Burrowing behavior of Dermatonotus muelleri (Anura, Microhylidae) with reference to the origin of the burrowing behavior of Anura

Nomura, Fausto; Rossa-Feres, Denise C.; Langeani, Francisco

doi:10.1007/s10164-008-0112-1

Cited by 43 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Within the species included in the present study, information on digging mode is available for the Brazilian Dermatonotus muelleri , which is described as a forward burrowing frog by Nomura et al . (). It is worth noting that D. muelleri is one of the species characterized by longer forelimbs in our data set.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Evolution of morphology and locomotor performance in anurans: relationships with microhabitat diversification

Citadini

Brandt

Williams

et al. 2018

J of Evolutionary Biology

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The relationships between morphology, performance, behavior and ecology provide evidence for multiple and complex phenotypic adaptations. The anuran body plan, for example, is evolutionarily conserved and shows clear specializations to jumping performance back at least to the early Jurassic. However, there are instances of more recent adaptation to habit diversity in the post-cranial skeleton, including relative limb length. The present study tested adaptive models of morphological evolution in anurans associated with the diversity of microhabitat use (semi-aquatic arboreal, fossorial, torrent, and terrestrial) in species of anuran amphibians from Brazil and Australia. We use phylogenetic comparative methods to determine which evolutionary models, including Brownian motion (BM) and Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) are consistent with morphological variation observed across anuran species. Furthermore, this study investigated the relationship of maximum distance jumped as a function of components of morphological variables and microhabitat use. We found there are multiple optima of limb lengths associated to different microhabitats with a trend of increasing hindlimbs in torrent, arboreal, semi-aquatic whereas fossorial and terrestrial species evolve toward optima with shorter hindlimbs. Moreover, arboreal, semi-aquatic and torrent anurans have higher jumping performance and longer hindlimbs, when compared to terrestrial and fossorial species. We corroborate the hypothesis that evolutionary modifications of overall limb morphology have been important in the diversification of locomotor performance along the anuran phylogeny. Such evolutionary changes converged in different phylogenetic groups adapted to similar microhabitat use in two different zoogeographical regions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Evolution of morphology and locomotor performance in anurans: relationships with microhabitat diversification

Citadini

Brandt

Williams

et al. 2018

J of Evolutionary Biology

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“…It is possible that the retention of some neotenic and plesiomorphic characters could have aided L. susanae in re‐adapting to an arboreal lifestyle. Fossoriality is common in frogs and is present in at least 19 frog families (Nomura, Rossa‐Feres, & Langeani, ). In some families like the African rain frogs (Brevicipitidae), a fossorial ecology is the norm, and only a few species exhibit a different lifestyle (Portik & Blackburn, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversification of African tree frogs (genus Leptopelis) in the highlands of Ethiopia

Reyes-Velasco¹,

Manthey²,

Freilich

et al. 2018

Molecular Ecology

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The frog genus Leptopelis is composed of ~50 species that occur across sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of these frogs are typically arboreal; however, a few species have evolved a fossorial lifestyle. Most species inhabit lowland forests, but a few species have adapted to high elevations. Five species of Leptopelis occupy the Ethiopian highlands and provide a good opportunity to study the evolutionary transition from an arboreal to a fossorial lifestyle, as well as the diversification in this biodiversity hot spot. We sequenced 14 nuclear and three mitochondrial genes, and generated thousands of SNPs from ddRAD sequencing to study the evolutionary relationships of Ethiopian Leptopelis. The five species of highland Leptopelis form a monophyletic group, which diversified during the late Miocene and Pliocene. We found strong population structure in the fossorial species L. gramineus, with levels of genetic differentiation between populations similar to those found between arboreal species. This could indicate that L. gramineus is a complex of cryptic species. We propose that after the original colonization of the Ethiopian highlands by the ancestor of the L. gramineus group, episodes of vicariance fragmented the ancestral populations of this group. We also report the re-evolution of arboreality in L. susanae, which evolved from a fossorial ancestor, a rare ecological switch in frogs that had previously been reported only once.

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“…The genus Dermatonotus Méhely, 1904 (Anura, Microhylidae) is monotypic, including only Dermatonotus muelleri (Boettger, ), which occurs in lowland open habitats of northern Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil across the DOF. This species is fossorial and is an explosive breeder, which is strongly associated with heavy rainfall events (Fabrezi, Quinzio, Goldberg, & de Sá, ; Nomura, Rossa‐Feres, & Langeani, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogeography of Muller's termite frog suggests the vicariant role of the Central Brazilian Plateau

Oliveira

Gehara

São-Pedro

et al. 2018

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim To test three different scenarios to account for the geographic distribution of genetic variation in Dermatonotus muelleri, a fossorial frog endemic of the South American diagonal of open formations (DOF) formed by Chaco, Cerrado, and Caatinga biomes: (a) The pan‐DOF hypothesis, where these biomes behave as a single biogeographical unit and DOF species lack population structure; (b) the southwest‐northeast (SW‐NE) hypothesis, where structured populations along the DOF have either asymmetric or unidirectional gene flow in the northeast direction; (c) the vicariance hypothesis, where a pattern of population structure with no or reduced gene flow is observed. Location Caatinga, Cerrado, and Chaco in South America. Methods We sampled 179 individuals across the species distribution and sequenced one mitochondrial and two nuclear markers. We evaluated population structure, the presence, direction, and asymmetry of gene flow, and demographic changes to test three different phylogeographic hypotheses for D. muelleri using a model‐based simulation approach. Results We found two geographically structured lineages with no gene flow, refuting pan‐DOF hypothesis. The Southwest lineage occurs in Chaco and western Cerrado and the Northeast lineage in eastern Cerrado and Caatinga. Our results support the model with demographic change for the Northeast lineage and constant size for Southwest lineage. The vicariance model with divergence time estimated around 4 Ma was preferred. Main conclusions Vicariance was the best explanation for the geographic distribution of genetic variation in Dermatonotus. Divergence time supports the role of Neogene orogeny in central Brazil for the splitting of Dermatonotus lineages. The influence of Pleistocene climatic fluctuations seems restricted to changes in one lineage's population size. Therefore, both ancient and recent events shaped the phylogeography of Dermatonotus. Genetic divergence, lack of gene flow, and the presence of a geographic barrier between lineages indicate the existence of a cryptic, undescribed species in northeastern Brazil.

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Burrowing behavior of Dermatonotus muelleri (Anura, Microhylidae) with reference to the origin of the burrowing behavior of Anura

Cited by 43 publications

References 39 publications

Evolution of morphology and locomotor performance in anurans: relationships with microhabitat diversification

Evolution of morphology and locomotor performance in anurans: relationships with microhabitat diversification

Diversification of African tree frogs (genus Leptopelis) in the highlands of Ethiopia

Phylogeography of Muller's termite frog suggests the vicariant role of the Central Brazilian Plateau

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