Phenotypic Variation through Ontogeny: Ceratophryid Frogs as a Model

FABREZI, M; QUINZIO, S. I.; GOLDBERG, J.; CRUZ, JULIO CÉSAR; CHULIVER PEREYRA, M; WASSERSUG, R.J.

Encyclopedia of Life Science

John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Año: 2019

1476-9506

The South American frogs of the family Ceratophryidae (three genera, twelve extant species) display unusual larval diversity and developmental variation despite rather similar adults. Many adult features of ceratophryids are associated with terrestrial/fossorial habits and resistance to desiccation; however, adults of the genus Lepidobatrachus are aquatic. Morphological novelties have evolved in the ceratophryid feeding mechanism that makes them capable of feeding on exceptional large prey (i.e. megalophagy). Lepidobatrachus is unusual in having less ecomorphological differences between its larvae and adults than virtually all other anurans. Some unique features are differentiated in the tadpole and then exaggerated in the adult (e.g., a posterior displaced jaw articulation) in a manner unseen in other anurans. Both the larvae and the frog are similarly able to capture large prey underwater. The article reviews how shifts in developmental patterns have led to a novel way of life for both larval and adult Lepidobatrachus spp.