Question

A good example of parental care in amphibians is
(A) Ichthyophis.
(B) Cryptobranchus.
(C) Ambystoma
(D) All of the above

Answer 1

In Ichthyophis, parental care is exhibited by the mother by coiling around the eggs and protecting them during development.

Complete answer:
Ichthyophis is a genus of caecilians belonging to the class Amphibia and phylum chordate. It is a terrestrial caecilian with a cylindrical shaped body. It is a limbless amphibian of 15-22 cm length. Their head is dorsal with a rounded snout. It has a sensory tentacle that is very close to their eyes than the nostrils and is close to the upper lip. Its skin is very soft, moist, and glandular. Pigment cells (chromatophores) are present. Respiration occurs by lungs, skin, and mouth lining. Kidneys are mesonephric, the urinary bladder is large, urinary ducts open into the cloaca. Excretion is ureotelic. It is dark brown in colour and has squirt glands to produce fluid and is commonly known as coecilla. Their sexes are separate and its larva has 3 pairs of external gills. Eggs are protected by females by coiling around the eggs. They hatch into tadpoles.

Cryptobranchus is a genus of Cryptobranchus that belongs to class Amphibia, phylum chordata, and family cryptobranchidae. Hellbenders, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis are aquatic salamanders that live in freshwater streams. The hellbender is much larger than other salamanders in its geographical range. Salamanders dorsoventrally have flattened bodies with thick folds, a single gill slit on each side, and hind feet with five toes each. Salamanders are aquatic throughout their lives. They are capable of regenerating their lost limbs. Females lay their eggs in water and have aquatic larvae. No elaborate preoviposition parental care had been described from salamanders.

Ambystoma texanum belongs to the family Ambystomatidae, genus of Ambystoma. It belongs to class Amphibia and phylum chordate. They are smallmouth salamanders that eat insects, worms, and arthopods. The size ranges between 11-17 cm. The female deposits her eggs in the water, there is no further parental care.
So, the correct answer is option A i.e Ichthyophis.

Note: Parental care among salamanders is provided by females. Parental care has been reported from natural populations of any cryptobranchidae salamanders.