Mantidactylus femoralis (Boulenger, 1882)

dos Santos Dias, Pedro Henrique, Vera Candioti, Florencia, Wassersug, Richard, Lukas, Paul, Targino, Mariane, Glos, Julian, Wheeler, Ward C, Hertwig, Stefan, Crottini, Angelica & Haas, Alexander, 2024, Stranger things: on the novel buccopharyngeal anatomy and functional morphology of ‘ sand-eating’ Malagasy tadpoles (Anura: Mantellidae: Mantidactylus), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 202 (2), pp. 1-13 : 4

Mantidactylus femoralis

Oral disc: Oral configuration is described and illustrated in Randrianiaina et al. (2011a) and reproduced here ( Fig. 1 ). SEM micrographs show labial teeth short, with wide sheath and head with four to eight long, distal cusps ( Fig. 4A ). Upper jaw finely serrated and lower jaw sheath V-shaped, poorly keratinized, and marginally serrated ( Fig. 4B ).

Buccal floor ( Fig. 4B, C ): Four pairs of short, conical infra-labial papillae not overlapping each other. Buccal floor arena crests formed of approximately 15 transverse ruffled ridges closely spaced (45–140 µm long, 20–50 µm wide). Glottis fully covered.

Buccal roof ( Fig. 4D ): Prenarial arena with a wide inverted-V crest with a mostly smooth margin. Internal nares with a long, conical papilla at the anterolateral edge; posterior margin partially concealed by a short, wide, triangular postnarial arena papilla anteriorly directed. Median ridge very short, triangular, and with smooth free margin. Buccal roof arena delimited by two slightly convergent crests formed of c. 30 closely spaced papillae. Central area of buccal roof arena smooth. Glandular zone not evident in micrographs.

Figures

Figure 1. Oral discs of Mantidactylus tadpoles examined. Adapted from Randrianiaina et al.(2011a). Note the extraordinary diversity of oral discs, from configurations similar to pond-type tadpoles in M.argenteus (with keratinized jaw sheaths and labial tooth ridges) to the highly derived morphologies in M. mocquardi and M.majori, with minimum keratinization and extensive papillation. Scale bars: 1 mm. Reprinted with permission of the Journal "Contributions to Zoology".

Figure 4. Oral disc and buccopharyngeal morphology of Mantidactylus femoralis (ZSM 1928/2007 Stage 26 for oral disc, and ZSM 1781/2007 the remaining). A, detail of the keratinized teeth of row A1. B, detail of the anterior region of the buccal floor, showing the keratinized and serrated lower jaw sheath, and infra-labial and lingual papillae.C, buccal floor; note the thick ruffled ridges closely spaced along the longitudinal crests. D, buccal roof; note the large, ornamented narial vacuities and the longitudinal crests with tightly aligned buccal roof arena papillae. Scale bars: 100 µm (A), 200 µm (B–D).