Body size, age and growth in males populations of Boana pulchella (Anura, Hylidae)

BARAQUET, MARIANA; POLLO, FAVIO E.; OTERO, MANUEL A.; GRENAT, PABLO R.; SALAS, NANCY E.; MARTINO, ADOLFO L.

ANAIS DA ACADEMIA BRASILEIRA DE CIENCIAS.

ACAD BRASILEIRA DE CIENCIAS

Lugar: Rio de Janeiro; Año: 2021 vol. 93

0001-3765

Age determination in amphibians is crucial to the investigation oflife-history traits. In this context, we studied, for the first time, thelife-history traits of Boana pulchella from a sample (63 adult males) of threepopulations (Las Acequias, Río Cuarto, Alejandro Roca) in central Argentinausing the skeletochronological method. All adults of B. pulchella studiedshowed recognizable bone structures that allowed age determination. The averagesnout-vent length of sexually mature males was 43.39 mm. The maximum observedlongevity was 5 years (5 Las Acequias, 4 Río Cuarto, 3 Alejandro Roca) andminimum age at sexual maturity was 2 years (same in the three populations),with mean of 2.96years. Body size and age were positively correlated (except inAlejandro Roca populations). The growth patterns, estimated by the vonBertalanffy growth equation, do not show differences between populations, andthe growth rate decrease after the attainment of sexual maturity. Inconclusion, the determination of the individual age of the differentpopulations of B. pulchella allowed us for the first time to establish thecharacteristics of the life history of the species, important for futurecomparisons whit others populations and future conservation biology studies.