{"id":3112,"date":"2021-06-22T22:57:43","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T22:57:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.frogpets.com\/?p=3112"},"modified":"2022-03-08T20:46:07","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T20:46:07","slug":"reptile-amphibian-differences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.frogpets.com\/reptile-amphibian-differences\/","title":{"rendered":"Reptiles vs. Amphibians: The Major Differences"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Amphibians and reptiles both belong to the group of animals called vertebrates as they contain backbone in their body. More specifically, both are cold-blooded vertebrates<\/strong>. One may easily confuse between the two because they share many related features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Owing to their similarities and close evolutionary relationship, both of these groups are studied under Herpetology<\/em>, in Greek Herpo<\/em> means “to crawl” or “creep”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of the land animals track their evolutionary ancestry to marine animals (dominantly fish). Amphibians and reptiles were among the early animals that moved away from the aquatic environment and started colonizing the land and terrestrial ecosystems.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n These were the first tetrapod descendants of a group of sarcopterygian fish (lobe-finned). In another fossil discovery, researchers published the existence of Tiktaalik roseae<\/em> \u201ctetrapod-like fish\u201d, which appeared as an intermediate between finned fish and tetrapods having limbs. This organism supposedly lived in shallow waters around 375 million years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Well, now you know the basics of where they came from. But what about their differences? Keep reading to find out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n While both groups share many similarities, they possess even more differences which we will discuss here for your understanding. These differences which arose have their roots in genetic mutations\/altering and pressure posed by natural selection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amphibians<\/em> were the first which localized on land, although they still need water for reproduction purposes. Hence from Greek origin amphibian means \u2018double life\u2019 as they live on land and part of their life in water also. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Amphibians initially evolved<\/a> into a great number of species but a lot of these went extinct over time owing to abiotic stress acting as a filter for only the fittest species to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because amphibians live in marginal conditions and need both land and water in the vicinity for their living and reproduction, any change in either environment adversely affects their survivability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Owing to changing environments including human interventions, we lost a broad spectrum of amphibian diversity, what we see in the present day is only a fraction of initial diversity. Of course, present-day species are more fit than ones that have gone extinct but degrading water quality and other environmental factors still pose a great threat to their survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amphibians evolved over 370 million years ago<\/a> in the late Devonian period. These were dominant during Carboniferous and Permian periods. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Amphibians lay their eggs in water from which larvae produce. Larvae have external gills while adults have lungs for gaseous exchange. Gills are later turned into redundant structures and degraded through the process of apoptosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the larval stage, amphibians have two-chambered hearts similar to fishes in which blood is pumped through the girls for oxygenation and then spread into the body and then back to the heart. When they mature into adults they have three-chambered hearts i.e. one ventricle and two atria. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n Reptiles<\/em> were the next group of animals on the evolutionary ladder<\/a> that succeeded amphibians and developed characters that helped them colonize on land with complete independence from the need for an aquatic environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Their development of the \u2018amniotic egg\u2019 was the primary character that freed them from water dependence.<\/strong> The egg was covered in layers containing amniotic fluid which protected the embryo from desiccation or injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The egg was either laid on land or kept safe inside the body. When the development of the fetus was complete it was given birth or hatched out of the egg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This major evolution allowed the reptiles to colonize the land to a far greater extent than amphibians could. Along with this character, reptiles also developed scales on their body which provided them with resilient skin and reduced water loss through the skin.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The earliest known reptiles evolved 312 million years ago during the Carboniferous era.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Differences Between Reptiles & Amphibians<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Amphibians<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Characteristics:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Reptiles<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Characteristics:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n