Occurrence of oral deformities in larval anurans

Copeia
By: , and 

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Abstract

We quantified deformities in the marginal papillae, tooth rows, and jaw sheaths of tadpoles from 13 population samples representing three families and 11 sites in the southeastern United States. Oral deformities were observed in all samples and in 13.5-98% of the specimens per sample. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (chytrid) infections were detected in three samples. There was high variability among samples in the pattern and number of discovered deformities. Pairwise associations between oral structures containing deformities were nonrandom for several populations, especially those with B. dendrobatidis infections or high total numbers of deformities. Comparisons of deformities among samples using multivariate analyses revealed that tadpole samples grouped together by family. Analyses of ordination indicated that three variables, the number of deformities, the number of significant associations among deformity types within populations, and whether populations were infected with B. dendrobatidis, were significantly correlated with the pattern of deformities. Our data indicate that the incidence of oral deformities can be high in natural populations and that phylogeny and B. dendrobatidis infection exert a strong influence on the occurrence and type of oral deformities in tadpoles. ?? by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herperologists.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Occurrence of oral deformities in larval anurans
Series title Copeia
DOI 10.1643/0045-8511(2007)7[449:OOODIL]2.0.CO;2
Issue 2
Year Published 2007
Language English
Description 10 p.
Larger Work Type Article
Larger Work Subtype Journal Article
Larger Work Title Copeia
First page 449
Last page 458
Online Only (Y/N) N
Additional Online Files (Y/N) N
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