Geographical Differentiation in a Japanese Stream-Breeding Frog, Buergeria buergeri, Elucidated by Morphometric Analyses and Crossing Experiments

Abstract

Hiroshima and Aomori populations of Buergeria buergeri (hereinafter abbreviated as HIROSHIMA and AOMORI, respectively) were morphologically differentiated in both sexually matured frogs and tadpoles. The mean snout-vent lengths of females were 67.4 mm in HIROSHIMA and 50.4 mm in AOMORI, and those of males were 42.9 mm in HIROSHIMA and 37.2 mm in AOMORI. The mean body weights of females of HIROSHIMA and AOMORI just after spawning were 18.0 g and 7.2 g, and those of males of HIROSHIMA and AOMORI were 4.9 g and 3.8 g, respectively. AOMORI tadpoles were rather stocky and their appearance seemed to be more adaptive to lentic water than HIROSHIMA tadpoles. The lower lip of the tadpoles at stage XIII consisted of 2 continuous and 1 broken teeth rows in HIROSHIMA, whereas 3 continuous and 1 broken ones in AOMORI. The growth rate of the embryos was higher in AOMORI than in HIROSHIMA. The embryos of AOMORI were more tolerant to high temperature and less tolerant to low temperature than those of HIROSHIMA. Hybrids between these two populations showed considerably reduced viability in either combination of reciprocal crosses.

Artificial Production and Natural Breeding of the Endangered Frog SpeciesOdorrana ishikawae, with Special Reference to Fauna Conservation in the Laboratory

“…We identified differences in the adaptation temparature for egg maturation and embryonic development between the Amami and Okinawa populations of O. ishikawae, which is a similar trend to that found in populations of Rana pipiens (Moore, 1946(Moore, , 1947 and Buergeria buergeri (Ueda et al, 1998). Based on our trials (data not shown), it was determined that the ideal temperatures for the ovulation and maturation of eggs, and the rearing of embryos and larvae are 18 and 20°C for frogs of the Amami and Okinawa populations, respectively.…”

A new frog species of the genus Rugosa from Sado Island, Japan (Anura, Ranidae)

“…Tadpoles of the new species were fixed in 10% formalin. A set of 13 characters of preserved adult specimens and head-body length of preserved tadpole specimens were measured to the nearest 0.05mm with dial calipers by mainly following the study of Ueda et al (1998). Ten of the earlier mentioned characters are snout-vent length (SVL), head width (HW), head length (HL, in parallel with the line connecting angle of jaw), eye distance (ED), tympanum diameter (TD), distance between tympanum and eye (T-ED), interorbital distance (IOD), snout length (SL, in parallel with the line connecting angle of jaw), tibia length (TIBIA) and internarial distance (IND).…”

Maternal and genetic contributions to geographical variation in Rana temporaria larval life-history traits

“…Azevedo, French & Partridge, 1997;Banerjee & Singh, 1998) as well as a few vertebrate species (e.g. Berven, 1982b;Pierce & Harvey, 1987;Harris, Fondecaro & Kasbohm, 1995;Ueda, Hasegawa & Marunouchi, 1998;Hansen & Boonstra, 2000).…”