Jaw muscle development as evidence for embryonic repatterning in direct-developing frogs

Citation:

Hanken, J., et al., 1997. Jaw muscle development as evidence for embryonic repatterning in direct-developing frogs. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences , 264 , pp. 1349-1354.
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Date Published:

Sep 22

Abstract:

The Puerto Rican direct-developing frog Eleutherodactylus coqui (Leptodactylidae) displays a novel mode of jaw muscle development for anuran amphibians. Unlike metamorphosing species, several larval-specific features never form in E. coqui; embryonic muscle primordia initially assume an abbreviated, mid-metamorphic configuration that is soon remodelled to form the adult morphology before hatching. Also lacking are both the distinct population of larval myofibres and the conspicuous, larval-to-adult myofibre turnover that are characteristic of muscle development in metamorphosing species. These modifications are part of a comprehensive alteration in embryonic cranial patterning that has accompanied life history evolution in this highly speciose lineage. Embryonic 'repatterning' in Eleutherodactylus may reflect underlying developmental mechanisms that mediate the integrated evolution of complex structures. Such mechanisms may also facilitate, in organisms with a primitively complex life cycle, the evolutionary dissociation of embryonic, larval, and adult features.

Notes:

Xy660Times Cited:36Cited References Count:52

Last updated on 05/14/2015