Home / All Titles / Annales Zoologici / Mar 2010 / pg(s) 159-168

Annales Zoologici

Published by: Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences

« previous article : next article »

translator disclaimer

Annales Zoologici 60(1):159-168. 2010
https://doi.org/10.3161/000345410X499632

Morphometric and Karyological Differentiation among Populations of Discoglossus pictus (Discoglossidae: Anura) in Eastern North Africa

and

Received: February 15, 2010; Accepted: March 20, 2010

[+] Author & Article Info

Author Affiliations

Amor Nabil

Research Unit: Genetics, Biodiversity and Bio-Resources Development, Biotechnology Institute of Monastir, 5000 Monastir, Tunisia

Author for correspondence: nabil.amor@gmail.com

Farjallah Sarra

Research Unit: Genetics, Biodiversity and Bio-Resources Development, Biotechnology Institute of Monastir, 5000 Monastir, Tunisia

Ben-Yacoub Slim

Laboratory of Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems Ecology. University BADJI Mokhtar Annaba, Algeria

Said Khaled

Research Unit: Genetics, Biodiversity and Bio-Resources Development, Biotechnology Institute of Monastir, 5000 Monastir, Tunisia

Copyright & Usage

Abstract.

To assess karyological and morphometric diversity within Discoglossus pictus Otth 1837, morphometric and cytogenetic analyses were carried out on five populations from the northern Tunisia and Algeria. A total of eight morphometric adult traits were evaluated, tadpole oral disc structure was described and chromosome patterns were assessed by means of conventional staining and banding methods (C-, Ag-NOR and CMA3 banding). Karyological data indicated the same chromosome and chromatin characters among the five populations. We observed also the same oral disk structure (LTRF: ⅔) in all studied Discoglossus tadpoles. However, we found significant differences in morphometric parameters of the specimens from these localities. Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) of morphometric variables correctly classified 88% of individuals to their original localities. The pattern of morphometric variation does not match the genetic observation, which suggests that body shape differences result from the phenotypic plasticity correlated with local climatic factors.

Keywords: Discoglossus pictus, North Africa, chromosome, morphometric variation

REFERENCES

Álvarez, Y., Mateo, J. A., Andreu, A. C., Diaz-Paniagua, C., Diez, A. and J. M. Bautista. 2000. Mitochondrial DNA haplotyping of Testudo graeca on both continental sides of the Straits of Gibraltar. Journal of Heredity, 91: 39–41. Crossref, Google Scholar

Amor, N., Aprea, G., Chatti, N., Farjallah, S., Odierna, G. and K. Said. 2007. Karyological analysis of four Tunisia species of Anura (Amphibia). African Zoology, 42: 268–278. BioOne, Google Scholar

Amor, N., Kalboussi, M. and K. Said. 2009. Conservation status of amphibian in Tunisia. In: Amphibian Biology, Volume 8C; the status of Amphibian Decline. Heatwole, H. (Editor). Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton. Google Scholar

Ashton, K. G. 2002. Patterns of within-species body size variation of birds: strong evidence for Bergmann's rule. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 11; 505–523. Crossref, Google Scholar

Babik, W. and J. Rafinski. 2000. Morphometric differentiation of the moor frog (Rana arvalis Nilss.) in Central Europe. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 38: 239–247. Crossref, Google Scholar

Blouin, M. S. and S. T. Brown. 2000. Effects of temperatureinduced variation in anuran larval growth rate on head width and leg length at metamorphosis. Oecologia, 125: 358–361. Crossref, Google Scholar

Boulenger, G. A. 1891. Catalogue of the reptiles and batrachians of Barbary (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) based chiefly upon the notes and collections made in 1880–1884 by M. Fernand Lataste. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, 13: 93–164. Crossref, Google Scholar

Boussaïd, M., Ben Fadhel, N., Chemli, R. and M. Ben M'hamed. 1999. Structure of vegetation in Northern and Central Tunisia and protective measures. Cahiers Options Méditerranéennes (Montpellier), 38: 295–302. Google Scholar

Castellano, S., Malhotra, A. and R. S. Thorpe. 1994. Withinisland geographic variation of the dangerous Taiwanese snake, Trimeresurus stajnegeri, in relation to ecology. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 32: 365–375. Crossref, Google Scholar

Cox, N., Chanson, J. and S. Stuart. (Compilers). 2006. “The Status and Distribution of Reptiles and Amphibians of the Mediterranean Basin”. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, United Kingdom. Crossref, Google Scholar

De Jong, H. 1998. In search of biogeographic patterns in the western Mediterranean terrestrial fauna. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 65: 99–164. Crossref, Google Scholar

Duellman, W. E. and L. Trueb. 1986. Biology of Amphibians, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 670 pp. Google Scholar

Dubois, A. 1995. Keratodon formulae in anuran tadpoles: proposals for a standardization. Journal of Zoological Systematics, 33: 1–15. Google Scholar

Ford, L. S. and D. C. Cannatella. 1993. The major clades of frogs. Herpetological Monographs, 7: 94–117. Crossref, Google Scholar

Frost, D. R., Grant, T., Faivovich, J., Bain, R. H., Haas, A., Haddad, C. F. B., de Sa, R. O., Channing, A., Wilkinson, M., Donnellan, S. C., Raxworthy, C. J., Campbell, J. A., Blotto, B .L., Moler, P., Drewes, R. C., Nussbaum, R. A., Lynch, J. D., Green, D. M. and W. Wheeler. C. 2006. The amphibian tree of life. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 297: 1–370. BioOne, Google Scholar

Gosner, K. L. 1960. A simplified table for staging Anuran emryos and larvae with notes on identification. Herpetologica, 16: 183–190. Google Scholar

Haas, A. 2003. Phylogeny of frog as inferred from primarily larval characters (Amphibia: Anura). Cladistics, 19: 23–89. Crossref, Google Scholar

Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L. and W. C. Black. 1998. Multivariate Data Analysis, 5th ed. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, USA. Google Scholar

Howell, W. M. and D. A. Black. 1980. Controlled silver staining of nucleolus organizer regions with a protective colloidal developer: 1-step method. Experientia, 36: 1014–1015. Crossref, Google Scholar

King, M. 1980. C-banding studies on Australian hylid frogs: secondary constriction structure and the concept of chromatin transformation. Chromosoma, 80: 191–217. Crossref, Google Scholar

Lanza, B., Nascett, G., Capula, M. and L. Bullini. 1986. The Discoglossid of the occidental Mediterranean region (Amphibia; Anura; Discoglossidae). Bulletin Société Herpétologique de France, 40: 16–27. [In French]. Google Scholar

Lee, J. C. 1993. Geographic variation in size and shape of Neotropical frogs; a precipitation gradient analysis. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural History of the University of Kansas, 163: 1–20. Google Scholar

Malhotra, A. and R. S. Thorpe. 1997. Size and shape variation in a Lesser Antillean anole, Anolis oculatus (Sauria: Iguanidae) in relation to habitat. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 60: 53–72. Google Scholar

Martínez-Solano, I., Buckley, D., Velo Antón, G., Amor, N., Alcobendas, M. and R. Zardoya. 2007. Comparative phylogeography of Discoglossus and Rana in North Africa. Proceedings of the First Mediterranean Herpetological Congress, Marrakech, Morocco, 16–20 April 2007, p. 7. Google Scholar

Mateo, J. A., López-Jurado, L. F. and C. P. Guillaume. 1996. Electrophoretic and morphological Variability of the Ocellated Lizard (Lacertidae); a Complex of species on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar. Comptes Rendus Academie Des Sciences, Paris, 319: 737–746. [In French]. Google Scholar

Mayet, V. 1903. Catalogue of Reptiles and Batrachians in Tunisia. Scientific exploration of Tunisia. National Imprimery, Paris pp 32. [In French]. Google Scholar

Miura, I. 1995. The late replication banding patterns of chromosomes are highly conserved in the genra Rana, Hyla and Bufo (Amphibia: Anura). Chromosoma, 103: 567–574. Crossref, Google Scholar

Morescalchi, A. 1973. Amphibia. In: Cytotaxonomy and Vertebrate Evolution, (eds) A. B. Chiarelli and E. Capanna, pp. 233–348. Academic Press, London. Google Scholar

Newman, R. A. 1989. Developmental plasticity of Scaphiopus couchii tadpoles in an unpredictable environment. Ecology, 70: 1775–1787. Crossref, Google Scholar

Peel, M. C., Finlayson, B. L. and T. A. McMahon. 2007. Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 11: 1633–1644. Crossref, Google Scholar

Riha, V. F., and K. A. Berven. 1991. An analysis of latitudinal variation in the larval development of the wood frog (Rana sylvatica). Copeia, 1991: 209–221. Crossref, Google Scholar

Sanmartín, I. 2003. Dispersal vs. vicariance in the Mediterranean: historical biogeography of the Palearctic Pachydeminae (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea). Journal of Biogeography, 30: 1883–1897. Crossref, Google Scholar

Sicilia, A., Marrone, F., Sindaco, R., Turki, S. and M. Arculeo. 2009. Contribute to the knowledge of Tunisian amphibians: notes on distribution, habitat features and phenology. Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences (SEFS5), Palermo, 8–13 July 2007, p. 249. Google Scholar

Schauble, C. S. 2004. Variation in body size and sexual dimorphism across geographical and environmental space in the frogs Limnodynastes tasmaniensis and L. peronii. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 82: 39–56. Crossref, Google Scholar

Schneider, B. 1978. Beitrag zur herpetofauna Tunesiens, IL Bufo mauritanicus. Salamandra, 14: 33–40. Google Scholar

Sumner, A. T. 1972. A simple technique for demonstrating centromeric heterochromatin. Experimental Cell Research, 75: 304–306. Crossref, Google Scholar

Thorpe, R. S. and M. Baez. 1987: Geographic variation within an island: univariate and multivariate contouring of scalation, size and shape of the lizard Gallotia galloti. Evolution, 41: 256–268. Crossref, Google Scholar

Tryjanowski, P., Sparks, T., Rybacki, M. and L. Berger. 2006. Is body size of the water frog Rana esculenta complex responding to climate change? Naturwissenschaften 93: 110–113. Crossref, Google Scholar

West-Eberhard, M. J. 1989. Phenotypic plasticity and the origins of diversity. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 20: 249–278. Crossref, Google Scholar

Zangari, F., Cimmaruta, R. and G. Nascetti. 2006. Genetic relationships of the western Mediterranean painted frogs based on allozymes and mitochondrial markers: evolutionary and taxonomic inferences (Amphibia, Anura, Discoglossidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 87: 515–536. Crossref, Google Scholar