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SUMMARY:The Evolution of Earlessness in the True Toad Family (Bufonidae)
LOCATION:Anatomy/Zoology Building W118
TZID:America/Denver
DTSTART:20168301T000000
UID:2026-05-13-06-53-52@natsci.colostate.edu
DTSTAMP:20260513T065352
Description:Anurans (frogs and toads) have a tympanic middle ear to transmi
 t airborne sound from the environment to their inner ear sensory cells. Ye
 t\, many bufonid (true toad) species have independently evolved earlessnes
 s\, the lack of a tympanic middle ear\, despite the importance of acoustic
  communication in most toad mating systems. My thesis aims to determine wh
 y middle ear structures are so evolutionarily labile in the Bufonidae fami
 ly by comparing development\, sensory\, and morphological data of eared an
 d earless toads within a phylogenetic context. I show that the middle ear 
 forms very late in the development of toads and takes many months past met
 amorphosis to become fully functional. Adult earless species are typically
  less sensitive to high frequency sound and more sensitive to low frequenc
 y vibrations compared to eared toads. I also find the skulls of eared and 
 earless are very similar\, indicating the middle ear is lost without chang
 e to other developmentally or genetically linked skull features. I conclud
 e that alternative hearing pathways allow earless species to retain some h
 earing sensitivity\, and discuss roles for development and behavior in sha
 ping the evolutionary lability of ear structures. 4:00 pm
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