The complex evolutionary history of the tympanic middle ear in frogs and toads (Anura).

ABSTRACT: Most anurans possess a tympanic middle ear (TME) that transmits sound waves to the inner ear; however, numerous species lack some or all TME components. To understand the evolution of these structures, we undertook a comprehensive assessment of their occurrence across anurans and performed ancestral character state reconstructions. Our analysis indicates that the TME was completely lost at least 38 independent times in Anura. The inferred evolutionary history of the TME is exceptionally complex in true toads (Bufonidae), where it was lost in the most recent common ancestor, preceding a radiation of >150 earless species. Following that initial loss, independent regains of some or all TME structures were inferred within two minor clades and in a radiation of >400 species. The reappearance of

SUBMITTER: Pereyra MO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5039693 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature