The following questions should help you to prepare for the
laboratory practical. Keep in mind that although this quiz has some
multiple choice, the actual practical will consist largely of fill-in-the-blank
questions.
Do not use this quiz as your only preparation for the
practical. Use it as a guide to the kinds of material that you will
need to study in order to do well. Study all specimens presented in
lab as well as the caecilian, salamander, and frog handouts. In addition
to these kinds of questions, remember that you will also have to identify
specimens to family and/or genus and species level.
So, grab a sheet of paper and test your knowledge so far...then study more...then
test again...then study more...then test again...I will add more questions
as I think of them. Be sure you bring me questions that you cannot figure
out on your own.
1) Modern amphibians are: (Practice drawing a tree! You
will
need to be able to do this for the test.)
a. polyphyletic
b. composed of four living orders
c. characterized by short ribs that do not encircle the body cavity
d. descended from extant lungfish
2) Which of the following is
not characteristic of caecilians?
a. greatly reduced tail
b. heavily ossified skull
c. males have an intromittent organ
d. oviparity is the only reproductive strategy
3) Caecilians can be found in:
a. Australia
b. Phillipines
c. Canada
d. Antarctica
4) From which of the geographical areas below are salamanders completely absent?
a. Appalachian Mountains
b. South America
c. Sub-Saharan Africa
d. France
5) Which of the following is characteristic of paedomorphic salamanders?
a. gills
b. costal grooves
c. mental glands
d. eyelids
6) Which of the following salamander families is of the most basal or ancestral
lineage?
a. Hynobiidae
b. Proteidae
c. Ampiumidae
d. Sirenidae
7) How many times has internal fertilization evolved in salamanders?
a. never
b. once
c. twice
d. three times
8) Which salamander family lays eggs in gelatinous sacs in long strings?
a. Plethodontidae
b. Amphiumidae
c. Salamandridae
d. Cryptobranchidae
9) Which salamander family does the genus
Aneides belong to?
a. Sirenidae
b. Dicamptodontidae
c. Plethodontidae
d. Salamandridae
10) Which of the following salamander genera is not known to contain cave-adapted
species?
a.
Typhlotriton
b.
Proteus
c.
Typhlomolge
d.
Dicamptodon
11) Which of the following salamander species lacks lungs?
a.
Ambystoma jeffersonianum
b.
Plethodon cinereus
c.
Notophthalmus viridescens
d.
Siren intermedia
12) Which of the following is not a possible sexual characteristic of breeding
male salamanders?
a. mental gland
b. enlarged cloacal gland
c. parotoid gland
d. enlarged premaxillary teeth
13) Aquatic salamanders generally capture prey through:
a. suction feeding
b. filter feeding using baleen to strain the water
c. seizing it with the jaws
d. projecting the tongue out of the mouth
14) Where are the eggs of
Plethodon cinereus found?
a. in streams under rocks
b. in stream banks
c. in moss
d. under leaves, rocks, or logs
15) In which of the following salamander species do the females guard the
eggs?
a.
Ambystoma maculatum
b.
Ambystoma opacum
c.
Desmognathus fuscus
d.
Notophthalmus viridescens
16) Which of the following is true of triploid hybrids of
Ambystoma jeffersonianum
and
A. laterale?
a. triploids exist as sexual parasites of the diploid parents
b. triploids can only be maintained when both of the parent species are
present
c. triploid males usually outnumber male and female diploids
d. males cannot discriminate the odor of triploid from diploid females
17) Which type of amplexus is considered to be the most ancestral condition?
a. axillary
b. buccal
c. inguinal
d. rough
18) Which of the following families is not included in the Neobatrachia?
a. Discoglossidae
b. Centrolenidae
c. Arthroleptidae
d. Rhacophoridae
19) Which of the following families has tadpoles with oral suckers for stream
life?
a. Discoglossidae
b. Pipidae
c. Ascaphidae
d. Pelodytidae
20) Which of the following families are not known to have species with aposematic
coloration?
a. Dendrobatidae
b. Mantellidae
c. Pipidae
d. Hylidae
21) Which of the following is a characteristic of some frogs that inhabit
leaf litter?
a. toepads
b. extensive webbing on hind feet
c. skin flaps, bony projections, and cryptic coloration
d. a tail-like copulatory organ
22) Which of the following genera is included in the family Leptodactylidae?
a.
Telmatobius
b.
Rheobatrachus
c.
Colostethus
d.
Spea
23) Which of the following families do not have species that construct foam
nests?
a. Leptodactylidae
b. Hylidae
c. Rhacophoridae
d. Bufonidae
24) Which of the following is never a characteristic of a male frog during
or after the breeding season?
a. sensory tentacle associated with eye
b. enlarged thumb
c. yellow coloration on throat
d. transport of tadpoles
25) Which of the following species lays eggs in long strings?
a.
Bufo americanus
b.
Scaphiopus holbrooki
c.
Pseudacris crucifer
d.
Rana catesbeiana
26) Which of the following species prefers sandy habitat?
a.
Rana clamitans
b.
Hyla versicolor
c.
Scaphiopus holbrooki
d.
Pseudacris crucifer
27) In which species do males often call from underwater?
a.
Rana clamitans
b.
Rana palustris
c.
Hyla versicolor
d.
Bufo americanus
28) Which of the following frogs is the first to emerge in spring?
a. Ambystoma maculatum
b. Rana sylvatica
c. Hyla versicolor
d. Bufo fowleri
29) List all the amphibian families found in Connecticut.
30) Where would you look to find eggs of Eurycea bislineata?
31) Which Caudata family has experienced the frequent evolution of cave-adapted
species?
32) In which of these families do most species lay eggs in ponds?
a. Salamandridae
b. Plethodontidae
c. Amphiumidae
d. Ambystomatidae
33) Which family has newts?
34) Name ten Plethodintidae genera (there are fourteen in lab).
35) Name all the Connecticut amphibian species.
36) List the families that have fossorial species.
37) List the families that have arboreal species.
38) List the families that have fully aquatic species.
39) List the families that have terrestrial species that lay eggs in ponds.
40) Which family has species with no tongues?
41) Name one trait that unites all amphibians as a monophyletic assemblage.
42) What are the two most primitive caudata families?
43) What are the two most primitive anuran families?
44) What is one character that would identify the sex of a ranid?
45) What is one character that would identify the sex of a bufonid?
46) What is one character that would identify the sex of a salamandrid?
47) Name two morphological characters in caecilians that are adaptations
for their lifestyle, yes, this means you need to understand what I mean
by 'lifestyle'. What is the general lifestyle of caecilians?
48) Name three places with no salamanders.
49) What is the key characteristic that separated the Cryptobranchoidea
from the Salamandroidea?
50) Name all the North American salamander families.
51) Name all the Australian salamander families (including those that appear
elsewhere).
52) What are the three most primitive salamander families? What is their
common characteristic?
53) Which salamander families have cave-adapted species?
54) Which salamander families have giants?
55) How can you tell if an aquatic salamander is a male?
56) How can you tell if a Plethodontid is male?
57) Why do some frog species have vertical pupils and some have horizontal
pupils?
58) Name the frog families of South America.
59) What is so special about Pseudis paradoxa?
60) What is so special about Ascaphis truei?
61) Name the anuran families that are found only in Europe.
62) Which anuran families have internal fertilization?
63) What is a key character that separates Pelodytidae from Bufonidae?
64) What is the key character that will distinguish Bufo fowleri from
Bufo americanus?
65) What is the key character that will distinguish Salamandridae from
Ambystomatidae?
66) Name the Connecticut anurans.
67) Which anuran is the earliest breeder in Connecticut?
68) Which salamander is the earliest breeder in Connecticut?
69) Which anurans in Connecticut have an extended breeding season?
70) Which Connecticut salamander breeds the latest?
71) Name two key characteristics of Discoglossdae.
72) Name the families that have arboreal species.
73) Separate this list into salamanders and frogs:
Aniedes Alytes Ambystoma Afrixalus Amphiuma Aglyptodactylus Acanthixalus
Acris Allobates Arthroleptis Aromobates Allophryne Assa Agalychnis Atelopus
Ascaphus Barbourula Boophis Breviceps Bufo Cochranella Cryptobatrachus Centrolene
Colostethus Ceratophrys Ceratobatrachus Chiromantis Chirixalus Cycloramphus
Crinia Cyclorana Dendrobates Dyscophus Desmognathus Ensatina Eurycea Eleutherodactylus
Epipedobates Gastrotheca Gastrophryne Hyalinobatrachium Hyla Hylodes Heleophryne
Heleioporus Hemisus Hemidactylium Kaloula Leptopelis Leiopelma Littoria
Lysapsus Megophrys Mannophryne Melanophryniscus Mantella Nectophrynoides
Notophthalmus Nasikabatrachus Nephalobates Oedepina Pseudophryne Pseudobranchus
Pseudacris Phyllomedusa Pachymedusa Pipa Pelodytes Petrodetes Plethodon
Platymantis Platyhyla Pseudis Phrynomantis Phrynobatrachus Pelobates Rhinophrynus
Rhinoderma Rheobatrachus Rhyacotriton Spea Scutiger Sooglossus Scaphiopus
Triturus Typhlotriton Trichobatrachus Telmatobius Taricha Typhlomolge Xenopus
Xenobatrachus
74) Now that you have had a bit of practice...try to put a family name
to each of those species listed above.