Description of the external morphology and buccopharyngeal cavity of the tadpole of Odontophrynus reigi (Anura: Odontophrynidae)

Abstract

The first mention of a tadpole belonging to frogs of the genus Odontophrynus was made by Berg (1896) when describing Ceratophrys occidentalis, now considered a junior synonym of Odontophrynus americanus (Duméril & Bibron), a species widely distributed in the arid and semiarid regions of central and western Argentina (see Rosset et al. 2022; and bibliography cited therein). Later, Fernández & Fernández (1921), Scott-Birabén & Fernández-Marcinowski (1921), and Gallardo (1963) described some morphological characters based on tadpoles that, according to their geographical origin (e.g., Buenos Aires and Córdoba, Argentina), would belong to O. americanus and the currently recognized Odontophrynus asper (Philippi). More detailed descriptions, taking into account developmental stages, were carried out by Savage & Cei (1965), Caramaschi (1979), and Cei (1980, 1987; see bibliography cited therein) for tadpoles of O. americanus (referred to as O. occidentalis as well as O. achalensis di Tada et al. and O. barrioi Cei et al.), O. asper (referred to as O. americanus), O. carvalhoi Savage & Cei, and O. cultripes Reinhardt & Lütken. Nowadays, the genus Odontophrynus is composed of 11 species that, except for O. americanus, are arranged in the O. asper and O. cultripes groups (Rosset et al. 2022 and references therein).