Chondrocranium, cranial muscles and buccopharyngeal morphology on tadpoles of the controversial leptodactylid frog Limnomedusa macroglossa (Anura: Leptodactylidae)

Abstract

Abstract The present paper provides original data on the chondrocranium, cranial muscles, oral disc and buccopharyngeal morphology of Limnomedusa macroglossa. We found that the cranial muscles and the buccopharyngeal papillation are not useful to relate Limnomedusa either to telmatobiine or leptodactyline genera. There are two chondrocranial characters (presence of a long processus pseudopterygoideus and sindesmotic connection of the partes alares and partes corpora of the cartilago suprarostralis) that relate Limnomedusa to the telmatobiine genera more than to any other genus within Leptodactylidae. Additionally, the processus pseudopterygoideus of Limnomedusa is fused to the basi cranii, a character state only known for some telmatobiine genera such as Alsodes and Telmatobius.