Abstract
The frog species Ceratophrys joazeirensis Mercadal, 1986 is only known from the Caatinga (semi-arid savanna) and, until recently, from the type locality of Juazeiro, State of Bahia, Brazil. It has now also been found in the States of Paraíba and Rio Grande do Norte, in environments of hypo-xerophylic Caatinga. Cytogenetic and comparative analysis of the cranial morphology of C. joazeirensis and C. aurita (Raddi, 1823) were undertaken. The karyotype of the species is also shown for the first time. The results show important differences in the cranial morphology between C. joazeirensis (8n) and C. aurita (8n), species whose areas of distribution (Caatinga and Northeast Atlantic forest, respectively) are contiguous. The chromosomes of C. joazeirensis show similar size and morphology to the ones of C. aurita (C. dorsata), C. ornata Bell, 1843 (8n) and C. cranwelli Barrio, 1980 (2n). Such data would be in agreement with the opinion of some authors who consider these species to constitute a monophyletic group.
References
Ab’ Saber, A.N. (1974) O domínio morfoclimático semi-árido das caatingas brasileiras. Geomorfologia, 43, 1–39.
Ab’ Saber, A.N. (2003) Os domínios de natureza no Brasil: potencialidades paisagísticas. Ateliê Editorial, São Paulo, 159pp.
Almeida, T.M.B., Ruiz, I.R.G., & Beçak, W. (1986) Ribosomal gene activity detected by silver staining in two diploid populations of Odontophrynus americanus (Amphibia, Anura) from Southern Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Genética, 9, 433–437.
Baldissera, F.A.Jr., Oliveira, P.L.S., & Kasahara, S. (1993) Cytogenetics of four Brazilian Hyla species (Amphibia-Anura) and description of a case with a supernumerary chromosome. Revista Brasileira de Genética, 16, 335–345.
Barrio, A., & De Chieri, R. (1970) Relaciones cariossitemáticas de los Ceratophryidae de la Argentina (Amphibia, Anura). Physis, 80, 321–329.
Beçak, M.L., Denaro, L., & Beçak, W. (1970) Polyploidy and mechanisms of karyotypic diversification in Amphibia. Cytogenetics, 9, 225–238.
Beçak, M.L., & Beçak, W. (1974) Studies on polyploidy amphibians. Karyotype evolutions and phylogeny of the genus Odontophrynus. Journal of Herpetology, 8, 337–341.
Beçak, M.L., & Kobashi, L.S. (2004) Evolution by polyploidy and gene regulation in Anura. Genetics and Molecular Research, 3(2), 195–212.
Bogart, J.P. (1967) Chromosomes of the South American amphibian family Ceratophridae with a reconsideration of the taxonomic status of Odontophrynus americanus. Canadian Journal of Genetics and Cytology, 9, 531–542.
Cei, J.M. (1987) Additional Notes to Amphibians of Argentina: an update, 1980–1986. Monitore Zoologico Italiano(N. S.), 21, 209–272.
Fabrezi, M. (2006) Morphological evolution of Ceratophryinae (Anura, Neobatrachia). Jamarska zveza Slovenije (JZS), 44(2), 153–166.
Frost, D.R. (2004) Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 3.0 (22 August, 2004). Electronic Database available from http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.php. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. (accessed 27 april 2006)
Frost, D.R., Grant, T., Faivovich, J., Bain, R.H., Haas, A., Haddad, C.F.B., De Sá, R.O., Channing, A., Wilkinson, M., Donnellan, S.C., Raxworthy, C.J., Campbell, J.A., Blotto, B.L., Moler, P., Drewes, R.C., Nussbaum, R.A., Lynch, J.D., Green, D.M., & Wheeler, W.C. (2006) The Amphibian tree of life. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 297, 1–370.
Goin, O.B., Goin, C.J., & Bachmann, K. (1968) DNA and Amphibian Life History. Copeia, 3, 532–540.
Heyer, W.R., Rand, A.S.,Gonçalves da Cruz, A., Peixoto, O.L., & Nelson, G.E. (1990) Frogs of Boracéia. Arquivos de Zoologia, Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, 31(4), 231–410.
Heyer, W.R., Maureen, A.D., McDiarmid, R.W., Hayek, L.A.C., & Foster, M.S. (1994) Measuring and monitoring biological diversity: standard methods for amphibians. Smithsonian Institution press, Washington and London, 364pp.
Howell, W.M., & Black, D.A. (1980) Controlled silver-staining of nucleolus organizer regions with a protective colloidal developer: a 1-step method. Experientia, 36, 1014–1015.
IDEME, Instituto de desenvolvimento municipal e estadual da Paraíba. (2004). Quadro técnico. Paraíba, PB.
Izecksohn, E., Carvalho-e-Silva, S.P., & Deiss, I. (2005) Osteocrânio de Proceratophrys boiei (Wied-Neuwied), P. appendiculata (Günther), P. melanopogon (Miranda-Ribeiro) e P. laticeps (Anura, Leptodactylidae). Revista Brasileira de Zoologia, 22 (1), 225–229.
Klappenbach, M.A., & Langone, J.A. (1992) Lista Sistematica y Sinonimica de los Anfibios del Uruguai. Anales del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Montevideo, 2ª Série, 8, 177–178.
Kuramoto, M. (1990) A list of chromosome numbers of anuran amphibians. Bulletin of Fukuoka University of Education, 39, 87–127.
Lynch, J.D. (1971) Evolutionary relationships, osteology, and zoogeography of leptodactyloid frogs. Miscellaneous Publications, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Nº 53, 238 pp.
Lynch, J.D. (1982) Relationships of the frogs of the genus Ceratophrys (Leptodactylidae) and their bearing on hypotheses of Pleistocene forest refugia in South America and punctuated equilibria. Systematic Zoology, 31(2), 166–179.
Mercadal, I.T. (1981) Determinación del níveo de ploidia en ejemplares preservados del género Ceratophrys. Amphibia – Reptilia, 1(3/4), 205–212.
Mercadal, I.T.. (1986) Ceratophrys joazeirensis sp. n. (Ceratophridae, Anura) del noreste de Brazil. Amphibia – Reptilia, 7(4), 313 –334.
Mercadal, I.T. (1987) Aportes para la elucidación del fenómeno de la poliploidia en el género “Ceratophrys” con especial enfasis en el par diplóide-octoploide “C. cranwelli”–“C. ornata” (Anura, Ceratophryidae). Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciências Naturales <<Bernardino Rivadavia>>, Zoologia, 14(10), 139–161.
Mercadal, I.T. (1988) Sobre la validez de Ceratophrys testudo Anderson, 1945 (Amphibia, Ceratophryidae). Amphibia – Reptilia, 9 (1), 1–6.
Mercadal, I.T., & Barrio, A. (2002) Tetraploidía en Ceratophrys (Anura, Leptodactylidae). Análisis del registro fósil. Iheringia, Série Zoologia, 92(3), 17– 31.
Ruiz, I.R.G., Bonaldo, M.F., & Beçak, W. (1980). In situ localization of ribosomal genes in natural triploid Odontophrynus americanus (Amphibia, Anura). Chromosoma, 98, 86– 92.
Ruiz, I.R.G., Soma, M., & Beçak, W. (1981). Nucleolar organizer regions and constitutive heterochromatin in polyploid specieis of the genus Odontophrynus (Amphibia, Anura). Cytogenetic and Cell Genetic, 29, 84– 98.
Schmid, M., Haaf, T., & Schempp, W. (1985) Chromosome banding in Amphibia. IX. The polyploid karyotypes of Odontophrynus americanus and Ceratophrys ornata (Anura, Leptodactylidae). Chromosoma, 91, 172– 184.
Soares-Scott, M.D., Trajtengertz, I., Soma, M, & Beçak, M.L. (1988). C. and AgAs bands of the octoploid untanha frog Ceratophrys dorsata (aurita) (8n = 104, Amphibia, Anura). Brazilian Journal of Genetics, 11(3), 624–631.
SUDEMA, Superintendência do meio ambiente. (2004) Parque Estadual Pedra da Boca–Araruna–Paraíba–Brasil. Plano de Ação Emergencial, Diagnóstico e Resultado da Oficina de Gestão Compartilhada.
Tymowska, J. (1991) Polyploid and cytogenetic variation in frogs of the genus Xenopus. In: D. M. Green and S. K. Sessions (Eds.), Amphibian Cytogenetics and Evolution. Academic Press, Inc., San Diego, California. pp. 259–297.
Vivo, M., & Carmignotto, A.P. (2004) Holocen vegetation change and the mammal faunas of South America and Africa. Journal of Biogeography, 31, 943–957.