Frogs evolved as jumping machines. The earliest recognized anuran fossil possessed a foreshortened body and elongated hindlimbs, primary adaptations for jumping. The majority of extant frogs retain jumping as their primary mode of locomotion. Eighty species of frogs were tested to determine their ab...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Bibliographische Detailangaben

1. Verfasser:	Zug, George R. 1938- (VerfasserIn)
Format:	Buch
Sprache:	English
Veröffentlicht:	City of Washington Smithsonian Inst. Press 1978
Schriftenreihe:	Smithsonian Institution: Smithsonian contributions to zoology 276
Schlagworte:	Animal jumping Frogs > Jumping Frogs > Locomotion
Zusammenfassung:	Frogs evolved as jumping machines. The earliest recognized anuran fossil possessed a foreshortened body and elongated hindlimbs, primary adaptations for jumping. The majority of extant frogs retain jumping as their primary mode of locomotion. Eighty species of frogs were tested to determine their absolute and relative (jumping distance divided by snout-vent length) jumping abilities. The species include representatives from the Ascaphidae, Bufonidae, Dendrobatidae, Pelodryadidae, Discoglossidae, Hylidae, Leptodactylidae, Microhylidae, Myobatrachidae, Pelobatidae, and Ranidae. Jumping performance is examined relative to taxonomic and habitat group, fatigue, body size, and sex. The ranking of jumping ability (distance jumped divided by body length) among the sampled species from weakest to strongest is Bufonidae, Pelobatidae, Discoglossidae, Microhylidae, Ranidae, Leptodactylidae, Dendrobatidae, Ascaphidae, Myobatrachidae, Hylidae, and Pelodryadidae for the families of frogs and semifossorial terrestrial, treetop arboreal, semiaquatic-terrestrial, terrestrial, scrub arboreal, and grass arboreal for the habitat groupings. Weak jumping species show little evidence of fatigue, whereas strong jumpers show a progressive decline in performance. Males tend to jump farther than equivalent-sized females, although the opposite or neutral situation occurs in a few species. Both inter- and intraspecifically, large frogs jump farther than small ones; however, a comparison of relative ability shows small frogs to be the strongest jumpers.
Beschreibung:	III, 31 S. graph. Darst.