Caudata Sentence Examples

Of lizards the iguana (Cyclura caudata) is noteworthy.

The pie belongs to the same family of birds as the crow, and is the Corvus pica of Linnaeus, the Pica caudata, P. melanoleuca, or P. rustica of modern ornithologists, who have recognized it as forming a distinct genus, but the number of species thereto belonging has been a fruitful source of discussion.

The outcome of our present knowledge points to the Stegocephalia, probably themselves derived from the Crossopterygian fishes (8), having yielded on the one hand the true batrachians (retrogressive series), with which they are to a certain extent connected through the Caudata and the Apoda, on the other hand the reptiles (progressive series), through the Rhynchocephalians and the Anomodonts, the latter being believed, on very suggestive evidence, to lead to the mammals (9).

Owen, which name is restricted to the forms for which it was originally intended; Peromela, Urodela, Anura, are changed to Apoda, Caudata, Ecaudata, for the reason that (unless obviously misleading, which is not the case in the present instance) the first proposed name should supersede all others for higher groups as well as for genera and species, and the latter set have the benefit of the law of priority.

According to our present knowledge, the Ecaudata can be traced about as far back in time as the Caudata.

An unmistakable batrachian of this order, referred by its describer to Palaeobatrachus, a determination which is only provisional, has been discovered in the Kimmeridgian of the Sierra del Montsech, Catalonia (25), in a therefore somewhat older formation than the Wealden Caudata Hylaeobatrachus.

In the Caudata and Apoda, cartilage often persists between the vertebrae; this cartilage may become imperfectly separated into a cup-and-ball portion, the cup belonging to the posterior end of the vertebra.

Amphicoelous (bi-concave) vertebrae are found in the Apoda and in some of the Caudata; opisthocoelous (convexo-concave) vertebrae in the higher Caudata and in the lower Ecaudata; whilst the great majority of the Ecaudata have procoelous (concavo-convex) vertebrae.

In accordance with the saltatorial habits of the members of this order, the vertebrae, which number from 40 to 60 in the Caudata, to upwards of in the Apoda, have become reduced to Io as the normal number, viz., eight praecaudal, one sacral and an elongate coccyx or urostyle, formed by coalescence of at least two vertebrae.

The presence, in some genera, of a second row of mandibular teeth seems to indicate the former existence of a splenial element, such as exists in Siren among the Caudata and apparently in the labyrinthodonts.

In the Caudata, the frontals remain likewise distinct from the parietals, whilst in the Ecaudata the two elements are fused into one, and in a few forms (Aglossa, some Pelobatidae) the paired condition of these bones has disappeared in the adult.

Prefrontal bones are present in the Salamandridae and Amphiumidae, but absent (or fused with the nasals) in the other Caudata and in the Ecaudata.

In most of the Caudata the scapular region alone ossifies, but in the Ecaudata the coracoid is bony and a clavicle is frequently developed over the praecoracoid car tilage.

The carpus, which remains cartilaginous in many of the Stegocephalia and Caudata, contains six to eight elements when the manus is fully developed, whilst the number is reduced in those forms which have only two or three digits.

Except in some of the Stegocephalia, there are only four functional digits in the manus, but the Ecaudata have a more or less distinct rudiment of pollex; in the Caudata it seems to be the outer digit which has been suppresssed, as atavistic reappearance of a fifth digit takes place on the outer side of the manus, as it does on the pes in those forms in which the toes are reduced to four.

The usual number of phalanges is 2, 2, 3, 2 in the Stegocephalia and Caudata, 2, 2, 3, 3 in the Ecaudata.

There are usually nine tarsal elements in the Caudata; this number is reduced in the Ecaudata, in which the two bones of the proximal row (sometimes coalesced) are much elongated and form an additional segment to the greatly lengthened hind-limb, a sort of crus secundarium.

The tongue is rudimentary in the perennibranchiate Caudata, well developed, and often protrusile, in the Salamandridae and most of the Ecaudata, totally absent in the Aglossa.

The larynx, which is rudimentary in most of the Caudata and in the Apoda, is highly developed in the Ecaudata, and becomes the instrument of the powerful voice with which many of the frogs and toads are provided.

The lungs are long simple tubes in some of the perennibranchiate Caudata; they generally shorten or become cellular in the salamandrids, and attain their highest development in the Ecaudata, especially in such forms as the burrowing Pelobates.

The first category embraces many aquatic newts, the second nearly all the Ecaudata, the third the rest of the Caudata, and the fourth the Apoda.

In most of the Caudata, the eggs are deposited singly in the axils of water plants or on leaves which the female folds over the egg with her hind limbs.

In many of the Ecaudata, and in a few of the Caudata and Apoda, the eggs are laid in strings or bands which are twined round aquatic plants or carried by the parent; whilst in other Ecaudata they form large masses which either float on the surface of the water or sink to the bottom.

Viviparous parturition is known among the Caudata (Salamandra, Spelerpes fuscus), and the Apoda (Dermophis thomensis, Typhlonectes cornpressicauda); also in a little toad (Pseudophryne vivipara) recently discovered in German East Africa (41).

In the Caudata, external gills (three on each side) persist until the close of the metamorphosis, whilst in the Apoda and Ecaudata they exist only during the earlier periods, being afterwards replaced by internal gills.

The first would be characterized by the Caudata, which are almost confined to it (although a few species penetrate into the Indian and neotropical regions), the Discoglossidae, mostly Europaeo-Asiatic, but one genus in California, and the numerous Pelobatidae; the second by the presence of Apoda, the prevalence of firmisternal Ecaudata and the absence of Hylidae; the third by the presence of Apoda, the prevalence of arciferous Ecaudata and the scarcity of Ranidae, the fourth by the prevalence of arciferous Ecaudata and the absence of Ranidae, as well as b y the absence of either Caudata or Apoda.

Madagascar might almost stand as a fifth division of the world, characterized by the total absence of Caudata, Apoda, and arciferous Ecaudata.

They are less marked or more gradual in the Apoda and Caudata than in Ecaudata, in which the stage known as tadpole is very unlike the frog or toad into which it rather suddenly passes (see Tadpole).