Abstract
A literature survey for the external morphology of tadpoles for species in the genus Cycloramphus Tschudi, 1838, which is mainly represented by larval descriptions, resulted in finding some inconsistent character descriptions. In a few cases, some of the information is either not presented or mistakenly reported; in some cases, the illustrations provided the information not present in the descriptions. Here in we use a sample of tadpoles of an insular population identified as Cycloramphus boraceiensis, present a description for it, compare it to the original larval description for this species, and using it as a model, present a comparative review of the other larval descriptions for Cycloramphus tadpoles. We evaluate that most of the mistakes we found in the literature are associated to the unique morphology of these semiterrestrial larvae and some of their seemingly adaptation to their microhabitats, which for the majority of the known species is a film of water running associated to or near streams.
Highlights
Twenty-eight species are currently recognized for the genus Cycloramphus Tschudi, 1838
We focused on reviewing the larval morphology of C. boraceiensis, correcting and expanding some of the data originally presented by Heyer (1983a)
The abdominal region is emarginated by a continuous flat fold of skin that forms the abdominal flap; its larger projection extending from the posterior half of the body, extending backward from the spiracle, laterally, covering partially the hind limb buds and the vent tube, showing a shallow bilobed posterior margin
Summary
Twenty-eight species are currently recognized for the genus Cycloramphus Tschudi, 1838. Using data for natural history (microhabitat of egg laying), reproductive and developmental biology of a few species, the genus has been alternatively arranged into two groups, as suggested by Verdade (2005), and followed in more recent publications (e.g., Lima et al, 2010; Nunes-de-Almeida et al, 2016; Verdade et al, 2019). These two groups were designed to contain the species with exotrophic. This arrangement was followed, with due consideration for its tentative nature, by Brasileiro et al (2007) when describing C. faustoi as indicated by the sentence, “tadpoles which are apparently endotrophic and hatch in advanced phases”
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