Rhinella proboscidea (Spix, 1824)

Schiesari, Luis, Rossa-Feres, Denise De Cerqueira, Menin, Marcelo & Hödl, Walter, 2022, Tadpoles of Central Amazonia (Amphibia: Anura), Zootaxa 5223 (1), pp. 1-149 : 33-34

Rhinella proboscidea

External morphology. Description based on five tadpoles at Stages 34 and 35 (LCS 496, 497). Total length 15.2 ± 0.8 mm (N = 5). Body oval elongate in dorsal view and globular/depressed in lateral view ( Fig. 11A, B ). Snout rounded in both dorsal and lateral views. Eyes medium-sized, dorsally positioned and dorsolaterally directed. Nostrils medium-sized, oval, dorsally positioned closer to eyes than to snout, with opening dorsolaterally directed, without a projection on the marginal rim. Oral disc ( Fig. 11C ) anteroventral, laterally emarginate; marginal papillae elongated, uniseriate, with wide dorsal and ventral gaps. Submarginal papillae absent. LTRF 2(2)/3; A1 and A2 of the same length; P2 slightly longer than P1 and P3 is subequal in length to P2. Jaw sheaths moderately wide, finely serrated; anterior jaw sheath arch-shaped, posterior jaw sheath V-shaped. Spiracle single, sinistral, lateroventral, conical, short and wide, posteriorly directed, opening in the beginning of the posterior third of the body, with the centripetal wall fused to the body wall and longer than the external wall. Vent tube medial, fused to the ventral fin, with a medial opening. Caudal musculature of moderate width; in lateral view gradually tapering to a pointed tip. Dorsal fin of moderate height, convex, originating at the tail-body junction; ventral fin of moderate height and parallel to the ventral margin of caudal musculature. Tail tip rounded.

Colour. In preservative, body and tail light brown with translucent fins; melanophores distributed in dorsal region of the body and in the upper half of caudal musculature; melanophores absent in ventral surface of the body and ventral fin ( Menin et al. 2006). In life, body and caudal musculature light brown with chromatophores black, tail fins translucent.

Metamorphs. Light brown with small dots on dorsum, limbs with discrete stripes, skin of venter light brown and translucent.

Natural history. Eggs are deposited as gelatinous strings containing 439 to 473 eggs ( Menin et al. 2006). Tadpoles are found in the rainy season in terra-firme forests in temporary streamside puddles as small as 1 m 2 (and 20 cm deep).

Comments. Tadpoles from Central Amazonia described by Menin et al. (2006) differ from those herein characterized by presenting body depressed in lateral view and oval in dorsal view, spiracular opening on the posterior third of the body and posteroventrally directed, and ventral fin slightly arched. Tadpoles from Central Amazonia (Plate 3) illustrated by Hero (1990) as Bufo cf. typhonius differ from those herein characterized by presenting body oval in dorsal view, and spiracle posteroventrally directed.

CENTROLENIDAE

Genus Vitreorana . Only one species of Vitreorana is found in Central Amazonia.

Figures

FIGURE 11. Tadpole of Rhinella proboscidea (LCS 497) at Stage 35: (A) lateral view, (B) dorsal view (scale = 10 mm), and (C) oral disc (scale = 1 mm)