Osteology and Postmetamorphic Development of Telmatobius oxycephalus (Anura: Telmatobiidae) With an Analysis of Skeletal Variation in the Genus

BARRIONUEVO, JOSÉ SEBASTIÁN

JOURNAL OF MORPHOLOGY

WILEY-LISS, DIV JOHN WILEY & SONS INC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2013 p. 73 - 96

0362-2525

The osteological diversity among species ofTelmatobius has been considered conservative. Nonetheless,the degree of ossification of several features variesboth intraspecifically and interspecifically. Herein, intraspecificosteological variation and postmetamorphic ontogeneticchanges in osteological features are described inTelmatobius oxycephalus. These data are compared withpublished descriptions of congeners. There is a considerableintraspecific osteological variation in T. oxycephalus,with cranial characters varying polymorphically, and thehyoid and postcranial characters being sexually dimorphic.This intraspecific variation is expressed by subtledifferences in the degree of ossification or mineralization.Interspecific variation also can be described in terms ofdifferential development of osteological features; thesedifferences are more obvious than intraspecifically variablecharacters. The adult skeletons of several species ofTelmatobius resemble the morphology observed in earlystages of postmetamorphic development of T. oxycephalus.This is especially evident in the neopalatines, parasphenoid,sphenethmoid, exoccipitals, prootics, vomers, nasals,and plectra. These results suggest that within the conservativeosteological architecture of Telmatobius, thevariation observed is the result of heterochronic changesduring the ossification process.