Printer Friendly
The Free Library
4,474,219 articles and books
Member login
User name  
Password 
 
Join us Forgot password?

Just turn your back, Mom.


A female in a species of legless amphibians called caecilians caecilian (sēsĭl`ēən), any of the legless, tailless tropical amphibians of the family Caecilidae. Most adult caecilians resemble earthworms superficially but have vertebrate characteristics such as jaws and teeth. They range in size from 7 in. to 4.5 ft (18 cm–140 cm); most are about 1 ft (30 cm) long. nourishes her youngsters by letting them eat the skin off her back, says an international research team.

Caecilians, which look like worms or snakes, burrow through the soil in the tropics. Some species lay eggs, and quirks of several of these species got Mark Wilkinson of the Natural History Museum in London and other researchers wondering whether these morns fed their young. The hatchlings had scraperlike teeth, for example, and they hung around their mother for their first weeks of life.

Now studying the egg-laying African species Boulengerula taitanus, Wilkinson and his colleagues have found the missing baby food. They dug up and observed 21 nesting females and their broods.

The researchers saw skinny, pink youngsters poke their lower jaws against their mother's' backs and peel off the dark outer layer of her skin, leaving her bluish white. Also, females with young develop an especially thick outer layer of skin with morsels of fat in it, the researchers report in the April 13 Nature.

The scraper teeth in these young resemble teeth of fetal caecilians in live-birth species. Scientists speculate that those youngsters use them to graze on the linings of their mothers' oviducts
1. uterine tube.
2. in nonmammals, a passage through which ova leave the female or pass to an organ that communicates with the exterior of the body.ovidu´caloviduct´al


o·vi·duct (
 as they slide by. Since the skin feeders have the same kind of scraper teeth, researchers speculate they come from a lineage intermediate between ancient, egg-laying lineages of caecilians and more-recent lineages bearing live young.--S. M.
COPYRIGHT 2006 Science Service, Inc.
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2006, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

 Reader Opinion

Title:

Comment:



 

Article Details
Printer friendly Cite/link Email Feedback
Title Annotation:ZOOLOGY
Publication:Science News
Article Type:Brief article
Date:May 6, 2006
Words:241
Previous Article:Liver regeneration tied to bile acids.(MICROBIOLOGY)(Brief article)
Next Article:Confined gas rejects compromise.(PHYSICS)(Brief article)
Topics:



Related Articles
Killer skin fungus nails boreal toads.(chytrid skin fungus found in boreal toads in Colorado)(in boreal toads)(Brief Article)
Colossal study shows amphibian woes.(Brief Article)
Mother's day.(May 3-9)
The zoology of swing voters: a guide for the 2004 elections.(10 Miles Square)(Illustration)
The American Heritage Science Dictionary.(Books: A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest)(book by Steven Kleinedler)(Brief...
Welcome to Weedville.(TELEVISION)(Brief Article)
Amphibians And Reptiles.(Amphibians and Reptiles: Status and Conservation in Florida)(Brief article)(Book review)
Still me, with kinks.

Terms of use | Copyright © 2008 Farlex, Inc. | Feedback | For webmasters | Submit articles