Reproductive Behavior and Underwater Calls in the Emei Mustache Toad, &lt;I&gt;Leptobrachium boringii&lt;/I&gt;

Yi, Zheng; Rao, Dingqi; Murphy, Robert W.; Zeng, Xiaomao

doi:10.3724/sp.j.1245.2011.00199

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Among the four structural variables of the epidermis and subepidermal capillaries, only capillary penetration extent helped to identify two combinations of the three groups of individuals. It correlated with epidermal thickness in breeding males and females but not in terrestrial nonbreeding males, and it correlated with perfused capillary density in breeding females and nonbreeding males but not in breeding males, which exhibit intense underwater behaviors [19][20][21]. In contrast, each of the epidermal thickness, minimum diffusion path length, and perfused capillary density variables contributed to identifying one of the two combinations.…”

Section: Penetration Extent Of Capillaries Into the Epidermismentioning

confidence: 88%

“…More unusually, underwater fighting with spines in this species implies two strong conflicting and simultaneous selection pressures on epidermal thickness: thin for effective cutaneous respiration required by metabolically costly combat but thick for protection against sharp spines. Combat typically lasts 2–5 min [ 19 , 21 ], and two males have been observed to fight five rounds within 50 min, with only one male occasionally holding its nostrils briefly out of the water in the intervals between fights [ 20 ]. Once caused by stabbing, even tiny open wounds with broken subepidermal capillaries may further disadvantage the animal by chemically attracting leeches [ 29 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They construct submerged nests under rocks, emit advertisement calls from the nest, compete in choruses, and engage in underwater intrasexual combat for nest ownership [19][20][21]. The spines are used to stab the opponent, which can be steadied on the spines by the forelimbs, often causing many red spot-like hemorrhages and occasionally a puncture in the skin [19,20]. In contrast, breeding females have no such nuptial traits and probably have less intense underwater behaviors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, breeding females have no such nuptial traits and probably have less intense underwater behaviors. The female performs tactile inspection of a potential mate's nest, drives rotation of the pair in amplexus while producing a doughnut-shaped egg mass, and departs the breeding nest after oviposition, leaving the male to provide paternal care and attract additional mates [20][21][22][23]. One may further expect seasonal changes or sex differences in the extent of skin vascularization [3,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Male spiny frogs enter the underwater battlefield with loose skin exhibiting enhanced penetration of capillaries into the epidermis

Xu,

Dai,

Zheng

2023

Zoological Lett

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The skin has multiple functions, and capillaries can penetrate the epidermis to shorten the diffusion path while allowing maintenance of overall epidermal thickness for nonrespiratory roles. However, a method for quantifying the capillary penetration extent is lacking. Such a method may facilitate making comparisons and detecting associations, potentially making the extent a useful variable in biological studies. We quantified the extent as the ratio of the average minimum thickness of epidermis overlying each capillary to the average epidermal thickness along a skin section and then explored its performance in the Emei mustache toad, Leptobrachium boringii, a species in which breeding males with loose skin call and fight each other with maxillary spines underwater. The ratio showed informative associations with other variables, such as perfused capillary density. It displayed small intragroup variation and could be more sensitive than other variables in revealing structural differences in the skin. The ratio estimates were lowest and were correlated with epidermal and stratum compactum thicknesses in breeding males, i.e., a covariation but not reinforcement against stabbing, constituting early evidence consistent with the increased extensibility of loose skin conferring a defensive advantage during combat in amphibians. In addition, our results lead to the hypothesis that high hemoglobin density along subepidermal capillaries favors the maintenance of low blood partial oxygen pressure and hence increases cutaneous oxygen uptake. We also provide evidence supporting the new idea that the cooccurrence of loose skin and underwater calling found in some frogs can be explained by the latter benefiting from a large functional respiratory surface area. Awareness of the usefulness of the ratio may promote its application and the quantification of the penetration. Regarding exchange surface design, these findings for L. boringii imply a case in which looseness increases surface area as well as prevents damage.

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Section: Penetration Extent Of Capillaries Into the Epidermismentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Male spiny frogs enter the underwater battlefield with loose skin exhibiting enhanced penetration of capillaries into the epidermis

Xu,

Dai,

Zheng

2023

Zoological Lett

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“…These signals are mostly transmitted by air but also by using other material as carrier substrates (e.g. water or soil ;Yager 1992;Platz 1993;Christensen-Dalsgaard and Elepfandt 1995;Seidel 1999;Lewis et al 2001;Seidel et al 2001;Bradbury and Vehrencamp 2011;Irisarri et al 2011;Zheng et al 2011). The main functions of intra-specific acoustic communication are attraction, detection and selection of mates, territoriality, and / or exchange of other information (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A guild classification system proposed for anuran advertisement calls

Emmrich¹,

Vences²,

Ernst³

et al. 2020

ZSE

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Zoologists have widely acknowledged the utility of classification systems for characterising variation in anuran egg and clutch types, tadpole morphotypes, embryonic and tadpole development, amplexus types and reproductive modes. These classification systems have facilitated unambiguous communication between researchers, often working in completely different fields (e.g. taxonomy, ecology, behaviour), as well as comparisons among studies. A syntactic system, classifying anuran call guilds, is so far lacking. Based on examination of the calls of 1253 anuran species we present a simple, easy to use dichotomous key and guild system for classifying anuran advertisement calls – the call type most frequently emitted by anurans and studied by researchers. The use of only three call elements, namely clearly-defined calls, notes, and pulses, plus presence or absence of frequency modulation, allows assigning all currently known anuran advertisement calls to one of eight distinct call guilds defined here. This novel toolkit will facilitate comparative studies across the many thousand anuran species, and may help to unravel drivers of anuran call evolution, and to identify ecological patterns at the level of acoustic communities.

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Contrast and Genomic Characterisation of Ancient and Recent Interspecific Introgression Between Deeply Diverged Moustache Toads (Leptobrachium)

Li,

Ai,

Xie

et al. 2024

Molecular Ecology

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Recent genomic analyses have provided new insights into the process of interspecific introgression and its consequences on species evolution. Most recent studies, however, focused on hybridization between recently radiated species, with few examining the genomic outcomes of ancient hybridization across deeply diverged species. Using whole genome data of moustache toads (Leptobrachium), we identified signals of three hybridization events among nine species that diverged at the Eocene. An ancient introgression from L. leishanense to the ancestral branch (C1) of L. liui introduced adaptive variants. The highly introgressed regions include genes with important functions in odorant detection and immune responses. These genes are preserved in all three descendent populations of L. liui_C1, and these regions likely have been positively selected over a long filtering process. A recent introgression occurred from L. huashen to L. tengchongense, with the introgressed regions being mostly neutral. Furthermore, one F1 hybrid individual was detected between sympatric L. ailaonicum and L. promustache. The signals of introgression largely disappeared after removing the hybrid individual, indicating an occasional hybridization but minimal introgression. Further examination of highly divergent but low introgressed genomic regions revealed both pre‐mating isolation and genetic incompatibility as potential mechanisms of resisting introgression and maintaining species boundaries. Additionally, no large X‐effect was found in these introgression events. Hybridization between deeply diverged amphibian species may be common, but detectable introgressions are likely less so, with recent introgression being mostly neutral and the rare ancient one potentially adaptive. Our findings complement recent genomic work, and together they provide a better understanding of the genomic characteristics of interspecific introgression and its significance in species adaptation and evolution.

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Reproductive Behavior and Underwater Calls in the Emei Mustache Toad, <I>Leptobrachium boringii</I>

Cited by 6 publications

References 41 publications

Male spiny frogs enter the underwater battlefield with loose skin exhibiting enhanced penetration of capillaries into the epidermis

Male spiny frogs enter the underwater battlefield with loose skin exhibiting enhanced penetration of capillaries into the epidermis

A guild classification system proposed for anuran advertisement calls

Contrast and Genomic Characterisation of Ancient and Recent Interspecific Introgression Between Deeply Diverged Moustache Toads (Leptobrachium)

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