane.
• Middle ear with a single root like ossicle, columella.
• Larval forms and some aquatic adults with lateral line system.
• Embyronic gonads have potential to devrelop into either sex. Sexes separate. Male without copulatory
organ. Gonoducts opens into cloaca. Eggs are carried to exterior by mullerian duct. Sperms are released
by vasa efferentia of mesonephros.
• Fertilization mostly external. Females mostly oviparous.
• Development is indirect. Cleavage is holoblastic but unequal. No extraembryonic membranes.
• Larva a tadpole which metamorphosis into adult.
Ichthyostegalia Temnospondyli Anthracosauria

1. Elpistostege - Very close to 1. Rachtomi and 1. Palaeogyrinus had long

rhipidistian stereospondyli cylindrical body with
2. Ichthyostega and 2. Gave an impression of powerful tail and poorly
Ichthypstegopsis-found in crocodile developed limbs.
Greenland fresh waters. 3. 11 feet long body and 3 2. Shoulder girdle attached to
3. Skull structure – 8 inches feel long skull with sharp the back of the skull by
long specialised to form teeth post temporal bone
true internal and external 4. Limbs were degenerate and 3. Two notochordal centra
nostril great pressure layed on the 4. Seymouria represents a
clavicles and inter clavicles stem developed astride the
5. Flattened skulls, transition line between
dorsoventrally placed eyes amphibia and reptilia.
and massive supporting 5. 2 feet long body with small
pectoral plate pointed head, dorsal
nostrils and short tail.
6. Long interclavical and
ventral coracoid ossification
in the shoulder girdle
Lepospndylii
• Small ampbhibians, had small snake like bodies with as many as
hundred vertebrae and curiously forked ribs.
• Ophiderpeton were like snakes and limbless
• Diplocaulus was 2 feet long and had huge triangular head and small
limbs. Unossified cranium.
• Sauropleura were snakelike, limbless or had small limbs with flattened
skull with grotesque protuberances.
• Microsaurs might be ancestors to apoda normal limbs and bodies but
used burrows
Lissamphibia – Modern Amphibia
• Modern Amphibia lacking dermal bony skeleton.
• Teeth small simple.
• Order 1: Gymnophiona or Apoda (Gr; gymnos= naked + ophioneos= serpent-like) or
(Gr; a= without + podos= foot)
• Limbless, blind, elongated worm like, burrowing tropical forms known as caecilians.
• Tail short or absent, cloaca terminal.
• In some dermal scales embedded in skin which is transversally wrinkled.
• Skull compact, roofed with bone.
• Limb girdle absent.
• Males have protrusible copulatory organs.
Urodela
• Habitat- all stages are suitable for land occur from terrestrial salamanders, such as
Salamandra maculosa.
• Most urodeles have teeth on both jaws.
• Urodeles have a great size of prevomer. They don’t have jugal or quadratojugal
• During respiration, nostrils are closed by valves provided with smooth muscles.
• The kidneys are elongated.
• Giant Salamandra has No eyelids and loses its gills in the adult.
• Viviparous
• Necturus- fully aquatic, external gills are present and the lungs is reduced so that
animal can live permanently submerged, walking along bottom.
•
Apoda
• They live in tropics and are burrowing, limbless creatures, like earthworms.
• They show several interesting primitive features like retention of small scales in
the skin.
• They are specialised in however having a very short tail and some features suited
to their usually terrestrial life, such as copulatory organs.
• They have solidly built bony skull. Lower and upper jaws carry teeth.
• Animals are blind but carry specialised tentacles. They have great sense of smell.
• The eggs are large and yolky and cleavage is meroblastic; they are laid on land and
embryos develop around yolk sac but often have long, plummed gills. The sperms
do not pass through kidney.
• Vivparous mostly.
Anura
• The dermis of terrestrial anurans have special layer of ground substance. The
mucopolysaccharide act like a sponge and retains water and act as a passage for
solutes.
• Presence of poisin gland or granular gland.
• Alytes – male carries the eggs wrapped round the legs.
• Bufonoid toads are most successful of all amphibian groups and are more fully
adapted than most for terrestrial life but return to water for breeding. Bufa is
found in almost all possible parts except in Austrailia and Madagascar.
• Hyla and other tree frogs have pads on toes by which they climb and many other
adaptation for arboreal life. Frogs are found to be more cooler than their
environment due to evaporation.
Origin of Tetrapods
Parental care in Amphibians