Comprehensive Description
provided by Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology
Pleurodema borellii—brachyops—bufonina
There are two pairs of small, non-abutting, infralabial papillae (Figure 54). There are four lingual papillae. The general buccal floor and roof papillation is of medium to low density (Figure 56c). The ventral velum has a gently curved semicircular edge with asymmetrical papillation medially. There are two filter cavities per side in dorsal view (Figure 56c). The prenarial arena has a horizontal ridge or row of pustulations. The internal nares are relatively transverse. The postnarial arena is large and open with one obvious pair of larger papillae. The lateral-ridge papillae are small and not too complex. The pressure cushions are large and globose.
Overall these larvae are morphologically more similar to Alsodes, Batrachyla, and Physalaemus than to the other two groups of Pleurodema.
With the exception of having but two filter cavities per side, the larval structures are those found in typical pond tadpoles. All three species are found in temporary ponds, but the eggs of bufonina are laid in strings, while those of borellii and brachyops are placed in a foam nest (Cei, 1980; Duellman and Veloso, 1977).
- bibliographic citation
- Wassersug, Richard J. and Heyer, W. Ronald. 1988. "A survey of internal oral features of Leptodactyloid larvae (Amphibia: Anura)." Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology. 1-99. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810282.457