At 3:27 PM -0200 1/9/07, Roberto Takata wrote:
>What did she means with "three common ancestors"? That species A, B
>and C gave rise to extant species D, and the same A, B and C gave rise
>to another extant species E, and so on?
>
The full article
http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn10910-amphibians--the-comeback-kings-of-evolution-.html
says the three common ancestors " eventually gave rise to frogs and toads,
salamanders, and caecilians (snake-like animals that live underground),
respectively." In other words, three original lines of amphibians split about 350
million years ago, each diversified after the Permo-Triassic extinction, and the lines
that survived remain distinct today. Other lines went extinct at various times.
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