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Chondrocranium and internal oral anatomy of the tadpole of Pleurodema diplolister (Peters, 1870) (Anura: Leptodactylidae)

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Abstract

Pleurodema diplolister is a species of leptodactylid common throughout the Northeast of Brazil, also occurring in the Center-West and Southeast regions of Brazil. The larvae of this species have an oval body, rounded snout and ventrally located oral disc, in addition, they are exotrophic with benthic habits of lentic environments. The present study describes the internal oral anatomy, chondrocranium, and hyobranchial apparatus of P. diplolister larvae collected in the state of Piauí, Brazil, adding information about the taxonomy and systematics of the group. The tadpoles were collected in April 2021 in temporary ponds. Five stage 36 tadpoles were prepared and analyzed for the description of the internal oral anatomy and another five stage 36 tadpoles for the description of the chondrocranium. The internal oral anatomy and the chondrocranium of the tadpole of P. diplolister were, in general, similar to the previously described tadpoles of the genus. However, we found fundamental differences in terms of formats, quantity, and absence/presence of some structures, which are important for the taxonomy and systematics of Pleurodema. Thus, the larval traits described here demonstrate great importance as taxonomic predictors and for phylogenetic reconstructions, being an additional source of information for the genus Pleurodema.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Piauí—IFPI for providing a grant through the Programa de Apoio à Pesquisa, Estruturação e Reestruturação Laboratorial—PROAGRUPAR-INFRA (edital nº 29/2021), and to Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade by collection license (#61838-4/21). JLPF and CAC thank Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—CAPES, LRU thanks to Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia—FAPESB (Process BOL0450/2022) for the scholarship.

Funding

This work was supported by Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Piauí—IFPI for providing a grant through the Programa de Apoio à Pesquisa, Estruturação e Reestruturação Laboratorial—PROAGRUPAR-INFRA (edital nº 29/2021), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—CAPES and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia—FAPESB (Process BOL0450/2022).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós-graduação em Zoologia, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz-UESC, Rodovia Jorge Amado, km 16, Ilhéus, Bahia, 45662-900, Brazil

    João Lucas P. Ferreira & Lucas Rafael Uchôa

  2. Grupo de Pesquisa em Biodiversidade e Biotecnologia do Centro-Norte Piauiense-BIOTECPI, Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Piauí-IFPI Campus Pedro II, Rua Antonino Martins de Andrade 750, Engenho Novo, Pedro II, Piauí, 64255-000, Brazil

    João Lucas P. Ferreira, Claylton A. Costa, Lucas Rafael Uchôa, Brendo S. Sousa & Etielle B. Andrade

  3. Programa de Pós-graduação em Zoologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília-UnB, Asa Norte, Brasília, Distrito Federal, 70910-900, Brazil

    Claylton A. Costa

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  1. João Lucas P. Ferreira
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  2. Claylton A. Costa
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  3. Lucas Rafael Uchôa
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  4. Brendo S. Sousa
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Contributions

JLPF: methodology; analyze; conceptualization; writing; proofreading and editing. CAC: methodology; conceptualization; proofreading and editing. LRU: methodology; conceptualization; proofreading and editing. BSS: methodology; conceptualization; proofreading and editing. EBA: driving; analyze; revision; editing and supervision.

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Correspondence to Etielle B. Andrade.

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No approval of research ethics committees was required to accomplish the goals of this study because experimental work was conducted with an unregulated vertebrate species. Tadpoles were collected under the permanent permit #61838-4/21 issued to Etielle B. Andrade by Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (IBAMA) and Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio).

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Ferreira, J.L.P., Costa, C.A., Uchôa, L.R. et al. Chondrocranium and internal oral anatomy of the tadpole of Pleurodema diplolister (Peters, 1870) (Anura: Leptodactylidae). Zoomorphology 142, 465–475 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-023-00612-9

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