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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Unexpected Phylogenetic Positions Of The Genera Rupirana And Crossodactylodes Reveal Insights Into The Biogeography And Reproductive Evolution Of Leptodactylid Frogs, Antoine Foquet, Boris Leonardo Blotto, Maximiliano Manuel Maronna, Vanessa Kruth Verdade, Flora Acuña Juncá, Rafael O. De Sá, Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues May 2013

Unexpected Phylogenetic Positions Of The Genera Rupirana And Crossodactylodes Reveal Insights Into The Biogeography And Reproductive Evolution Of Leptodactylid Frogs, Antoine Foquet, Boris Leonardo Blotto, Maximiliano Manuel Maronna, Vanessa Kruth Verdade, Flora Acuña Juncá, Rafael O. De Sá, Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues

Biology Faculty Publications

Despite major progress in deciphering the amphibian tree of life by molecular phylogenetics, we identified two questions remaining to be answered regarding relationships within Hyloidea, the clade of South American origin that comprises most extant anuran diversity. A few genera like Rupirana and Crossodactylodes have enigmatic phylogenetic positions, and relationships among major lineages within some families like Leptodactylidae remain ambiguous. To resolve these specific questions we used two approaches (1) a complete matrix approach representing >6.6 kb, including most major Hyloidea lineages (61 terminals) combining different methods of phylogenetic reconstruction and measures of node support; and (2) a supermatrix approach …


Variation, Systematics, And Relationships Of The Leptodactylus Bolivianus Complex (Amphibia: Anura: Leptodactylidae), W. Ronald Heyer, Rafael O. De Sá Jan 2011

Variation, Systematics, And Relationships Of The Leptodactylus Bolivianus Complex (Amphibia: Anura: Leptodactylidae), W. Ronald Heyer, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

Heyer, W. Ronald, and Rafael O. de Sá. Variation, Systematics, and Relationships of the Leptodactylus bolivianus Complex (Amphibia: Anura: Leptodactylidae). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, number 635, viii + 58 pages, 21 figures, 20 tables, 2011.—The Leptodactylus bolivianuscomplex has been considered to consist of one or two species, L. bolivianus alone or L. bolivianus and L. insularum. Detailed morphological analyses were undertaken to evaluate variation in the complex, which ranges from Costa Rica through Panama, across northern South America in the river valleys draining to the Caribbean, and throughout much of the Amazon basin with southern limits in Bolivia. Members of …


Karyotypes Of Eight Species Of Leptodactylus (Anura, Leptodactylidae) With A Description Of A New Karyotype For The Genus, Renata Cecília Amaro-Ghilardi, Gabriel Skuk, Rafael O. De Sá, Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues, Yatiyo Yonenaga-Yassuda Dec 2006

Karyotypes Of Eight Species Of Leptodactylus (Anura, Leptodactylidae) With A Description Of A New Karyotype For The Genus, Renata Cecília Amaro-Ghilardi, Gabriel Skuk, Rafael O. De Sá, Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues, Yatiyo Yonenaga-Yassuda

Biology Faculty Publications

Karyotypes of eight species of Leptodactylus (Anura, Leptodactylidae) with a description of a new karyotype for the genus. Eight species of the Neotropical genus Leptodactylus were karyologically studied: seven of them (L. gracilis, L. mystacinus, L. petersii, L. pustulatus, L. macrosternum, L. ocellatus, L. labyrinthicus) presented 2n=22 and L. silvanimbus showed a distinctive karyotype with 2n=24. Nucleolar organizer regions (Ag-NORs) were detected in two different pairs of chromosomes: pair 4 at the proximal region of the long arm of one individual of L. mystacinus from São Paulo state and of L. petersii; and …


The Distress Calls Of Leptodactylus Chaquensis Cei, 1950 And Leptodactylus Elenae Heyer, 1978 (Anura: Leptodactylidae), José M. Padial, Rafael O. De Sá, Ignacio De La Riva Feb 2006

The Distress Calls Of Leptodactylus Chaquensis Cei, 1950 And Leptodactylus Elenae Heyer, 1978 (Anura: Leptodactylidae), José M. Padial, Rafael O. De Sá, Ignacio De La Riva

Biology Faculty Publications

We describe the distress calls of Leptodactylus chaquensis and Leptodactylus elenae. They each consist of a single, long, tonal sound with complex harmonic structure and complex frequency modulation. The distress calls of both species are different from their respective advertisement calls. Moreover, there are also clear interspecific differences. Harmonic frequencies in L. elenae are higher, there are fewer emphasized harmonics and the call is shorter and repeated at a higher rate (sometimes paired) than the call of L. chaquensis. Call duration, call rate, and position of the dominant harmonic change with the strength of the stimulus that the …


Leptodactylus Fragilis (Brocchi): White-Lipped Thin-Toed Frog, Miriam M. Heyer, W. Ronald Heyer, Rafael O. De Sá Jan 2006

Leptodactylus Fragilis (Brocchi): White-Lipped Thin-Toed Frog, Miriam M. Heyer, W. Ronald Heyer, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

Adult Leptodactylus fragilis are small. The head is longer than wide, and the hind limbs are moderately long (Table 1; Heyer and Thompson 2000 provided definitions of adult size and leg length categories for Leptodactylus). Male vocal sacs are laterally expanded and range from lightly gray speckled to darkly pigmented. Male snout is spatulate; female snout is rounded. Male forearms are not hypertrophied and males lack asperities on the thumbs and chest. The dorsum is spotted or blotched with dark markings, which are often chevron-shaped and sometimes confluent. The supratympanic fold is dark brown. A pair of dorsolateral folds …


Redescripción De La Morfología Larval Externa De Dos Especies Del Grupo De Leptodactylus Fuscus (Anura, Leptodactylidae), José A. Langone, Rafael O. De Sá Oct 2005

Redescripción De La Morfología Larval Externa De Dos Especies Del Grupo De Leptodactylus Fuscus (Anura, Leptodactylidae), José A. Langone, Rafael O. De Sá

Biology Faculty Publications

Re-description of the larval external morphology of two species of the Leptodactylus fuscus group (Anura, Leptodactylidae). The larvae of Leptodactylus gracilis (D’Orbigny y Bibron, 1840) and L. mystacinus Bumeister, 1861 are re-described and compared with previous descriptions noting intraspecific variation in oral disc characteristics (arrangement of papillae and rows of cornified teeth). The external morphological analysis of larvae of the Leptodactylus fuscus group suggest that the lack of comparable descriptions among species, as well as the lack of analyses of their intraspecific variation, limits the use of larval characteristics for diagnostic purposes.


The Status Of Leptodactylus Validus As A Single Taxon And Its Relationship To Letptodactylus Pallidirostris, Kenneth Christopher Yanek Jan 2004

The Status Of Leptodactylus Validus As A Single Taxon And Its Relationship To Letptodactylus Pallidirostris, Kenneth Christopher Yanek

Master's Theses

Leptodactylus validus exhibits an unusual distribution inhabiting Trinidad, Tobago, and the Lesser Antilles, but not the mainland of South America. This distribution is inconsistent with other distribution patterns observed for these islands. Although slight variation in adult morphology has been observed among the island populations, call data suggest the presence of a single species. Calls of Leptodactylus pallidirostris from Venezuela suggested that this taxon might be conspecific with L. validus. Herein sequence data from the 12S and 16S mt rRNA genes were collected and analyzed in order to address: 1.) whether more than one species is represented within L. validus, …


A Mitochondrial Dna Phylogeny Of The Leptodactylus Fuscus Species-Complex (Leptodactylidae: Anura, Arley Camargo Aug 2002

A Mitochondrial Dna Phylogeny Of The Leptodactylus Fuscus Species-Complex (Leptodactylidae: Anura, Arley Camargo

Master's Theses

Leptodactylus fuscus is a broadly distributed frog species in the Neotropical region. Previous allozymic evidence supported the hypothesis of L. fuscus as a composite of several species. However, morphological and advertisement call data supported the hypothesis of a single-species taxon. These competing hypotheses were evaluated using cladistic analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequences. Fragments of 12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, and ND1 protein-coding genes from 17 populations were sequenced. Phylogenetic analyses were performed using: maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian analysis. Data sets were analyzed separately and combined. Analyses of the combined data set show four exclusive clades of L. fuscus: …


Chondrocranial And Oral Morphology Of Leptodactylid Larvae, William Hagood Turner Jan 1999

Chondrocranial And Oral Morphology Of Leptodactylid Larvae, William Hagood Turner

Master's Theses

I focused my research on Leptodactylidae in order to determine the usefulness of chondrocranial and internal oral characters in systematic and phylogenetic studies of this anuran family. To achieve this goal, I examined the chondrocrania of eight species of the Leptodactylinae: Adenomera marmorata, Edalorhina perezi, Limnomedusa macroglossa, Physalaemus gracilis, P. henselii, P. pustulosus, Pleurodema brachyops, and P. tucumana. Furthermore, I analyzed and described the internal oral anatomy of Physalaeum us gracilis, P. henselii, and Limnomedusa macroglossa and the skeletogenesis of P. gracilis and P. pustulosus. Subsequently, I integrated these data with all available data on the larval chondrocrania and internal …