Journal
CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY
Volume 95, Issue 5, Pages 335-343Publisher
CANADIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING
DOI: 10.1139/cjz-2016-0177
Keywords
amphibian; acoustic signals; extra-tympanic pathways; Telmatobius; underwater hearing; water frogs
Categories
Funding
- Fulbright Commission Argentina
- Agencia Nacional de Promocin Cientfica y Tecnolgica (ANPCyT) [PICT 2010-1740, PICT 2011-1895, PICT 2013-404]
- Consejo Nacional de Investigacines Cientficas y Tcnicas (CONICET) [PIP 1112008010 2422]
- Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) [2014/20915-6]
- Rufford Small Grants
- Fish and Wildlife Service
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Underwater vocalization in anurans is restricted to a few, distantly related species. In some of them, sound is transmitted through tympanic and extra-tympanic pathways. Members of the Andean genus Telmatobius Wiegmann, 1834 lack a tympanic membrane, and earlier reports assumed the absence of vocalizations in the genus. We recorded underwater vocalizations and examined the middle-ear morphology in three species of Telmatobius with different lifestyles: Telmatobius oxycephalus Vellard, 1946 (semiaquatic, riverine); Telmatobius hintoni Parker, 1940 (markedly aquatic, riverine); Telmatobius culeus (Garman 1876) (fully aquatic, lacustrine). Males emit underwater calls, which in the three species are simple and stereotyped; they consist of a repeated train of notes, with a low fundamental frequency (309-941 Hz). In each of the three species, the tympanic membrane is absent and the tympanic cavity is extremely reduced or absent, whereas the opercular system is well developed. Our data, along with prior knowledge in other species of anurans, suggest that the species examined here probably perceived sound through extra-tympanic pathways. Given the limited knowledge about underwater calling in anurans, Telmatobius seems a logical candidate to study the functional and evolutionary bases of underwater hearing and tympanic middle-ear reduction in anurans.
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