PLEURODEMA CORDOBAE (Octoploid Pleurodema). CLUTCH SIZE

VALETTI, JULIÁN A.; OTERO, MANUEL A.; GRENAT, PABLO R.; MARTINO, ADOLFO L.

HERPETOLOGICAL REVIEW

SSAR

Lugar: Indianápolis; Año: 2011 vol. 42 p. 413 - 413

0018-084X

Pleurodema cordobae lay eggs in semi-submerged gelatinous eggs-masses and adhered to vegetation (Valetti et al., 2009. Zootaxa. 2073: 1-21). Herein we document the number of eggs per eggs-mass and the density of clutches in two ponds from Terra typica. We observed numerous clutches of Pleurodema cordobae. The embryos in different eggs-masses were staged between the developmental stage 15 and 19 following Gosner (1960. Herpetologica. 16: 183-190). The area of first pond was 236 m2; clutch number was 203 eggs and density of eggs-masses was 0.86 / m2. In smallest pond (7 m2), clutch size was 27 eggs and density of egg-masses was 3.82. Next, we counted the number of eggs per eggs-mass in eleven clutches and average number was 137 (SD=45.9; range= 74-215). The eggs-masses of Pleurodema cordobae were adhered to vegetation, which was more abundant in the edge of ponds. Therefore, greatest density of nests in smaller pond could be due to the higher edge/area rate and consequently best places to oviposition. Report of eggs number per eggs-mass and density of eggs-masses constitute novel information that allows evaluate the reproductive potential in this recently described species.