Feeding in amphibians: evolutionary transformations and phenotypic diversity as drivers of feeding system diversity

摘要: Amphibians are different from most other tetrapods because they have a biphasic life cycle, with larval forms showing a dramatically different cranial anatomy and feeding strategy compared to adults. Amphibians with their exceptional diversity in habitats, lifestyles and reproductive modes are also excellent models for studying the evolutionary divergence in feeding systems. In the present chapter, we review the literature on amphibian feeding anatomy and function published since 2000. We also present some novel unpublished data on caecilian feeding biomechanics. This review shows that over the past two decades important new insights in our understanding of amphibian feeding anatomy and function have been made possible, thanks to a better understanding of the phylogenetic relationships between taxa, analyses of development and the use of biomechanical modelling. In terms of functional …