ArticleScientific reports2016
The complex evolutionary history of the tympanic middle ear in frogs and toads (Anura).
Article in Scientific reports, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 62 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- A general mechanism of airborne hearing in recent and early non-tympanate tetrapods.The Journal of experimental biology · 2026Article
- Correlated evolution of multiple traits gives butterflies a false head.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Harlequin frog tadpoles-comparative buccopharyngeal morphology in the gastromyzophorous tadpoles of the genus Atelopus (Amphibia, Anura, Bufonidae), with discussion on the phylogenetic and evolutionary implication of characters.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2024Article
- The continued importance of comparative auditory research to modern scientific discovery.Hearing research · 2023Review
- Convergent Anuran Middle Ear Loss Lacks a Universal, Adaptive Explanation.Brain, behavior and evolution · 2023Article
- Ontogeny of the middle ear and auditory sensitivity in the Natterjack toad (Epidalea calamita).The Journal of experimental biology · 2022Article
- Hearing without a tympanic ear.The Journal of experimental biology · 2022Review
- Six new species ofPeerJ · 2022Article
- Article
- Size, microhabitat, and loss of larval feeding drive cranial diversification in frogs.Nature communications · 2021Article
- Braincase simplification and the origin of lissamphibians.PloS one · 2019Article
- Article
- A new earless species ofZooKeys · 2018Article
- Earless toads sense low frequencies but miss the high notes.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2017Article
- Evidence of auditory insensitivity to vocalization frequencies in two frogs.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Evolution of Sound Source Localization Circuits in the Nonmammalian Vertebrate Brainstem.Brain, behavior and evolution · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
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 the TME in the latter clade was followed by at least 10 losses of the entire TME. The many losses and gains of the TME in anurans is unparalleled among tetrapods. Our results show that anurans, and especially bufonid toads, are an excellent model to study the behavioural correlates of earlessness, extratympanic sound pathways, and the genetic and developmental mechanisms that underlie the morphogenesis of TME structures.
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