Journal
JOURNAL OF MORPHOLOGY
Volume 270, Issue 11, Pages 1285-1295Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/jmor.10755
Keywords
miniaturization; skeletal morphology; Sharpey fibers; anura; skull morphology
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Funding
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientffico e Teenologico [CNPq 473996/03-0, 302341/02-1, 470041/2006-4]
- Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo [2005/55449-6, 2008/50928-1]
- CNPq [141629/2008-8]
- FAPESP [2003/12396-4]
- Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP) [03/12396-4] Funding Source: FAPESP
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Species of the genus Brachycephalus, have a snout-vent length of less than 18 mm and are believed to have evolved through miniaturization. Brachycephalus ephippium, is particularly interesting; because its entire skull is hyperossified, and the presacral vertebrae and transverse processes are covered by a dorsal shield. We demonstrate in this paper that, at the macroscopic level, a completely hyperossified skull and dorsal shield occur only in B. ephippium, but not in B. ferruginus, B. izechsohni, B. pernix, B. pombali, B. brunneus, B. didactylus, and B. hermogenesi. An intermediate condition, in which the skull is hyperossified but a dorsal shield is absent, occurs in B. vertebralis, B. nodoterga, B. pitanga, and B. alipioi. The microscopic structure of hyperossification was examined in skulls of B. ephippium and B. pitanga, revealing a complex organization involving the presence of Sharpey fibers, which in humans are characteristic of periodontal connections. J. Morphol. 270:1285-1295, 2009. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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