"Transient integumentary structures in Boana riojana (Anura, Hylidae) tadpoles"

QUINZIO, SILVIA INÉS; GOLDBERG, JAVIER

AMPHIBIA-REPTILIA

BRILL ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS

Lugar: Leiden; Año: 2019

0173-5373

Few studies focusing on embryos and/or tadpole skinmorphology have described sensory transient organs whose morphologicalvariation could indicate some taxonomical or functional correlations. We explore heresome integumentary features of Boanariojana larvae that are rarely mentioned in tadpole descriptions. Weprovide histomorphological and SEM descriptions of the lateral line system, aseries of evenly distributed unpigmented spots, and some symmetrical pairedstructures dorsal to the oral disc. The latter are previously unreported in anytadpole. Our descriptions reveal that the: 1) the number of lateral linesresembles those for most tadpoles, but with an unusual arrangement of stitches;2) paired lateral spots are formed by ciliated cells dispersed in clustersunrelated to the lateral line system; and 3) upper-lip related structures arehistomorphologically similar to the unpigmented spots. We discuss and suggestthat integumentary transient structures in B.riojana represent traits that should be taken into account when describing tadpoles.This new information may help diagnose species and advance our understanding oftadpole ecomorphology and evolution.