Color pattern polymorphism and chromatic aberrancies in Physalaemus fernandezae (Anura, Leptodactylidae)

Abstract

Skin coloration patterns in anurans could be markedly varied due to color pattern polymorphismand the occurrence of chromatic aberrancies. Knowledge about this variability allows tounderstand prey-predator relationships, contributes to the characterization of taxonomic groups,and may reflects genetic variability. We report herein a characterization of dorsal and ventralcolor pattern polymorphisms in the Neotropical frog Physalaemus fernandezae, and the findingof chromatic aberrancies in wild tadpoles. We assessed the sexual variation of four dorsal colormorphs (Broadband, Reticulate, Vertebral Line, Uniform with Urostylar Line) and two ventralcolor morphs (Immaculate and Maculate). We found no association about the co-occurrence ofdifferent ventral and dorsal color patterns, also regardless sex, suggesting independent evolutionforces influencing on them. In addition, we found geographic color pattern variation. A coloraberrancy considered as leucism was observed in tadpoles, and is reported for the first time in P.fernandezae. We suggest that the patterns frequency distributions are suggestive of an apostaticselection mechanism for the color polymorphism in P. fernandezae.