A novel reproductive mode in frogs: a new species of fanged frog with internal fertilization and birth of tadpoles

Djoko T Iskandar; Ben J Evans; Jimmy A McGuire

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0115884

A novel reproductive mode in frogs: a new species of fanged frog with internal fertilization and birth of tadpoles

PLoS One. 2014 Dec 31;9(12):e115884. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115884. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Djoko T Iskandar¹, Ben J Evans², Jimmy A McGuire³

Affiliations

¹ School of Life Sciences and Technology, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia.
² Center for Environmental Genomics, Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
³ Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America.

Abstract

We describe a new species of fanged frog (Limnonectes larvaepartus) that is unique among anurans in having both internal fertilization and birth of tadpoles. The new species is endemic to Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. This is the fourth valid species of Limnonectes described from Sulawesi despite that the radiation includes at least 15 species and possibly many more. Fewer than a dozen of the 6455 species of frogs in the world are known to have internal fertilization, and of these, all but the new species either deposit fertilized eggs or give birth to froglets.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Anura / anatomy & histology*
Anura / classification*
Fertilization / physiology*
Indonesia
Larva
Parturition / physiology*

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the United States National Science Foundation Division of Environmental Biology (DEB 0328700, DEB 0640967) to JAM, the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (RGPIN/283102-2012) to BJE, and the Indonesian Directorate General of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Culture (Basic Science Grant No. 60/P4M/DPPM/L-3311/MS/1993) to DTI. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.