- January 2, 2015
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Scientists discovered a frog that gives birth tadpoles directly without having laid eggs.
Most amphibians reproduce by eggs, although there are some species that stop frogs.
However that of a frog tadpoles born mother is something completely new for scientific knowledge.
The mysterious species question lives in Sulawesi, an island of Indonesia.
Zoologists have followed for decades because they suspected their particular reproductive behavior.
This is one of the 10 or 12 species of frogs that have developed internal fertilization, but is the only one that gives light tadpoles
And finally been able to testify and describe later in a study published in the journal Plos . One
It was Dr. Jim McGuire, of the University of California, Berkeley, USA, the first witness of this unexpected birth
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In fact, until I witnessed believed he had in his hand a male frog.
But he soon realized that he was holding was a pregnant female, since suddenly left her a bunch of tadpoles.
mysterious mechanism
The nearly 6,000 species of frogs in the world use external fertilization.
That is, the females lay eggs and the males fertilize them with sperm.
“But there are a lot of strange modifications of this form of standard mating,” says McGuire.
“This is one of the 10 or 12 species of frogs that have developed internal fertilization, although it is the only one who gives birth to tadpoles” qualifies.
But how do males to fertilize the eggs inside the female remains a mystery, as the frogs do not have conventional sexual organs to transfer sperm.
found in California two species that have developed a cola penis with which to carry out this task, but it is not the case of Indonesian frog tadpoles stop.
Professor Djoko Iskandar, the Bandung Institute TECHNOLOGICAL, in Indonesia and contributor McGuire, was the first scientist to spot this frog with fangs in 1990, but has been now when described as a distinct species.
Scientists named Limnonectes larvaepartus .
La characteristic of the species belonging to the family Limnonectes are the two bumps that have in the lower jaw, which resemble two tusks and used to fight.
“Great Discovery”
Ben Tapley, the team leader of herpetology (who studies reptiles) of the Zoological Society of London, UK, said the findings ” It came out of nowhere “, as it was not known anything like that.
“In fact, the frogs are relatively boring,” the expert told the BBC.
“So find something totally amazing on a Frog hardly be identified in a jungle is really great “
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It is believed that there are over 25 species of Limnonectes in Sulawesi, one of the four largest of the Sunda islands, Borneo and Maluku.
However, only four have been described, including occupying this article, the larvaepartus, and little is known about the biology of them all.
There are more than 40 reproductive forms among amphibians, but the frog Limnonectes larvaepartus is totally unique
“Discovering a new species is not rare, but finding a new form of reproduction yes it is,” Tapley said.
“There are more than 40 reproductive forms among amphibians, but the frog Limnonectes larvaepartus is totally unique. “
He added that the region in which it was found has one of the highest levels of deforestation in the world.
” This type of discoveries are really valuable, especially in Sulawesi, where most of the forest has disappeared, “he said.
” It’s great that we are learning about these species before it’s too late. “
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