Amphibian hatchlings find mother's milk
成果类型：
Editorial Material
署名作者：
Wake, Marvalee H.
署名单位：
University of California System; University of California Berkeley; University of California System; University of California Berkeley
刊物名称：
SCIENCE
ISSN/ISSBN：
0036-13863
DOI：
10.1126/science.ado2094
发表日期：
2024-03-08
页码：
1060-1061
关键词：
摘要：
During their evolution, amphibians have performed diverse and sometimes bizarre natural experiments in reproductive biology. Most members of the class, which includes frogs, salamanders, and caecilians, retain certain ancestral features, including courtship, external fertilization, egg laying (oviparity), hatching of larvae, metamorphosis in water, and emerging terrestrially. However, many frogs, salamanders, and especially caecilians have developed distinct and complex modes of egg protection and nutrition. Brooding developing embryos in pouches or pits on a maternal female's back, in her stomach, in her oviducts, or in a paternal male's vocal sacs, and eating of a mother's skin are but a few examples. On page 1092 of this issue, Mailho-Fontana et al. ( 1 ) report that females of a species of oviparous Brazilian caecilian, Siphonops annulatus, provide milk to their offspring during parental care after hatching. This previously unobserved form of maternal provisioning challenges existing understanding of the evolution of parental care modes.