Callulina
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| Nieden , 1911 |
Callulina is a genus of frogs in the Brevicipitidae family. The species is on the mountain ranges along the East African Rift in Kenya and Tanzania endemic .
description
The pupils are horizontal. The tongue is broadly elliptical, with entire margins and freely liftable at the back. In contrast to other genera of the Brevicipitidae family, Callulina only has a number of palatal teeth . The eardrum is difficult to see in some species because it is covered by a grainy skin, in Callulina shengena and Callulina laphami it is completely absent.
Fingers and toes are short and clearly broadened at their tips and have somewhat broadened bony terminal phalanges. There is no webbing on the fingers or toes . Precoracoid are present but poorly developed. The omosternum is very small and cartilaginous. The sternum is a cartilage plate. The transverse processes of the sacral vertebra are greatly widened.
The species Callulina shengena , Callulina meteora and Callulina hanseni have large glands on the extremities that give them a plump appearance. A slimy substance is released from these glands that is believed to be toxic . In C. meteora these glands are relatively light and shiny metallic, in C. shengena they are pale and in C. hanseni they are inconspicuous.
Occurrence
The genus occurs in the mountain range of the Eastern Arc Mountains in Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa . The Pare Mountains , the Usambara Mountains and the Uluguru Mountains as well as the Nguru and Udzungwa Mountains along the East African Rift are localities of the described and some not yet described species of the genus Callulina . The species are endemic to relatively small mountain ranges . They live there in areas from the hill country level to the montane altitude level to the high mountain level at over 2200 meters above sea level.
Way of life
Little is known about the way of life of this genus of frogs. Some specimens have been seen digging in the soft earth and leaf litter under large trees during the day. The strongly keratinized cusps of the metatarsals also indicate a way of life on and in the ground.
There are also hardly any observations on the reproductive strategy of these frogs, but it is assumed that the larvae in the fertilized eggs develop directly into finished frogs and then hatch. Few large eggs found in a female fallopian tube during dissection indicate this development.
Systematics
The genus Callulina was first described by Fritz Nieden in 1911 . It comprises 9 types:
- Callulina dawida Loader, Measey, de Sá & Malonza, 2009
- Callulina hanseni Loader, Gower, Müller & Menegon, 2010
- Callulina kanga Loader, Gower, Müller & Menegon, 2010
- Callulina kisiwamsitu de Sá, Loader & Channing, 2004
- Callulina kreffti Nieden, 1911
- Callulina laphami Loader, Gower, Ngalason & Menegon, 2010
- Callulina meteora Menegon, Gower & Loader, 2011
- Callulina shengena Loader, Gower, Ngalason & Menegon, 2010
- Callulina stanleyi Loader, Gower, Ngalason & Menegon, 2010
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Michele Menegon, David J. Gower & Simon P. Loader: A remarkable new species of Callulina (Amphibia: Anura: Brevicipitidae) with massive, boldly colored limb glands. Zootaxa, 3095, pp. 15-26, 2011
- ^ Fritz Nieden: Anura II. In: FE Schulze, W. Kükenthal, K. Heider (Eds.): Das Tierreich, Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin and Leipzig 1926, p. 7
- ↑ a b Darrel R. Frost: Callulina Nieden, 1911 . In: Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference . Version 6.0 (accessed February 16, 2014). ( online ).
- ↑ KM Howell, W. Ngalason & C. Werema: Eastern Arc Mountains: Assessment of Forest Reserve Values for Endemic and Near Endemic Vertebrate Species: Amphibians and Birds. A Consultancy Report of the Department of Zoology & Wildlife Conservation, University of Dar es Salaam, December 2006
- ^ H. Mueller, Simon P. Loader, W. Ngalason, KM Howell & DJ Gower: Reproduction in Brevicipidid frogs (Amphibia: Anura: Brevicipitinae) - evidence from Probreviceps m. macrodactylus . Copeia, pp. 728-734, 2007
literature
- Fritz Nieden: Directory of the reptiles and amphibians occurring near Amani in German East Africa. Compiled on the basis of Dr. med. P. Krefft from Braunschweig. Meeting reports of the Society of Friends of Nature Research in Berlin, 1910, pp. 441–452, 2011 (first description)
