The evolution of parental investment in caecilian amphibians: a comparative approach |
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| Authors: | Alexander Kupfer Erin Maxwell Sandy Reinhard Susanne Kuehnel |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany;2. Institut für Biochemie und Biologie, Allgemeine Zoologie und Evolutionsgenomik, Universit?t Potsdam, Haus 26, Potsdam, Germany;3. Institut für Spezielle Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie mit Phyletischem Museum, Friedrich Schiller‐Universit?t Jena, Jena, Germany;4. Naturhistorisches Museum, Thüringer Landesmuseum Heidecksburg, Rudolstadt, Germany |
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| Abstract: | Parental care is widespread among vertebrates and the observed patterns of parental care and investment are extremely diverse. Among amphibians, caecilians (Gymnophiona) exhibit considerable variation in reproductive modes, including both oviparity and viviparity, combined with highly unusual investment strategies (e.g. skin‐feeding and intrauterine feeding). In the present study, current knowledge on the reproductive modes is integrated into an analysis of the evolutionary scenario of parental investment of caecilians. Phylogenetically basal caecilians possessing a biphasic life cycle that includes an aquatic larval stage invest in macrolecithal eggs directly corresponding to size at hatching. Some phylogenetically derived caecilians (i.e. the Teresomata) have a smaller clutch size and show a reduction to either medium‐yolked (mesolecithal) or small‐yolked (microlecithal) eggs. Via alternative pathways of parental investment, such as intrauterine feeding in viviparous taxa and maternal dermatotrophy in oviparous taxa, teresomatan caecilians increase both offspring size and quality. However, more data regarding reproductive biology are needed to obtain a fully resolved understanding of the evolution of reproduction in caecilian amphibians. |
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| Keywords: | Amphibia Gymnophiona life history parental care phylogeny reproductive investment |
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