Deck 25: Early Tetrapods and Modern Amphibians

Question 1

What change(s)does an animal that moves from water to land have to accommodate?

A)Change in oxygen content
B)Regulation of body temperature in a more extreme environment
C)Wider diversity of habitats
D)About 1000 times less buoyant density and 50 times less viscosity than water
E)All of the choices are challenges of life out of water

Answer 1

E

Question 2

Most terrestrial salamanders fertilize eggs using which method?

A)Internal fertilization after the female has picked up spermatophores deposited by the male in the environment
B)External fertilization in the water similar to fish
C)Internal fertilization by copulation with a male
D)External fertilization in the water similar to frogs utilizing amplexus
E)None of the choices is correct

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The term "tetrapods"

A)refers to the organisms that form the superclass Tetrapoda.
B)includes the amphibians and amniotes.
C)does not include the fish.
D)includes humans.
E)All of these choices are correct.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

What was the 350 million-year-old fossil called Ichthyostega?

A)A lobe-finned fish that represents the likely ancestor to the amphibians
B)One of the earliest known tetrapods
C)A lizard-like stem reptile
D)A ray-finned fish that gave rise to the amphibians
E)The first fish-to-amphibian transitional form to have lost fin rays and gill bones,thus committing itself to a land existence

Question 5

Which is true regarding the oxygen content of air?

A)It is less than the oxygen dissolved in an equal volume of water.
B)It is equal to the oxygen content of an equal volume of water at the same pressure.
C)It is 20 times greater than in an equal volume of water.
D)It is irrelevant to the animal lung since it must still diffuse across the wet surface of membranes.
E)It is approximately 1000 times greater than in an equal volume of water.

Question 6

Tetrapods originated in the ______________ period.

A)Permian
B)Cambrian
C)Carboniferous
D)Devonian
E)Silurian

Question 7

Which of the following regulates amphibian metamorphosis?

A)Calcitonin hormone from the adrenals
B)Thyroxine,a hormone secreted by the thyroid gland
C)Estrogen and testosterone from the gonads
D)Growth hormone by the thyroid gland
E)Salt levels from the environment

Question 8

The sequence of Eusthenopteron,Acanthostega,and Ichthyostega fossils show a progression in which of these?

A)Lung development
B)Egg-shell development
C)Loss of tail and gills
D)Limb development
E)All of the choices developed together.

Question 9

Moving from fish to amphibians,we see which general conversion?

A)A 3-chambered to a 4-chambered heart
B)All-eggs-in-water to all-eggs-on-land
C)The lateral line to senses of smell and hearing
D)Moist skin to skin protective of water loss
E)All of the choices are correct.

Question 10

The Urodela

A)are hermaphroditic.
B)are tadpoles when young.
C)retain their tail permanently.
D)live only in the tropics.
E)never have to return to water to breed.

Question 11

Amphibians were the first vertebrate invaders of land,but most still must return to the water to _____.

A)breed
B)breathe
C)feed
D)excrete

Question 12

Completely terrestrial salamanders

A)have succeeded in avoiding the need for moisture.
B)convert from the adult form back to the newt form.
C)hold their eggs internally until they hatch.
D)undergo paedomorphosis.
E)undergo direct development where the larval stage is bypassed.

Question 13

Caecilians

A)live in the tropics around the world.
B)are blind or nearly blind as adults.
C)are elongate,burrowing animals.
D)use copulation for internal fertilization.
E)All of the choices are correct.

Question 14

Lungless salamanders lack lungs and breathe through their skin after they lose their gills.You would expect lungless salamanders to

A)prefer drier habitats.
B)be restricted to a smaller or thinner body design.
C)be larger than most salamanders.
D)prefer stagnant water.
E)None of the choices is correct.

Question 15

The Amphiumidae salamanders

A)are terrestrial throughout their lifetime.
B)have eliminated lungs.
C)absorb oxygen through their skin.
D)have greatly reduced metamorphosis.
E)All of the choices are correct.

Question 16

The evolutionary contribution of amphibians to life on land was the development of

A)the amniotic egg and shell.
B)lungs and limbs.
C)a watertight skin.
D)a life cycle independent of a need for water to breed.
E)All of the choices are amphibian "innovations".

Question 17

Temnospondyls are a group that generally have only four digits on the forelimb.Which one of the following is a lineage that includes all modern members of the Temnospondyl ancestors?

A)Anthracosauria
B)Gymnophiona
C)Anura
D)Lissamphibia
E)Urodela

Question 18

Adaptations for terrestrialism in early tetrapods resulted in an air-filled cavity along with

A)mucous membrane-lined nostrils.
B)a complex nervous system.
C)internal embryo gestation.
D)an abdominal cavity.
E)double circulation.

Question 19

All of the following are characteristics of modern amphibians except one.Select the exception.

A)Ten pairs of cranial nerves
B)Separate sexes
C)Smooth moist skin
D)Endothermic
E)Bony skeleton

Question 20

The earliest tetrapod fossils show that they possessed a basic pattern of _________ digits per limb.

A)three
B)four
C)five
D)more than five
E)more than ten

Question 21

It grows legs and loses a tail.It changes from an herbivore with a long digestive tract to a carnivore with a shorter one.It loses its gills and lateral line system and uses its skin,mouth,and lungs for gas exchange.What is it?

A)Lancelet
B)Sea squirt larva
C)Lung-fish
D)Tadpole
E)Primitive reptile

Question 22

Tropical,burrowing,limbless amphibians belong to the order _______ or (alternate order name)________.

Question 23

Most salamanders are fertilized internally after a female picks up a sperm packet or ______________.

Question 24

The urostyle of the frog skeleton represents

A)a backward extension of the cranium.
B)several fused caudal vertebrae.
C)a relocation and fusion of the "missing" ribs.
D)a newly evolved feature of anurans.
E)an enigmatic structure of unknown origin.

Question 25

The __________ is a gilled adult of the Ambystoma genus found in Mexico and the southwestern United States.In dry conditions it may metamorphose to an air-breathing adult.

A)Axolotl
B)Amphioxus
C)Coelacanth
D)Lungless salamander
E)Mudskipper

Question 26

What is the process called in which the male frog grasps a female,in order to be present for external fertilization,called?

A)Amplexus
B)Neoteny
C)Coitus
D)Copulation
E)Paedomorphosis

Question 27

Salamanders and newts are in the order __________.or

Question 28

If you used an aquarium to raise most tadpoles,what should you feed them?

A)Algae
B)Small insects
C)Decaying debris on bottom of pond
D)Fish blood
E)Small chunks of meat

Question 29

Consider the case of some large salamanders that live a long time,produce fewer young,and do not metamorphose into adults without gills,but maintain the juvenile body form as reproductive adults (e.g. ,hellbender,mudpuppy,sirens).In contrast,"normal" salamanders undergo metamorphosis rather rapidly and have short lives and many young.In what habitat would you expect the large salamanders that retain the juvenile body form to live?

A)In permanent ponds or streams providing a stable environment
B)In slow-moving streams and rivers with stagnant water
C)In temporary ponds with an unstable environment
D)As salamanders,both types would have exactly the same habitat and evolutionary pressures
E)None of the choices is correct

Question 30

When a salamander retains juvenile features while it matures into an adult,what is the process called?

A)Precociousness
B)Spontaneous regeneration
C)Senescence
D)Prematurity
E)Paedomorphosis

Question 31

Some salamanders retain larval features (e.g. ,gills)throughout life,a condition called __________.

Question 32

Frog singing

A)is more common in males than females.
B)is produced by passing air back and forth between the lungs and vocal pouches.
C)uses the large vocal sacs as resonators.
D)involves vocal cords in a larynx.
E)All of the choices are correct.

Question 33

A frog skeleton

A)has a vertebral column consisting of only nine vertebrae and a urostyle.
B)has a highly flexible vertebral column,an adaptation for transmitting force from the hindlimbs of the body.
C)is,like that of crossopterygian,entirely cartilaginous.
D)bears limbs with four digits on each hand and foot.
E)All of these choices are correct.

Question 34

In addition to the sinus venosus and the conus arteriosus the heart of a frog has two __________ and one __________.

Question 35

Most of our familiar frogs belong to which large family?

A)Hylidae
B)Bufonidae
C)Ranidae
D)Plethodontidae
E)Anuridae

Question 36

The Anura differ from the Urodela because the Anura

A)lack a tail in the adult stage.
B)have hind legs adapted for jumping.
C)have a tadpole larval stage.
D)have mostly herbivorous young.
E)All of the choices are correct.

Question 37

Which of the following is NOT a correct association of amphibian pigment cells?

A)Xanthophores-orange,yellow,and red pigment
B)Chromatophores-on the top of the epidermis
C)Melanophores-brown or black pigment
D)Iridophores-silvery light-reflecting pigment
E)All of the choices are correct associations

Question 38

Frogs and toads belong to the order _________,a name that means "without a tail."

Question 39

Which is true regarding frog skin?

A)The dermis contains chromatophores,which provide skin color.
B)The dermis contains large serous glands derived from the inner epidermis that produce a skin poison.
C)The epidermis contains keratin.
D)The epidermis has mucous glands that secrete mucus to waterproof the skin.
E)All of these choices are correct.

Question 40

Frogs breathe using

A)negative pressure,similar to reptiles and mammals.
B)various absorptive surfaces but with no pneumatic system to ventilate those surfaces.
C)positive pressure breathing during which air is forced into the balloon-like lungs.
D)a bird-like circular air circulation.
E)gill modifications.

Question 41

What is the significance of paedomorphosis in the evolution of tetrapods?

Question 42

Why have amphibians never become independent of water,or at least a moist environment,and in most cases have a fully aquatic stage?

Question 43

Outline the circulatory pathways of amphibians.

Question 44

How would you present the argument that the amphibians represent a "transitional" group - the very kind of group that "creation scientists" claim does not exist?

Question 45

Compare and contrast the sensory systems of bony fish with those of adult anurans.

Question 46

The lungs of a frog are supplied by the ______ _____,vessels derived from the sixth aortic arches.

Question 47

In frogs the most posterior vertebrae are fused together to form a rod-like ____________.

Question 48

______ glands in amphibians secrete defensive compounds.

Question 49

A specialized structure in the conus arteriosus of the frog heart,called the ______ ______,is thought to maintain selective distribution of oxygenated and unoxygenated blood.

Question 50

Frog skin color is produced by cells called ________.

Question 51

The ______ of the amphibian hindbrain is concerned with equilibrium and movement coordination.

Question 52

What are the limitations of the amphibian skin? How do these limitations prevent them from inhabiting certain habitats?

Question 53

Discuss the contributions of Ichthyostega,Eustenopteron,Acanthostega,and Limnoscelis in the evolution of tetrapods.

Question 54

Discuss the transition from an aquatic environment to a terrestrial environment.What are the structural and physiological features required for such a move?

Question 55

Describe five factors likely leading to the worldwide decline in amphibians.