>the laziest blog on earth...contact me: mudwerks AT gmail DOT com
ALL MY SONGS!...
AVAILABLE NOW on bandcamp!
Field illustration of Wallace’s flying frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus)
Alfred Russel Wallace discovered this “flying” (gliding) frog during his first expedition to South-East Asia. This is the first known illustration of the species.
![biomedicalephemera:
Internal Anatomy of the Grass Frog [Genus Litoria]
As different as frogs are from you and I, you can clearly see how similar vertebrates are to each other when you dissect one. One heart, two lungs, a stomach, liver, spleen, gall bladder, intestines, kidneys, bladder, and gonads are visible in this particular dissection, as well as the extraordinarily strong leg muscles.
Brehms Tierleben, Bd. 1. Alfred Brehms, 1911.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4jvf0HqU61qk931ho1_500.jpg)
Internal Anatomy of the Grass Frog [Genus Litoria]
As different as frogs are from you and I, you can clearly see how similar vertebrates are to each other when you dissect one. One heart, two lungs, a stomach, liver, spleen, gall bladder, intestines, kidneys, bladder, and gonads are visible in this particular dissection, as well as the extraordinarily strong leg muscles.
Brehms Tierleben, Bd. 1. Alfred Brehms, 1911.
(via scientificillustration)
One of the most incredible animals in the world. The Axolotl. Able to grow whole limbs back. Has special gils AND lungs. Remains in a larvae state for most of it’s life but if there is a drought it will convert in to a full Mexican Salamander. Dude kicks butt.
Most of them are dark in color. Albinos are captive bred but there is information that they are in the wild also.
Scientists have studied this little guy for years….
(via scientificillustration)
Rhynchonkos
Reconstruction by Smokeybjb.
When: Late Permian (~275 - 270 million years ago)
Where: Oklahoma, USA
What: Rhynchonkos is a very rare amphibian that lived in the swamp land covering what is now Oklahoma in the Permian. It was about 4.5 inches (~11 cm) long, not counting the tail, with an extremely elongated body and tiny tiny limbs. The elongation of its body compared to other amphibians was accomplished via replication of vertebrae, not elongation of each individual bone. Rhynchonkos had at least 36 pre-sacral (before the hips) vertebrae. Its mouth was full of rows of tiny teeth, and it is likely that it ate insects and small fish in its swampy home. Older literature about this animal refers to it as Goniorhynchus rather than its current name. This change is due to the fact that the fossil taxon was named in 1970, however, a moth was given the name Goniorhynchus in 1896. Stupid insects. At least it wasn’t a beetle this time! The name Rhynchonkos was applied in 1981.
The phylogentic relationships of Rhynchonkos are fairly uncertain. For some time it was held as a close relative of modern caecilians (a group of limbless amphibians), but later fossil finds have cast doubt upon this affiliation. Within other fossil ‘amphbians’ Rhynchonkos has been placed in Lepospondyli (along with our friend Diplocaulus). This group as a whole has a much debated relationship with living amphibians. Some studies have them having nothing to do with living amphibians (lissamphibians), where as others link specific taxa with certain groups of living amphibians. Such as the now disputed Rhynchonkos - caecilian link. It may seem obvious to link this almost limbless fossil with the limbless amphibians, but amphibians (and lizards too!) seem to like to lose their limbs at the drop of a hat. It is very common in swimming and burrowing forms.
(via scientificillustration)
Surinam toad (pipa pipa).
From Bilder-Atlas zur wissenschaftlich-populären Naturgeschichte der Wirbelthiere (Picture atlas of the scientific and popular natural history of vertebrates), by Leopold Fitzinger, Vienna, 1864.
(Source: archive.org)
Thamnocenchris aurifer (now Bothriechis aurifer) consuming Agalychnis moreletii
The Guatemalan pit viper and Morelet’s treefrog share virtually the same habitat (southern Mexico through Guatemala), and both have suffered from habitat loss.
However, the Morelet’s treefrog (like almost every treefrog species in the area) has been hit hard by the transmissible fungus, chytridiomycosis, and is now critically endangered. Approximately 80% of the already-small population is expected to die off in the next few years if there’s no way found to halt the progression of this disease.
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1860.
harlequin frogs.
Joseph Fleischmann, from Brehms Tierleben (Brehm’s animal life) vol. 1, by Alfred Edmund Brehm, Leipzig, Vienna, 1920.
(Source: archive.org)
European Fire-bellied Toad and Yellow-bellied Toad.
Joseph Fleischmann, from Brehms Tierleben (Brehm’s animal life) vol. 1, by Alfred Edmund Brehm, Leipzig, Vienna, 1920.
(Source: archive.org)
