Osteocephalus cabrerai

Schiesari, Luis, Rossa-Feres, Denise De Cerqueira, Menin, Marcelo & Hödl, Walter, 2022, Tadpoles of Central Amazonia (Amphibia: Anura), Zootaxa 5223 (1), pp. 1-149 : 61-62

Osteocephalus cabrerai

External morphology. Description based on two tadpoles at Stages 38 and 39 (INPA-H 1595). Total length 30.6 mm (Stage 38) and 32.3 mm (Stage 39). Body elongate oval in dorsal view and globular/depressed in lateral view ( Fig. 33A, B ). Snout rounded in dorsal and lateral views. Eyes small, dorsally positioned and laterally directed. Nostrils medium-sized, oval, anterolaterally positioned near to snout, with opening anterolaterally directed, without a projection on the marginal rim. Oral disc ( Fig. 33C ) anteroventral, non-emarginate; marginal papillae conical, uniseriate, with a dorsal gap. Many submarginal papillae present laterally. LTRF 2(2)/6(1); A1 and A2 of the same length; P1 to P6 similar in length. Jaw sheaths moderately wide, finely serrated; anterior jaw sheath arch-shaped, posterior jaw sheath V-shaped. Spiracle single, sinistral, conical, short and wide, posterodorsally directed, opening in the medial third of the body, with the centripetal wall fused to the body wall and longer than the external wall. Vent tube dextral, fused to the ventral fin, with a dextral opening. Caudal musculature of moderate width; in lateral view gradually tapering to a pointed tip. Dorsal fin of moderate height and convex originating at the tail-body junction; ventral fin shallow, convex. Tail tip rounded.

Colour. In preservative dorsum and caudal musculature dark brown; venter whitish and translucent posteriorly; fins light brown and translucent. In life body dark blue with a clear medial band and a transparent venter; caudal musculature dark blue; fins transparent (as Osteocephalus buckleyi ; Hero 1990).

Variation. LTRF 2(2)/3, 2(2)/3(1), 2(2)/4, 2(2)/5, or 2(2)/6 at Stages 25, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 38 ( Menin et al. 2011a).

Natural history. Eggs are deposited in small inlets along the bank of terra-firme forest streams, where they are protected from the water current; eggs at the water surface in pools formed by roots or depression in rocks. Tadpoles up to Stage 29 are found in these inlets ( Menin et al. 2011a). Clutches contain between 879 and 1,100 eggs ( Menin et al. 2011a). Tadpoles are found in most months of the year. In experiments eggs were found to be consumed by oophagous tadpoles, and tadpoles by fish and dragonfly larvae ( Hero 1991; Magnusson & Hero 1991).

Comments. No morphological variation was observed between tadpoles herein characterized and those described in Menin et al. (2011a) from Central Amazonia. Tadpoles from the same region illustrated by Hero (1990; Plate 16), differ from those herein characterized by presenting LRTF 2(2)/3-8(1), and those illustrated by Lynch & Suárez-Mayorga (2011) from Colombia differ just by presenting body ovoid in dorsal view.

Figures

FIGURE 33. Tadpole of Osteocephalus cabrerai (INPA-H 1595) at Stage 31: (A) lateral view, (B) dorsal view (scale = 10 mm), and (C) oral disc (scale = 1 mm).