JOANNE-+Ancestors+of+axolotl

**__Extint Animal-Ancestors of axolotl:Amphibamus__**

Adaptation


It is believed that amphibamus is the ancestor of axolotl.It lived during the late Carboniferous (300 million years ago). Although there hasn’t been scientifically proven that Amphibamus is the ancestor of axolotl, out of all the ancestors of amphibians such as abiadisaurus, acadia, acerastia, acherontiscus and adamanterpeton, amphibamus and axolotl share the most common characteristics, such as they both have two front limbs and two back limbs that have the same amount of toes, they both have a tail for swimming and they both have almost the same size for the adult stage, around 15cm. 1. Amphibamus had its larval tail. This helped them to improve mobility and also helped to balance when having activities in water. Without the tail,amphibamus wouldn’t be able to swim so fast in water to catch worms, insects, and small fishes to eat, then they would starve to death. Which then, would stop them from reproduction. (Refer to the image 6 )

2. As amphibamus was an amphibian, to adapt a terrestrial mode of life of them, amphibamu had a very lightly built body. If this adaptation didn’t exist, amphibamus then weren’t able to spend long time on land as its legs wouldn’t be able to carry such a heavy body, which would also lead to an inconnvinence when they had any activities on the land. This might directly affect the prey, if they couldn’t get enough food when on land, they might starve to death and became unable to reproduce. (Refer to the image 6 )

3. The four limbs and trail with crest allowed them to have a better control in balancing and changing direction when swimming. If they did not have the four limbs, they would not be able to swim fast when catching food, so they would starve and die, or even they might lose balance and crash into stones or other creatures or objects in the water then die, which then they cannot reproduce(Refer to the image 6 ) 4. Its skin was very thin and moist which allowed for cutaneous respiration, which meant gaseous exchange and it also allowed for osmosis which meant water exchange. Without this adaptation, then amphibamus would not be able to breath both in water when it was still in the larva stage, which was when lungs and limbs weren’t fully developed, and breathe on land after it reached the adult stage which limbs and nostrils. Without this adaptation, it would die as a result of suffocation, and would not be able to reproduce.( refer to image 6)

 5. Amphibamus had the capability of regenerating the lost body parts. This could help them to survive, as they wouldn’t lose their lives for losing small parts of their body, such as toes and tails. Without this adaptation, they might die and were not able to reproduce. ( refer to image 7)

**Habitat**


The habitat of amphibamus was the Permian Basin, which was the western part of the United State of Texas and the southeastern part of New Mexico. It was rich in oil and natural gas. It was very moist. As their mucous-covered skin used up a lot of their water, therefore, a moist habitat such as a wetland or maybe underground was needed to help them survive. They were rarely found in deserts and in marine environments as the water in there was high in salinity, which didn’t suit their needs, and also a large amount of water was needed to maintain their lives, which deserts and marine environments were very dry and lack of water.

The Permian Basin had average temperature of around 20 degrees Celsius. As amphibamus are "cold-blooded" just like the other amphibians, the temperature of the environment they lived really affected them. They obtained their body heat from their environment, which made them to be not well adapted for any activity in any cold environments, for example, alpine areas and the tundra etc. Staying in warm places can help them to remain active even at quite low temperatures.

Worms (e.g. white worms) and insects were easily found in this area, whichprovided food for the amphibamusto eat and maintain their lives, which then allowed them to reproduce.

As their reproductive habit was that the female amphibamus laid eggs in water or near the shores, and as they couldn’t survive in sea water, therefore, lakes and rivers were necessary for their reproduction. Permian Basin was covered by the Permian sea, which provided them a place to reproduce.

Therefore, because of the above four aspects, it was a very suitable living environment for the amphibamus.

Pressure contributed to extinction
However, due to climate change, as the weather changed, the amphibamus couldn’t survive on land anymore, as the yearly median temperature was only 15 °C, which was too cold for the amphibamus to survive.

Also, as human continuously took over the world, many areas of the original region of the Permian Basin was developed with buildings and urbanised, which cause a great loss in wetland and rainforests. The amphibamus then died as they had nowhere to live and also nothing to eat as their habitat was taken and destroyed.

The above reasons led to the extinction of theamphibamus, as they could no longer had any activities on land due to the change in climate and also urbanisation. Their home on land was no longer suitable for them to live, which then forced them to evolve. Due to the changes of their habitat, slowly, a new specie axolotl was formed as a result of amphibamus’ evolution. =__Mordern Aolotl__= axolotl =__Future Axolotl__= Wincheliose fishanneia =__Other animals that can regenerate the lost body parts __= laetus spider purple sea urchin =__Bibliography__ = 17, M. R. (n.d.). //Amphibamus//. Retrieved 6 3, 2011, from reptileevolution: []

//Amphibians//. (2002). Retrieved june 20, 2011, from webspawner: []

Sydenham, S. & Thomas, R. (2002). //axolotl//. Retrieved june 20, 2011, from kidcyber: []

//Amphibians//. (2002). Retrieved june 20, 2011, from webspawner: []