The origin of terrestrial hearing

摘要

Along-standing problem in the evolution of land vertebrates has been how they evolved to detect sound. Lungfishes are the closest living relatives of tetrapods (vertebrates that have limbs and digits), and so may help to provide an answer. Until recently, however, there have been few investigations into lungfish hearing. Writing in the Journal of Experimental Biology, Christensen et al. report their findings about whether the African lungfish Protopterus annectens can detect sound, casting fresh light on our understanding of the hearing capabilities of the earliest tetrapods.