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Pigment cell distribution in a rapid colour changing amphibian (Litoria wilcoxii)

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Abstract

Rapid skin colour changes in amphibians and other colour changing animals are possible due to different distributions of pigment cells (chromatophores) and the movement of pigment within them. Amphibians possess three types of chromatophore: xanthophores, iridophores and melanophores which are collectively referred to as the dermal chromatophore unit. Male stony creek frogs (Litoria wilcoxii) are capable of undergoing rapid colour change from brown to yellow during amplexus. Based on previous studies, it is expected that this is achieved through a change in chromatophore distribution or pigment movement within chromatophores. We examined brown and yellow dorsal skin samples from male L. wilcoxii using light microscopy which allowed us to determine differences in chromatophore and pigment distribution between each colour phase. Additionally, we compared thigh skin sections, which are comprised of permanently yellow and black patches. We found that in dorsal skin sections of yellow frogs, melanophore pigment granules had aggregated to the centre of the melanophore underneath the yellow xanthophore, whilst pigment was dispersed throughout the melanophores, partially covering the xanthophores in brown frogs. Black thigh sections consisted of elongated melanophores, other cell types appeared to be absent. In contrast, yellow thigh sections contained only xanthophores. This study demonstrates that the process of colour change in L. wilcoxii is through pigment aggregation and dispersion within melanophores. In addition, we show that there is significant variation in pigment cell distribution between colour changing and non-colour changing integument.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Darryl Whitehead and the team at the University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences Histology facility, for providing the training and equipment to conduct this study and Basam Tabet and Kyle Lamont for assistance with image analysis. This study is part of CK Ph.D. research funded by the School of Environment at Griffith University. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. Thanks to the anonymous reviewers for providing valuable comments to the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Parklands Dr, Gold Coast Campus, Southport, QLD, 4222, Australia

    Christina Kindermann & Jean-Marc Hero

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  1. Christina Kindermann
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  2. Jean-Marc Hero
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Correspondence to Christina Kindermann.

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Communicated by A. Schmidt-Rhaesa.

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Kindermann, C., Hero, JM. Pigment cell distribution in a rapid colour changing amphibian (Litoria wilcoxii). Zoomorphology 135, 197–203 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-016-0303-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-016-0303-1

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