2019 – 69 (2)

Title: Diverging development of akinetic skulls in cryptodire and pleurodire turtles: an ontogenetic and phylogenetic study

Creators: Ingmar Werneburg & Wolfgang Maier 

Submitted September 5, 2018.
Accepted January 15, 2019.
Published online at www.senckenberg.de/vertebrate-zoology on February 19, 2019.
Published in print on xx.yy.2019.
DOI: 10.26049/VZ69-2-2019-01 
PDF/A 17 MB

Published by Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

Date (Publication Year): 2019

Resource Type (General): TEXT

Resource Type (optional): Vertebrate Zoology, Scientific Article

Description: Extant turtles (Testudines) are characterized among others by an akinetic skull, whereas early turtles (Testudinata) still had kinetic skulls. By considering both ontogenetic and evolutionary adaptations, we analyze four character complexes related to the akinetic skull of turtles: (1) snout stiffening, (2) reduction of the basipterygoid process, (3) formation of a secondary lateral braincase wall, and (4) the fusion of the palatoquadrate cartilage to the braincase. Through ontogeny, both major clades of modern turtles, Pleurodira and Cryptodira, show strikingly different modes how the akinetic constructions in the orbitotemporal and quadrate regions are developed. Whereas mainly the ascending process of the palatoquadrate (later ossified as epipterygoid) contributes to the formation of the secondary braincase wall in Cryptodira, only the descending process of the parietal forms that wall in Pleurodira. This is related to the fact that the latter taxon does not develop an extended ascending process that could ossify as the epipterygoid. Whereas the palatoquadrate directly fuses to the braincase in pleurodires by forming appositional bone of quadrate (called Eßwein-fixation herein), both structures are ventrally bridged by the pterygoid in cryptodires. Phylogenetic evidence, including fossil data, suggests that the cryptodiran type of skull fixation is plesiomorphic for crown turtles and that the pleurodire condition evolved secondarily within the crown. Embryonic neck muscle activity may be the cause of this shift of the palatoquadrate. Hidden-necked retraction in cryptodires pulls the palatoquadrate in a posterodorsal and -medial direction during ontogeny, whereas side-necked retraction in pleurodires redirects the palatoquadrate posterolaterally and -medially. These different muscle forces may result in differing positions of the palatoquadrate in relation to the braincase and eventually result in the two different attachment types. Moreover, the general construction of the jaw adductor chamber is affected by alternative fusion modes, which secondarily result in two different types of the trochlear system of the external jaw musculature. Related to that, changes in feeding habit through turtle evolution may have also triggered increasing stabilizattion of the skull. Palatoquadrate fixation, finally, was an important prerequisite for the reduction of the exocranial bones of the temporal skull region.

Keywords: Appositional bone; basipterygoid articulation; Cryptodira; Eßwein-fixation; heterochrony; ontogeny; ossification; palatoquadrate; paleontology; Pleurodira; Proganochelys; secondary lateral braincase wall; secondary palate; stem-Testudines; Testudinata; Zuwachsknochen

Citation: Werneburg, I., Maier, W. (2019). Diverging development of akinetic skulls in cryptodire and pleurodire turtles: an ontogenetic and phylogenetic study. Vertebrate Zoology, 69(2): 113-143. https://doi.org/10.26049/VZ69-2-2019-01

Title: A new species of anole from the Sierra Madre del Sur in Guerrero, Mexico (Reptilia, Squamata, Dactyloidae: Norops)

Creators: Gunther Köhler, Claus Bo P. Petersen & Fausto R. Mendez de la Cruz

Submitted November 11, 2018.
Accepted March 15, 2019.
Published online at www.senckenberg.de/vertebrate-zoology on March 28, 2019.
Published in print on Q2/2019.
DOI: 10.26049/VZ69-2-2019-02 
PDF/A 4MB

Published by Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

Date (Publication Year): 2019

Resource Type (General): TEXT

Resource Type (optional): Vertebrate Zoology, Scientific Article

Description: We describe the new species Norops brianjuliani sp. nov. from the Pacific versant of southern Mexico. Norops brianjuliani differs from all congeners by having a combination of (1) smooth ventral scales; (2) usually a patch of three greatly enlarged supraocular scales; (3) moderately long hind legs, longest toe of adpressed hind leg reaching to a point between posterior and anterior levels of eye, ratio shank length/snout–vent length 0.24–0.26; (4) a pair of greatly enlarged postcloacal scales in males; (5) 10 to 12 rows of greatly enlarged, keeled middorsal scales; and (6) a very large pink dewlap in males. In external morphology, N. brianjuliani is most similar to N. liogaster from which it differs by having larger middorsal scales (more than three times the size of granular flank scales in N. brianjuliani vs. less than three times in N. liogaster). Also, in a preliminary molecular genetic analysis, N. brianjuliani has a genetic distance of 8.7% (16S) and 15.3% (COI), respectively, from N. liogaster. 

Key words: Norops brianjuliani sp. nov.; Dactyloidae; Guerrero; Mexico; new species; Reptilia; Squamata.

Citation: KÖHLER, G., PETERSEN, C.B.P., MENDEZ DE LA CRUZ, F. R. (2019). A new species of anole from the Sierra Madre del Sur in Guerrero, Mexico (Reptilia, Squamata, Dactyloidae: Norops). 
Vertebrate Zoology, 69(2): 145-160. https://doi.org/10.26049/VZ69-2-2019-02

Title: Male song individuality over female breeding periods in Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis)

Creators: Ha-Cheol Sung, Paul Handford

Submitted October 9, 2018.
Accepted March 14, 2019.
Published online at www.senckenberg.de/vertebrate-zoology on April 12, 2019.
Published in print on Q2/2019.

DOI: 10.26049/VZ69-2-2019-03-1
PDF/A 0.5MB

Published by Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

Date (Publication Year): 2019

Resource Type (General): TEXT

Resource Type (optional): Vertebrate Zoology, Scientific Article

Description: Song individuality in songbirds is a prerequisite for individual recognition, which plays an important role in communication between pair members, relatives, or neighbors. We investigated song individuality of Savannah sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) males over a single breeding season. We recorded songs from 11 color-banded males during each of the four female breeding periods (pre-pairing, pairing and egg-laying, incubation, and nestling and fledging). We analyzed 10 songs from each male, with 13 temporal and nine frequency variables that represented the structural characteristics of songs to examine individual variation throughout the breeding season. The results of nested analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that all song variables differed among individuals across breeding periods and among breeding periods across individual songs except for F9 (peak frequency difference between the frist and the second trill parts). A discriminant function analysis showed that songs of pre-pairing periods were clearly separated from those of the other periods. These results suggest that the songs of males display individuality and maintain potential information about his mating status and his mate’s reproductive condition across the breeding season.

Key words: Bird song, breeding period, individuality, Passerculus sandwichensis, seasonal variation.

Citation: Sung, H.-C., Handford, P. (2019). Male song individuality over female breeding periods in Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis).
Vertebrate Zoology, 69(2): 161-168. https://doi.org/10.26049/VZ69-2-2019-03-1

Title: The origin of orbitotemporal diversity in lepidosaurs: insights from tuatara chondrocranial anatomy

Creators: Oleksandr Yaryhin, Ingmar Werneburg

Submitted February 22, 2019. 
Accepted May 15, 2019. .
Published online at www.senckenberg.de/vertebrate-zoology on May 28, 2019.
Published in print on Q2/2019.

DOI: 10.26049/VZ69-2-2019-04
PDF/A 4MB

Published by Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

Date (Publication Year): 2019

Resource Type (General): TEXT

Resource Type (optional): Vertebrate Zoology, Scientific Article

Description: Sphenodon punctatus, the tuatara, is the last survivor of the formerly widely distributed group of Rhynchocephalia, which is the sister group of Squamata. The skull anatomy of S. punctatus and its fossil relatives is comparably well known; however, embryological data of skull development are rare, incomplete, and mostly represented by dated works. Knowing the anatomy of the chondrocranium of S. punctatus is crucial to an understanding of chondrocranial evolution in reptiles and particularly in lepidosaurs. Here, based on the historical histological collection of Hugo Schauinsland, we reexamined the anatomy of the fully formed chondrocranium in S. punctatus and describe a very early stage of its chondrocranium formation, which was not considered in any previous study. The architecture of the fully formed chondrocranium of S. punctatus represents one of the most complex ones among sauropsids. We observed a number of characters, that are absent in other reptiles and were never previously described in S. punctatus. We consider the robust lateral braincase wall in S. punctatus to represent an ancestral condition. In the lepidosaurian ancestor it likely had the potential for further diversification of the orbitotemporal region in squamates. Certainly, it provided extra mechanical strength to the chondrocranium as a whole. At the same time, the strong cartilaginous lateral wall of the chondrocranium in S. punctatus could also be a rudimentary form of the more distant ancestor of lepidosaurs, in which the chondrocranium played a more functional role.

Key words: Chondrocranium; development; evolution; Lepidosauria; primary braincase, Rhynchocephalia; Sphenodon punctatus.

Citation: Yaryhin, O., Werneburg, I. (2019). The origin of orbitotemporal diversity in lepidosaurs: insights from tuatara chondrocranial anatomy.
Vertebrate Zoology, 69(2): 169-181. https://doi.org/10.26049/VZ69-2-2019-04

Title: The genera Fejervarya and Minervarya in Myanmar: Description of a new species, new country records, and taxonomic notes (Amphibia, Anura, Dicroglossidae)

Creators: Gunther Köhler, Linda Mogk, Khin Pa Pa Khaing & Ni Lar Than

Submitted March 23, 2019.
Accepted June 4, 2019.
Published online at www.senckenberg.de/vertebrate-zoology on June 19, 2019.
Published in print on Q2/2019.

DOI: 10.26049/VZ69-2-2019-05
PDF/A 13MB

Published by Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

Date (Publication Year): 2019

Resource Type (General): TEXT

Resource Type (optional): Vertebrate Zoology, Scientific Article

Description: We describe a new species of frog, Fejervarya kupitzi from Myanmar, and record three species for the first time in this country: Fejervarya orissaensis, Minervarya chiangmaiensis, and M. muangkanensis. For these four species and for F. limnocharis which occurs in northern and eastern Myanmar and widely across Southeast Asia, we provide species accounts summarizing their variation in external morphology with an emphasis on Myanmar populations. We describe the advertisement call of F. orissaensis and M. muangkanensis, and we describe and illustrate the tadpole of F. orissaensis. And we provide an identification key to the five species of Fejervarya and Minervarya currently recognized in Myanmar.

Key words: Bioacoustics; cryptic species diversity; Fejervarya kupitzi sp. nov.; Fejervarya limnocharis; Fejervarya orissaensis; Minervarya chiangmaiensis; Minervarya muangkanensis; tadpole morphology.

Citation: Köhler, G., Mogk, L., Khaing, K. P. P., Than, N. L. (2019). The genera Fejervarya and Minervarya in Myanmar: Description of a new species, new country records, and taxonomic notes (Amphibia, Anura, Dicroglossidae).
Vertebrate Zoology, 69(2): 183-226. https://doi.org/10.26049/VZ69-2-2019-05