Abstract
Anurans have the greatest diversity of reproductive modes among tetrapod vertebrates, with at least 41 being currently recognized. We describe a new reproductive mode for anurans, as exhibited by the Paranapiacaba Treefrog, Bokermannohyla astartea, an endemic and poorly known species of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest belonging to the B. circumdata group. We also describe other aspects of its reproductive biology, that are relevant to understanding the new reproductive mode, such as courtship behavior, spawning, and tadpoles. Additionally, we redescribe its advertisement call and extend its vocal repertoire by describing three additional call types: courtship, amplectant, and presumed territorial. The new reproductive mode exhibited by B. astartea consists of: (1) deposition of aquatic eggs in leaf-tanks of terrestrial or epiphytic bromeliads located on or over the banks of temporary or permanent streams; (2) exotrophic tadpoles remain in the leaf-tanks during initial stages of development (until Gosner stage 26), after which they presumably jump or are transported to streams after heavy rains that flood their bromeliad tanks; and (3) tadpole development completes in streams. The tadpoles of B. astartea are similar to those of other species of the B. circumdata group, although with differences in the spiracle, eyes, and oral disc. The vocal repertoire of B. astartea exhibits previously unreported acoustic complexity for the genus. Bokermannohyla astartea is the only bromeligenous species known to date among the 187 known species within the tribe Cophomantini. We further discuss evolutionary hypotheses for the origin of this novel reproductive mode.
Highlights
The transition from water to land was a major evolutionary event in vertebrate history and it imposed challenges to morphological and physiological mechanisms underlying fundamental biological processes such as reproduction [1, 2]
Recent studies indicate that sexual selection by male-male competition [5] and parental care [6], played an important role in the evolution of terrestrial reproductive modes in anuran amphibians, indicating that multiple factors can contribute towards terrestriality
The use of bromeliads for breeding has been recorded only for Boana pardalis, it was interpreted as a case of behavioral plasticity in relation to its most common reproductive mode
Summary
The transition from water to land was a major evolutionary event in vertebrate history and it imposed challenges to morphological and physiological mechanisms underlying fundamental biological processes such as reproduction [1, 2]. Anurans exhibit profound variation in reproductive modes, in the tropics [7, 9], with at least 41 currently known modes globally [10,11,12] Such diversity stems from complex life histories encompassing peculiarities in traits such as oviposition site, egg and clutch characteristics, rate and duration of larval development, stage and size of hatchlings, and type of parental care, if any [8, 13]. These reproductive modes range from fully aquatic to fully terrestrial and arboreal modes [9, 11, 14]
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