Artículos de revistas
Moulting Behavior In Leaf-frogs Of The Genus Phyllomedusa (anura:hylidae)
Registro en:
Zoologischer Anzeiger. , v. 240, n. 1, p. 1 - 6, 2001.
445231
2-s2.0-0034994932
Autor
Castanho L.M.
De Luca I.M.S.
Institución
Resumen
The species belonging to the subfamily Phyllomedusinae presents physiological and behavioral adaptations to economise water such as secretion of lipids coupled with its spreading onto the skin surface through a complex behavior, adoption of diurnal torpor and secretion of uric acid. Here we describe other adaptation probably involved with water economy, registered in Phyllomedusa distincta, P. tarsius, P. tetraploidea and natural hybrids of P. distincta and P. tetraploidea - at dusk, these amphibians perform an elaborate moulting behavior that encompasses the cleaning of the body with the limbs plus gaping and body contractions. Our data show the daily moulting in P. distincta and suggest that the same mechanism occurs for the other species studied. We suppose that daily moulting improves the skin permeability to water being a characteristic of the phyllomedusines which spread lipids onto the skin surface. 240 1 1 6 Bendsen, J., Shedding of the skin in the common toad (1956) Bufo Bufo, 118, pp. 211-225. , Vidensk. Meddr. dansk naturh. Foren Blaylock, L.A., Ruibal, R., Platt-Aloia, K., Skin structure and wiping behavior of Phyllomedusinae frogs (1976) Copeia, 1976, pp. 283-295 Budtz, P.E., Larsen, L.O., Structure of the toad epidermis during the moulting cycle. 1. Light microscopic observations in Bufo Bufo (L.) (1973) Z. Zellforsch. Mikrosk. Anat, 144, pp. 353-368 Bustard, H., Maderson, P.F.A., The eating of shed epidermal material in squamate reptiles (1965) Herpetologica, 21, pp. 306-308 Castanho, L.M., (1996) Phyllomedusa Distincta, 27, p. 141. , (Leaf-frog). Predation. Herpet. Rev Larsen, L.O., (1976) Physiology of Moulting, pp. 53-100. , Lofts, B. (ed.) Physiology of the Amphibia. Academic Press, New York Pinder, A.W., Storey, K.B., Ultsch, G.R., Estivation and hibernation (1992) Environmental Physiology of the Amphibians, pp. 250-274. , Feder, M.E. & Burggren, W.W. (ed.) The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London Pombal J.P., Jr., Haddad, C.F.B., Espécies de Phyllomedusa do grupo burmeisteri do Brasil oriental. com descrição de uma espécie nova (Amphibia, Hylidae) (1992) Rev. Bras. Biol, 52, pp. 217-229 Stinner, J.N., Shoemaker, V.H., Cutaneous gas exchange and low evaporative water loss in the frogs PhylIomedusa sauvagei and Chiromantis xerampelina (1987) J. Comp. Phys, 157 B, pp. 423-427 Taylor, S., Ewer, D.W., Moulting in the anura: The normal moulting cycle of Bufo regularis Reuss (1956) Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 127, pp. 461-478 Weldon, P.J., Demeter, B.J., Rosscoe, R., A survey of shed skin-eating (Dermatophagy) in amphibians and reptiles (1993) J. Herpet, 27, pp. 219-228