Morphology of tadpoles of Rhinella arenarum (Anura: Bufonidae): Response to predation?

MARINERO V.; CORTEZ R.; DE LOS RÍOS C.; QUIROGA L.; MORENO D.; CATALDO A.; SANABRIA E.

Mendoza

Congreso; Biology Society XXVIII Annual Scientific Meeting; 2010

Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo

When the structure of individuals is complex the application of traditional morphometry methods can lead to loss of important information. The geometric methods provide accurate information on the measures of shape complex structures. We analyze the shape of the tail fin, tail muscle and body of tadpoles of R. arenarum in presence of Astianax fasciatus as depredator. An experiment was conducted where 50 tadpoles remained under pressure of predation and 50 tadpoles without predator. The tadpoles were breeding until stage 38-40 of Gosner. Were taken 40 photographs for each treatment and analyzed the differences in the shape of the structures by geometric morphometric outline. We used the free morphometric software Morpheus. Differences in shape were illustrated by principal components analyses (PCA) and MANOVA. PCA assessed on standardized amplitudes no grouping shown. Moreover, the form does not differ significantly in the presence of predators. Although, the tadpoles of anuran could change various features from predators, R. arenarum expresses no apparent morphological plasticity in form.