Development of the ethmoidal structures of the endocranium in the anuran Pipa pipa.

Abstract

Investigation of eight developmental stages by means of serial sections and subsequent graphic or wax model reconstructions, as well as by means of cleared-and-stained and dissected material, revealed that the ethmoidal endocranium in Pipa pipa consists in early states of a single horizontal ethmoid plate lacking labial cartilages. Later in the course of development, structures comparable with those in other anurans appear, though modified and of reduced size. These adult structures arise from the new cartilaginous tissue located above the former larval ethmoid plate, whereas the latter entirely disappear. This phenomenon can be observed also in P. carvalhoi and in Xenopus laevis; hence, it supposedly occurs in all pipids. On the other hand, in anuran larvae, which develop cornua trabecularum in the ethmoidal region, these persist in adults as part of the nasal septum. Positional and developmental differences suggest that, although the ethmoid plate and the cornua trabecularum arise from the same region of the cranial neural crest, they are not fully corresponding structures. Comparison with adults of other pipid genera confirmed the conclusion of some earlier investigators that P. pipa is the most specialized among pipids.