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Fertilization is the fusion of gametes to produce a new organism. In animals, the process involves a sperm fusing with an ovum, which eventually leads to the development of an embryo. Depending on the animal species, the process can occur within the body of the female in internal fertilization, or outside in the case of external fertilization.
Parthenogenesis (/ ˌ p ɑːr θ ɪ n oʊ ˈ dʒ ɛ n ɪ s ɪ s,-θ ɪ n ə-/; [1] [2] from the Greek παρθένος, parthénos, 'virgin' + γένεσις, génesis, 'creation' [3]) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which the embryo develops directly from an egg without need for fertilization.
After internal fertilization and the habit of laying eggs in terrestrial environments became a reproduction strategy amongst the amniote ancestors, the next major breakthrough appears to have involved a gradual replacement of the gelatinous coating covering the amphibian egg with a fibrous shell membrane. This allowed the egg to increase both ...
Reptiles, from Nouveau Larousse Illustré, 1897–1904, notice the inclusion of amphibians (below the crocodiles). In the 13th century, the category of reptile was recognized in Europe as consisting of a miscellany of egg-laying creatures, including "snakes, various fantastic monsters, lizards, assorted amphibians, and worms", as recorded by Beauvais in his Mirror of Nature. [7]
Gunther Hertwig repeated this experiment in 1924, using crosses between different frogs. [1] A cross between a toad, Amietophrynus regularis, and a frog, Rana fusca, would not produce a viable embryo, but fertilization of a toad egg by an irradiated frog sperm would produce a haploid larva. [1]
Parthenogenesis is a mode of asexual reproduction in which offspring are produced by females without the genetic contribution of a male. Among all the sexual vertebrates, the only examples of true parthenogenesis, in which all-female populations reproduce without the involvement of males, are found in squamate reptiles (snakes and lizards). [1]
The largest living amphibian is the 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) South China giant salamander (Andrias sligoi), but this is dwarfed by prehistoric temnospondyls such as Mastodonsaurus which could reach up to 6 m (20 ft) in length. [7] The study of amphibians is called batrachology, while the study of both reptiles and amphibians is called herpetology.
The anamniotes are an informal group of craniates comprising all fish and amphibians, which lay their eggs in aquatic environments.They are distinguished from the amniotes (reptiles, birds and mammals), which can reproduce on dry land either by laying shelled eggs or by carrying fertilized eggs within the female.