A new reproductive mode in anurans: Natural history of Bokermannohyla astartea (Anura: Hylidae) with the description of its tadpole and vocal repertoire

MALAGOLI, LEO RAMOS; PEZZUTI, TIAGO LEITE; BANG, DAVI LEE; FAIVOVICH, JULIÁN; LYRA, MARIANA LÚCIO; GIOVANELLI, JOÃO GABRIEL RIBEIRO; GARCIA, PAULO CHRISTIANO DE ANCHIETTA; SAWAYA, RICARDO JANNINI; HADDAD, CÉLIO FERNANDO BAPTISTA

PLOS ONE

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Año: 2021 vol. 16

1932-6203

Anurans have the greatest diversity of reproductive modes among tetrapod vertebrates,with at least 41 being currently recognized. We describe a new reproductive mode foranurans, as exhibited by the Paranapiacaba Treefrog, Bokermannohyla astartea, anendemic and poorly known species of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest belonging to the B. circumdatagroup. We also describe other aspects of its reproductive biology, that are relevantto understanding the new reproductive mode, such as courtship behavior, spawning, andtadpoles. Additionally, we redescribe its advertisement call and extend its vocal repertoireby describing three additional call types: courtship, amplectant, and presumed territorial.The new reproductive mode exhibited by B. astartea consists of: (1) deposition of aquaticeggs in leaf-tanks of terrestrial or epiphytic bromeliads located on or over the banks of temporaryor permanent streams; (2) exotrophic tadpoles remain in the leaf-tanks during initialstages of development (until Gosner stage 26), after which they presumably jump or aretransported to streams after heavy rains that flood their bromeliad tanks; and (3) tadpoledevelopment completes in streams. The tadpoles of B. astartea are similar to those of otherspecies of the B. circumdata group, although with differences in the spiracle, eyes, and oraldisc. The vocal repertoire of B. astartea exhibits previously unreported acoustic complexityfor the genus. Bokermannohyla astartea is the only bromeligenous species known to dateamong the 187 known species within the tribe Cophomantini. We further discuss evolutionaryhypotheses for the origin of this novel reproductive mode.