The rise of amphibians. 365 million years of evolution / Расцвет амфибий. 365 миллионов лет эволюции

Modern amphibians - the familiar frogs and salamanders of the Northern Hemisphere and the less well-known, elongate, and limbless caecilians of the Southern Hemisphere-appear as relatively minor components of the living fauna, although they actually outnumber the dominant mammals in terms of both numbers of species and individuals. In fact, the three modern amphibian groups are but relicts of a much larger radiation that occurred between 370 and 270 million years ago, when their ancestors dominated terrestrial and shallow water environments throughout the world. Of even greater significance, the early amphibians provided an evolutionary link between archaic fish and the ancestors of all more advanced terrestrial vertebrates: the reptiles, birds, and mammals. That is, they were our own <...>