Age Estimation, Growth Rates, and Population Structure in Missouri Bullfrogs

Abstract

vocal sac; ovary packed with heavily pigmented eggs each approximately 1.5 mm in diameter. Skin of head not co-ossified with skull, roof of skull not exostosed. Dimensions.-Head and body 57.0 mm; head length 20.5 mm; head width 19.8 mm; femur 32.3 mm; tibia 32.2 mm; heel-to-toe 40.0 mm; hand 17.0 mm. Color in alcohol.-A dingy white with tiny melanophores scattered over all dorsal surfaces but restricted to a narrow band on top of the thigh. Notes.-When we examined this specimen in Paramaribo just a few weeks after it was preserved it still retained some of the dark green dorsal pigmentation it had in life but by the time it was shipped to us from Pittsburgh nearly a year later the green coloration had completely faded and all that remained of pigment or pattern was minute, scattered melanophores on the dorsum and dorsal surfaces of the limbs. These have the effect of making the specimen a dirty white rather than clear milky white. The type was taken at night from a large aroid plant beside a house in the Arawak village of Powakka. A diligent search by five of us in the same area a few weeks later failed to turn up any more specimens. Mr. Walter Polder of Paramaribo, who is well acquainted with the local fauna, told us that he caught an individual of what he believes is the same species in the suburbs of Paramaribo but that it escaped before he was ready to preserve it. The type-specimen is filled with mature, pigmented eggs and apparently was ready for amplexus. The species is named in honor of our friend, Murray de la Fuente, who collected the type.