Hand and foot musculature of Sooglossoidea: synapomorphies, convergences and hind limb digging behaviour in anurans

BLOTTO, BORIS L.; BIJU, S.D.; PEREYRA, M.O.; ARAUJO-VIEIRA, K.; FAIVOVICH, J.; GRANT, T.

BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2022 vol. 135 p. 336 - 393

0024-4066

We describe the hand and foot musculature of the fossorial Indian purple frog, Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis, andcompare it to other members of Sooglossoidea: the Seychellean sooglossid genera Sechellophryne and Sooglossus. Dueto the key phylogenetic position of Sooglossoidea, we compare its members with the diversity of Anura and define52 characters from the hand and foot musculature, among which 26 are novel hypotheses of homology. We foundseveral synapomorphies for Sooglossus, Sooglossidae, Nasikabatrachidae and Sooglossoidea. Additionally, we (1)propose synapomorphies for diverse anuran clades at different taxonomic levels, (2) re-evaluate the identity of someconflicting plantar and palmar muscles in the context of Batrachia and (3) discuss putative adaptations to hind limbdigging behaviour resulting from morphological convergences. The lack of a clear pattern of convergences amonghind limb digging species suggests the occurrence of a phenomenon of many-to-one mapping from form to function.