Presenter(s)

    Jacob Szafranski

    Comments

    1:15-2:30, Kennedy Union Ballroom

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    Description

    Within the family Microhylidae, only two genera are reported to have keratinized mouthparts: Scaphiophryne of Madagascar and Otophryne of South America. Based on our current understanding of the frog tree of life, it is possible that these two lineages have independently "re-evolved" keratinized mouthparts after the ancestor of microhylids lost these feeding structures. To evaluate this hypothesis, we are 1) generating histological data for both genera to confirm that the cellular microanatomy of the jaw sheaths is comparable to other tadpoles, typically defined by a stacked column of proliferating cells and 2) using phylogenetic comparative methods to evaluate whether these lineages re-evolved keratinized jaw sheaths in violation of Dollo’s law of irreversibility. This law posits that a complex trait lost over evolutionary time cannot be regained in the same form. This project will provide new insights into the constraints and flexibility of trait evolution in anurans.

    Publication Date

    4-23-2025

    Project Designation

    Independent Research

    Primary Advisor

    Daniel J. Paluh

    Primary Advisor's Department

    Biology

    Keywords

    Stander Symposium, College of Arts and Sciences

    Institutional Learning Goals

    Scholarship

    Re-evolution of keratinized mouthparts in the tadpoles of two microhylid frogs

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