Erythrocyte size as diagnostic character for the identification of live cryptic Odontophrynus americanus and O. cordobae (Anura: Cycloramphidae)

GRENAT, PABLO R.; SALAS, NANCY E.; MARTINO, ADOLFO L.

ZOOTAXA

MAGNOLIA PRESS

Lugar: Auckland; Año: 2009 vol. 2049 p. 67 - 68

1175-5326

External morphology and size do not allow a distinction between diploid Odontophrynus cordobae and tetraploid O. americanus. A diagnostic character should be found for a correct, simple and rapid distinction of the species without sacrificing individuals.We evaluated the efficiency of the erythrometry (EM) as character to identify live O. cordobae and O. americanus. We analyzed 46 individuals from 12 localities of Córdoba and San Luis. The average erythrocyte area of previously confirmed diploids was 159.32μm² (range: 137.08?191.10μm²) while in tetraploids it was 230.82μm² (209.11?258.55μm²). The average length and width were 17.01 and 11.91μm for O. cordobae and 20.50 and 14.33μm for O. americanus. Differences in cell area, length and width were highly significant (P<0.0001). According with probability distributions, the values used for separate species would be 192.45μm² (probability=99.83%), 18.79μm (99.68%) and 13.06μm (98.2%) for erythrocyte area, length and width respectively. The results obtained would indicate the importance and efficiency of erythrocyte size in amphibians as diagnostic character for the distinction of anuran cryptic species with different ploidy levels. The advantage of this method is that it is simple, rapid and minimally invasive.