Publications
Chosen filters:
Chosen filters:
Caecilita Wake & Donnelly, 2010 (Amphibia: Gymnophiona) is not lungless: implications for taxonomy and for understanding the evolution of lunglessness Vrije Universiteit Brussel
According to current understanding, five lineages of amphibians, but no other tetrapods, are secondarily lungless and are believed to rely exclusively on cutaneous gas exchange. One explanation of the evolutionary loss of lungs interprets lunglessness as an adaptation to reduce buoyancy in fast-flowing aquatic environments, reasoning that excessive buoyancy in such an environment would cause organisms being swept away. While not uncontroversial, ...
Resistance is not futile: Widespread convergent evolution of resistance to alpha-neurotoxic snake venoms in caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona) Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Predatory innovations impose reciprocal selection pressures upon prey. The evolution of snake venom alpha-neurotoxins has triggered the corresponding evolution of resistance in the post-synaptic nicotinic acetylcholine receptors of prey in a complex chemical arms race. All other things being equal, animals like caecilians (an Order of legless amphibians) are quite vulnerable to predation by fossorial elapid snakes and their powerful ...
Diversity and Evolution of Host-Defense Peptides in Frogs (Amphibia: Anura): a Phylogenomic Approach Vrije Universiteit Brussel
n/a
Under pressure: evolution of the musculoskeletal system in burrowing limbless tetrapods. With a focus on caecilians (Amphibia: Gymnophiona). Ghent University
Recurrent functional divergence of early tetrapod keratins in amphibian toe pads and mammalian hair Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Amphibians have invaded arboreal habitats multiple times independently during their evolution. Adaptation to these habitats was nearly always accompanied by the presence or appearance of toe pads, flattened enlarge- ments on tips of fingers and toes that provide adhesive power in these environments. The strength and elasticity of the toe pad relies on polygonal arrayed cells ending in nanoscale projections, which are densely packed with ...
Resources allocated to reproduction decrease at the range edge of an expanding population of an invasive amphibian Ghent University
Unlocking the story in the swab : a new genotyping assay for the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis Ghent University
Origin and functional diversification of an amphibian defense peptide arsenal. Vrije Universiteit Brussel
The skin secretion of many amphibians contains an arsenal of bioactive molecules, including hormone-like peptides (HLPs) acting as defense toxins against predators, and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) providing protection against infectious microorganisms. Several amphibian taxa seem to have independently acquired the genes to produce skin-secreted peptide arsenals, but it remains unknown how these originated from a non-defensive ancestral gene ...