Abstract
Moor frog Rana arvalis is widespread in Poland and its geographic range spans from Central Europe up to Siberia, but any records of albinism are rare in the species. Freshly laid albino spawn of moor frogs was observed during nocturnal fieldwork near the village of Lubosz, north-western Poland, in spring 2016. We noted the further development of eggs, but no albino tadpoles nor metamorphs were found later during the season. Both albinism and transient albinism have been noted in the species, this being the first observation from Poland. Atypical pigmentation impairs cryptic function of body colouring and might affect survival. The observation comes from a large frog population in a relatively undisturbed habitat, and thus it adds to the body of literature concerning the background level of abnormalities in amphibian populations.
Highlights
While limb or body malformations are widely discussed in the herpetological literature (Blaustein & Johnson 2003, Skelly & Bernard 2010, Peltzer et al 2011), colour anomalies received less attention, with only few papers dealing with them in a more complex and detailed way (Jablonski et al 2014, Henle et al 2017a, Henle et al 2017b)
Within the members of the genus Rana native to Poland, observations of albino individuals include the common frog Rana temporaria (Linnaeus, 1758) (Zuiderwijk 1990) and the moor frog Rana arvalis (Nilsson, 1842) (Klemz & Kuhnel 1986; Maštera et al 2015). The latter species is known to exhibit the so-called ‘transient albinism’ (Henle et al 2017b), where tadpoles developing from atypically white eggs gradually acquire pigmentation during development (Henle et al 2017a)
Henle et al (2017a) introduce the term ‘transient albinism’, where tadpoles that hatched from the white eggs increasingly acquire pigmentation during the larval stages
Summary
While limb or body malformations are widely discussed in the herpetological literature (Blaustein & Johnson 2003, Skelly & Bernard 2010, Peltzer et al 2011), colour anomalies received less attention, with only few papers dealing with them in a more complex and detailed way (Jablonski et al 2014, Henle et al 2017a, Henle et al 2017b). Pigmentation anomalies are observed in urodeles (Busack & Donaire 2014; Jablonski et al 2014) as well as anurans (Pabijan et al 2004; Jablonski et al 2014; Henle et al 2017b; Kolenda et al 2017). Within the members of the genus Rana native to Poland, observations of albino individuals include the common frog Rana temporaria (Linnaeus, 1758) (Zuiderwijk 1990) and the moor frog Rana arvalis (Nilsson, 1842) (Klemz & Kuhnel 1986; Maštera et al 2015).
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