Practical

AMPHIBIA
Manu Sankar
Assistant Professor
Department of Zoology
Zakir Husain Delhi College
University of Delhi
 General Characteristics
• Amphibians are cold-blooded vertebrates which can live on land and in water.
• Amphibians show four limbs with which they can swim in water and jump or walk on the land, (In apoda limbs are absent.)
• In Amphibians, exoskeleton is absent. However in some small cycloid scales are present.
• In Amphibians the adult animals lungs are present. Gills are absent. But In some adult Urodelans, the gills are present.
Amphibians respire by skin too.
• The Amphibians skull is dicondylic. The body divisible into head and trunk. Tail is present in Urodela.

• Heart is 3-chambered with 2 auricles and 1 ventricle. The blood contains R.B.C. They are nucleated. They contain haemoglobin.

• Digestive system is well developed. A well-developed liver is present.

• External ear is absent. Middle and inner ears are present.

• Kidneys are mesonephric. Urinary bladder is present. It stores urine.

• Central nervous system is well developed. The brain occupies completely the cranial cavity. The brain is divided into fore, mid
and hind brains. Brain continuous as spinal cord. 10 pairs of cranial nerves arise.
• Sexes are separate. Male and female can be identified – (sexual dimorphism is clear).
• A larva stage may be present. Eggs are mesolecithal, cleavage is holoblastic and unequal.
 Classification of Amphibia
• Class Amphibia is classified into two sub-classes according to G.K Nobel.
1. SUB-CLASS-I: STEGOCEPHALIA (Extinct)

Limbs are pentadactons. (Five digits) Skin covered by scales and bony plates. Skull with a solid bony roof which
possess two pairs of opening for eyes and nostril. This sub-class is further grouped into three orders:
ORDER-I - LABYRITHODONTIA: ORDER - II – ORDER – III –
PHYLLOSPONDYLI: LEPOSPONDYLI:

i) Most primitive and oldest known i) Small salamander-like body. Head i) Small salamander-like or eel-like.
tetrapods, thus are called as stem large and flat. ii) Vertebrae cylindrical, each made up of
Amphibia. ii) Vertebrae is tubular. Notochord and single piece.
ii) Both water and land forms, show spinal cord housed in same cavity. iii) Neural arch and centrum continuous.
characteristics of Crocodiles and iii) Well marked transverse process and iv) Ribs articulating intervertebrally.
Salamanders. stout ribs. Pubis cartilaginous. v) Regarded as the ancestors of modern
iii) Skull completely roofed over by iv) Four finger in limbs with five in toes. Gymnophiona.
bones. Much bony elements present in v) Skull roof possess separate vi) Lived between Carboniferous and
their skulls than the modern amphibia. quadratojugal and lacrimal process. Permian period. Example: - Diplocaulus,
iv) Lived in lower Carboniferous era to vi)Lived in Carboniferous to Permian Lysorophus.
the Triassic periods Example: - period.
Eryops, Ecogyrinus, Palaeogyrinus, vii) Considered as the ancestors of
Cyclotosaurus. modern Salientia and Urodela.
Examples:-Branchiosaurus (Ichthyostega)
LABYRITHODONTIA PHYLLOSPONDYLI

LEPOSPONDYLI
 2. SUB-CLASS – II – LISSAMPHIBIA (Living)

• This sub-class includes all modern living amphibians. Dermal bony skeleton over skin absent. Teeth small and
simple. This sub-class includes three orders of living amphibians.

ORDER-I: GYMNOPHONIA OR ORDER – II – ORDER-III –

APODA URODELA OR CAUDATA: SALIENTIA OR ANURA:

i) These are blind, limbless, burrowing i) Lizard-like amphibians with a distinct i) They lack tails in adult.
in nature. tail. ii) Hindlimbs are larger, stout, highly
ii) Elongated worm-like body. Tail short ii) 2 pairs of equal limbs. muscular adopted for leaping, jumping and
or absent, cloaca terminal. iii) Skin without scales and tympanum. swimming.
iii) In some cases dermal scales iv) Males without copulatory organ. iii) Adults without gills, but these are
embedded in skin which is transversely v)Larva aquatic. present in larva.
wrinkled. vi) Teeth present in both jaws. iv) Eyelids well developed.
iv) Skull compact and roofed by bone. vii) Usually oviparous. v) Ribs absent, reduced to pectoral gridle.
Girdles are absent in limbs. viii) Body with distinct head, trunk & tail. vi)Tympanum present
v) The body is grooved transversely. Eyes Example: Ambystoma, Triton, Salamandra. vii) Skin is loosely fitted to body, skin
without eyelids without scales.
vi) Males possess protrusible copulatory viii)Fertilization usually external.
organ. Fertilization internal in ix) Fully metamorphosed without neotonic
Typhlonectess but usually external. forms.
Example: Ichthyophis, Typhlonectess, Example: Rana, Bufo, Pipa , Alytes,
Ureacotyphlus etc. Xenopus, Hyla, etc.
Salamander
• Habit and habitat: - Salamanders come in a wide variety of species, and these species can be
found in many habitats worldwide. They commonly live in mountain streams, hiding in logs or
beneath rocks and stones. They inhabit a wide range of elevations as well. Some species reside
close to 3,000 ft. while others live near sea level..
• Distribution: - These widespread amphibians can be found in many places worldwide. They
are very common across North America, Mexico, Southern Canada, and portions of South America.
They are also found throughout Eurasia.
• Identifying Characters:-
• Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance,
with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the
presence of a tail in both larvae and adults.
• Salamanders rarely have more than four toes on their front legs and five on their rear legs, but
some species have fewer digits and others lack hind limbs.
• Some salamander species are fully aquatic throughout their lives, some take to the water
intermittently, and others are entirely terrestrial as adults.
• This group of amphibians is capable of regenerating lost limbs as well as other damaged parts of
their bodies.
• The skin of some species contains the powerful poison tetrodotoxin; these salamanders
tend to be slow-moving and have bright warning coloration to advertise their toxicity.
• Salamanders typically lay eggs in water and have aquatic larvae, but great variation
occurs in their lifecycles. Some species in harsh environments reproduce while still in the
larval state.
• The skin lacks scales and is moist and smooth to the touch, except in newts of the
Salamandridae, which may have velvety or warty skin, wet to the touch.
• Male newts become dramatically colored during the breeding season. Cave species
dwelling in darkness lack pigmentation and have a translucent pink or pearlescent
appearance.
• Salamandridae, the head, body, and tail have a number of vertical depressions in the
surface which run from the mid-dorsal region to the ventral area and are known as costal
grooves. Their function seems to be to help keep the skin moist by channeling water over
the surface of the body.
• Salamanders do not have claws, and the shape of the foot varies according to the
animal's habitat..
• All salamanders lack middle ear cavity, eardrum and eustachian tube, but have an
opercularis system like frogs, and are still able to detect airborne sound.
• Respiration differs among the different species of salamanders, and can involve gills, lungs, skin,
and the membranes of mouth and throat.
• Larval salamanders breathe primarily by means of gills, which are usually external and feathery
in appearance.
• Some terrestrial salamanders have lungs used in respiration, although these are simple and sac-
like, unlike the more complex organs found in mammals. Many species, such as the olm, have
both lungs and gills as adults
• Salamanders are opportunistic predators. They are generally not restricted to specific foods, but
feed on almost any organism of a reasonable size.[27] Large species such as the Japanese giant
salamander (Andrias japonicus) eat crabs, fish, small mammals, amphibians, and aquatic insects.
• In about 90% of all species, fertilisation is internal.
RANA (Frog)
• Habit and habitat: - The frogs are cosmopolitan in distribution, they are usually found in
freshwater ponds, rivers, ditches, under-stones, and in damp places except in arid parts of the
country. They are found active during the spring and rainy seasons and become inactive during
summer.
• Distribution: - Found worldwide
• Identifying Characters:-
• A frog is an amphibian, living both on land and water. Amphibians are the first group of
chordates that lived outside water. These are cold-blooded vertebrates tetrapods.
• Frogs characteristically have smooth skin, strong hind legs for leaping, and webbed feet. Most
reproduce in water, laying eggs that develop into larvae (tadpoles)
• The frog is a carnivorous animal, it feeds on earthworms, insects, spiders, snails, and tadpoles.
The tadpoles feed on aquatic plants as they are herbivorous.
• During the winter season the frogs bury themselves in deep mud and take rest, this is termed as
winter sleep or hibernation.
• In winter the metabolism gets slow and its temperature falls. With a fall in temperature and slow
body activity, the frogs become sluggish and inactive. Frogs do not respire with the lungs; they
respire through the skin. General vital activities get slow to save energy to maintain life.
• Locomotion in frogs takes place by two methods: (i) leaping on land and (ii) swimming in
water.
•The males are usually smaller and darker in color than the female Males are slimmer while
the females are stouter. The male frog has vocal sacs which help in croaking loudly. The female
has no vocal sac. The forelimbs in male frogs possess swollen copulatory pad on the first
inner finger, it is absent in females.

• The animal breeds during the rainy season (June to September). During the rainy season,
male frogs croak to attract females for copulation.

• Fertilization is external and after fertilization development of the tadpole larva.Tadpole goes
under metamorphosis to become an adult.There is no parental care in frogs.

• The head bears Mouth, nostrils, eyes, and tympanum. Mouth is bounded by upper and lower
jaws, cheeks and lips are absent. Nostrils: A pair of small openings on the anterior tip of the
snout. There are two large prominent eyes on each side of the head. The eyes are round,
protuberant, and dorsolaterally placed on the top of the head.
• The circulatory system consists of the Heart, Blood, and blood vessels. The heart of a frog
is three-chambered. The upper two chambers are called auricles, these are anterior and
broader parts and the lower chamber is called the ventricle (posterior). The ventricle is thicker
than the auricle.
• Tympanum: Behind and below the eye, on either side, a circular obliquely placed membrane,
the eardrum or the tympanum. (Pinna is absent)
• Trunk: It is the posterior portion of the body. The trunk contains the cloacal aperture between
two legs. The cloacal aperture is common for feces, urine, and sperm, or ova discharge.
• Three types of respiration in frogs: Cutaneous respiration, Buccopharyngeal respiration
Pulmonary respiration
• The digestive system consists of the Alimentary canal and Digestive glands.
Thank You…