Cranial Osteiology of the Hylid Frog, Smilisca baudini   By: Linda Trueb

Volume 18, No. 2, pp. 11 35

October 15, 1968

Cranial Osteology of the Hylid Frog, Smilisca baudini

BY

LINDA TRUEB

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE 1968

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Editors of this number: Frank B. Cross, William E. Duellman, Philip S. Humphrey

Volume 18, No. 2, pp. 11 35 Published October 15, 1968

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas

PRINTED BY ROBERT R. (BOB) SANDERS, STATE PRINTER TOPEKA, KANSAS 1968 [Union Label] 32 3686

Cranial Osteology of the Hylid Frog, Smilisca baudini

BY

LINDA TRUEB

INTRODUCTION

The paucity of descriptive cranial anatomical work dealing with hylid frogs was pointed out by Trueb (1966) in her paper describing the cranial osteology of Hyla septentrionalis . Comparative studies on the cranial osteology of the genus Smilisca (Duellman and Trueb, 1966), along with other more brief descriptions, reveal variation among cranial characters of hylids. Since these external characters have been useful in defining species, species groups, and genera, it seems worthwhile to pursue correlated studies on internal cranial structure. The following account dealing with the Neotropical tree frog, Smilisca baudini Duméril and Bibron, 1841, is the first published description of the internal cranial anatomy of a hylid frog, and supplements the recent account (Duellman and Trueb, 1966) of external cranial osteology of the same species. Comparative studies of hylid skulls are expected to yield information of taxonomic importance.

I am grateful to Richard J. Baldauf of Texas A & M University and William E. Duellman of the University of Kansas for critically reading the manuscript and offering helpful suggestions. The findings reported here result from research on Middle American hylids supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (GB 1441) to William E. Duellman.

Materials and Methods

The serial sections illustrated beyond are from an adult male of Smilisca baudini (KU 89924) having a snout vent length of 53.0 mm. and a head width (measured at angle of jaws) of 17.0 mm. The specimen was collected 5.2 kilometers east southeast of Córdoba, Veracruz, México. Transverse sections were cut at thicknesses of 10 and 15 microns on a rotary microtome and stained according to the technique described by Baldauf (1958). Cleared and stained specimens and dried skeletons also were used. Figure 1 is based on KU 68183 4 and Fig. 9 on KU 55614. All other drawings are made from KU 89924. In all cross sectional figures, bone is represented by solid black, cartilage by stippling, and connective tissue by cross hatching. Unless otherwise noted all descriptions are given in an anterior posterior sequence.