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Ontogeny of the Thyroid Glands During Larval Development of South American Horned Frogs (Anura, Ceratophryidae)

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Abstract

The role of thyroid hormone (TH) in anuran metamorphosis has been documented from a variety of approaches, but the sequence of morpho-histological development of the thyroid glands that produce the secretion of the hormone was assumed invariant from studies of relatively few species even when the effects of environmental influences on larval development and metamorphosis have been largely documented. There are anurans in which developmental and growth rates diverge, and the resulting heterochrony in growth and development produces giant/miniature tadpoles, and or rapid/delayed metamorphosis suggesting changes of the activity of the thyroid glands during larval development. Herein, we analyze the morpho-histological variation of the thyroid glands in larval series of Ceratophrys cranwelli, Chacophrys pierottii, Lepidobatrachus laevis and L. llanensis that share breeding sites along semiarid environments of the Chaco in South America, belong to a monophyletic lineage, and present accelerated patterns in growth and development in order to have a morphological evidence about a possible shift of TH physiology. We describe gross morphology and histology of the thyroid glands and find features shared by all studied species such as the presence of supernumerary heterotopic follicles; changes in the volume and number of follicles towards the metamorphic climax, and cuboidal epithelia with occasional intra-cellular vacuoles as signs of low glandular activity without a manifest peak at the climax as it was assumed for anurans. We discuss different lines of evidence to interpret sources of extra supplement of TH to support the rapid metamorphosis. These interpretations highlight the necessity to design a research program to investigate the endocrine variation during development of ceratophryids taking in account their morphology, physiology and ecology in order to learn more about the effects of environmental and developmental interactions involved in the anuran evolution.

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Acknowledgments

We thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful criticisms on the manuscript and figures; John Reiss provided careful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript and many suggestions on this English written; Javier Goldberg and Silvia Quinzio contributed with observations for a constructive discussion; Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable, Provincia de Salta gave permissions to collect the specimens of this study. This research was supported by CONICET: PIP 239 and Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica: PICT-Bicentenario 0616.

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  1. Centro Científico Tecnológico-Salta, Instituto de Bio y Geociencias, CONICET, Salta, Argentina

    Marissa Fabrezi & Julio César Cruz

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  1. Marissa Fabrezi
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  2. Julio César Cruz
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Correspondence to Marissa Fabrezi.

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Fabrezi, M., Cruz, J.C. Ontogeny of the Thyroid Glands During Larval Development of South American Horned Frogs (Anura, Ceratophryidae). Evol Biol 41, 606–618 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-014-9292-5

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