![]() We provide extensive descriptions of internal morphology of five species of Ranitomeya: R. We decided to include the chondrocranium, cranial muscle systems and the inner organs in our morphological comparison. The aim of this study is a comparison of inner morphology of different members of the genus Ranitomeya. The body cavity is dominated by the digestive tract and the inner organs of tadpoles are known to be variable in form and shape. Skull development is an important character for the evolution of vertebrates and chondrocranial characters were used for phylogenetic studies especially in anurans. Furthermore, it is associated to the ecology of the respected species. Chondrocranial morphology is highly variable even among closely related taxa. In higher vertebrates it ossifies to form the skull of adults. The chondrocranium derives from mesenchymal condensations. It is the attachment point of numerous muscles involved in feeding and respiration. The chondrocranium is composed of the jaws, the brain capsule and the gill apparatus. So the body architecture of the tadpoles of species following this strategy is optimized for efficient food intake and digestion. Rapid growth in some anuran larvae is an evolutionary advantage avoiding predation, desiccation and other threats. In the recent years, the inclusion of inner morphology is becoming increasingly reported. Morphometric data, color patterns and the structure of the oral disc are frequently used for identification and description of tadpoles. contain limited descriptive data and no skeletal and muscular investigations for Ranitomeya tadpoles are currently available. Despite adults comparatively well studied, most tadpole descriptions of Ranitomeya spp. They are distributed in Amazonia, the Guayana countries, the Andes and additionally westward up to Central America. The genus Ranitomeya (Dendrobatoidea: Dendrobatidae, Bauer, 1988) includes a number of very small species which are specialized on mites, ants, collembolans as well as Coleoptera and Lepidoptera larvae as their main food resources. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. ![]() The funder RJL Micro & Analytic provided support in the form of salary for author MH. The funder RJL Micro & Analytic provided support in the form of salary for author MH, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: MK was funded by the Alexander Koenig Gesellschaft, Bonn, Germany (grant number 1-2015 ). The funding organization had no influence on any applied techniques or interpretation of results. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.ĭata Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.įunding: MK was funded by the Alexander Koenig Gesellschaft, Bonn, Germany (grant number 1-2015 ). Received: MaAccepted: JanuPublished: February 24, 2017Ĭopyright: © 2017 Krings et al. PLoS ONE 12(2):Įditor: Stefan Lötters, Universitat Trier, GERMANY Further studies on the tadpole morphology of more species of Ranitomeya and other dendrobatid genera are needed to enable us to understand the complete morphological variation in this group.Ĭitation: Krings M, Klein B, Heneka MJ, Rödder D (2017) Morphological comparison of five species of poison dart frogs of the genus Ranitomeya (Anura: Dendrobatidae) including the skeleton, the muscle system and inner organs. For example, we observed considerable variation in chondrocranial characters, the extent of cranial ossifications, the appearance of some cranial muscles and the arrangement of inner organs. Contrary to previous observations, closely related species display several morphological differences. Here we provide descriptions of the internal skeletal, musculature and organ structures of five Ranitomeya species and then provide morphological comparisons. To date, no such tadpole descriptions exist for the well-studied Neotropical poison dart frog genus Ranitomeya (Anura: Dendrobatidae). The increase in micro-CT scanning technology provides an opportunity to quantify and describe in detail internal characters like skeleton, musculature and organs. Other papers described anatomical details by the use of dissections. Tadpole descriptions have historically been based on external characters like morphometrics, color pattern and oral disc structure. The morphology of larvae stages of most amphibians are often completely different than in adults.
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