Morphology and functional morphology of amphibians

Photo: UHH/CeNak, Haas

The comparative, evolutionary-biologically motivated study of body structure and its functioning in amphibians opens up countless research possibilities with today's innovative study techniques. In larvae, the focus is on the connections between head structure and aquatic feeding mode. Which specific adaptations are related to the larvae's feeding mode. Modern computer-assisted 3D visualisation techniques such as micro-CT or scanning procedures now allow unimagined insights into the anatomy of these animals and allow conclusions to be drawn about how they function. Although the basics are understood, the metamorphosis of amphibians also remains an exciting field of research. How anatomical peculiarities of individual frog groups are related to the frog's way of life in the habitat is largely not understood. One topic in this context, for example, is the locomotion of frogs and their adaptations in different frog groups.

Publications

Mitgutsch, C., Haas, A., Olsson, L. (2009) Early embryogenesis in discoglossoid frogs: a study of heterochrony at different taxonomic levels.  Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 47(3):248–257.
Kleinteich, T., Beckmann, F., Herzen, J., Summers, A. P., Haas, A. (2008) Applying X-ray tomography in the field of vertebrate biology: form, function, and evolution of the skull of caecilians (Lissamphibia: Gymnophiona). Developments in X-Ray Tomography VI, 7078(1):7078D–7078D-10.
Kleinteich, T., Haas, A., Summers, A. (2008) Caecilian jaw closing mechanics – integrating two muscle systems.  Journal of the Royal Society Interface 5:1491–1504.
Mitgutsch, C, Piekarski, N., Olsson, L., Haas, A. (2008) Heterochronic shifts during early cranial neural crest cell migration in two ranid frogs.  Acta Zoologica 89(1):69–78.
Handrigan, G, Haas. A., Wassersug, R. (2007) Bony-tailed tadpoles: The development of supernumerary caudal vertebrae in larval megophryids (Anura). Evolution & Development 9(2):190–202.
Kleinteich, T., Haas, A. (2007) The cranial musculature in the larva of the caecilian, Ichthyophis kohtaoensis (Lissamphibia: Gymnophiona).  Journal of Morphology 268:74–88.
Haas, A., Hertwig, S., Das, I. (2006) Extreme tadpoles: The morphology of fossorial megophryid larva, Leptobrachella mjobergi.  Zoology 109(1):26–42.
Svensson, M., Haas, A. (2005) Evolutionary innovation in the vertebrate jaw: a derived morphology in anuran tadpoles and its possible developmental origin. BioEssays 27:526–532.
Vera Candioti, M. F., Haas, A. (2004) Three-dimensional reconstruction of the hyobranchial apparatus of Hyla nana tadpoles (Anura: Hylidae). Cuadernos de Herpetología 18(1):3–15