Hand and foot musculature of Sooglossoidea: synapomorphies, convergences and hind limb digging behaviour in anurans

Abstract

We describe the hand and foot musculature of the fossorial Indian purple frog, Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis, and compare it to other members of Sooglossoidea: the Seychellean sooglossid genera Sechellophryne and Sooglossus. Due to the key phylogenetic position of Sooglossoidea, we compare its members with the diversity of Anura and define 52 characters from the hand and foot musculature, among which 26 are novel hypotheses of homology. We found several synapomorphies for Sooglossus, Sooglossidae, Nasikabatrachidae and Sooglossoidea. Additionally, we (1) propose synapomorphies for diverse anuran clades at different taxonomic levels, (2) re-evaluate the identity of some conflicting plantar and palmar muscles in the context of Batrachia and (3) discuss putative adaptations to hind limb digging behaviour resulting from morphological convergences. The lack of a clear pattern of convergences among hind limb digging species suggests the occurrence of a phenomenon of many-to-one mapping from form to function.