Synapturanus zombie

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Synapturanus zombie
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	Anura
Family:	Microhylidae
Genus:	Synapturanus
Species:	S. zombie
Binomial name
Synapturanus zombie Fouquet, Leblanc, Fabre, Rodrigues, Menin, Courtois, Dewynter, Hölting, Ernst, Peloso, and Kok, 2021

Synapturanus zombie is a South American species of frog in the family Microhylidae.

Taxonomy[]

Synapturanus zombie was discovered in French Guiana along with three other species throughout the Guiana Shield. They are one of the six species belonging to the genus Synapturanus and the family Microhylidae also known as "narrow mouth frogs" due to their narrow snout. The genus Synapturanus has been found throughout the Guiana Shield, divided into Eastern and Western clades, they belong to the Eastern clade. Distinctions of traits has further separated them into three phenotypes, Synapturanus zombie belonging to the third. The genus Synapturanus is believed to have dispersed to different environments and diversified during the Eocene period allowing for different species of Synapturanus to arise. In 1934, Synapturanus separated from Myersiella into its own genus. Some of the traits that separated Synapturanus from Myersiella was the discs on four digits and a lighter colored ventral side.

Behavior[]

They spend most of their time underground and it is hypothesized they dig head-first into the soil based on morphological characteristics. The male Synapturanus zombie produce calls during or after rainstorms in the wet season, November and December. Researchers found females present during male vocalization which has suggested both parents may provide care for their offspring. Their calls ranged from 0.147-0.167 seconds and are done every 6.90-9.90 seconds. In comparison with other Synapturanus species to the west of them, they are observed to spend more time underground and are considered nocturnal. While laying eggs, species within the family Mmicrohylidae in the Guiana Shield are terrestrial or reside in the trees and lay their eggs on land. Species of the genus Synapturanus were observed to lay further developed tadpoles within their burrows to fully develop while getting nutrients from the yolk. Both African and other New Guinean microhylids were observed to be fossorial and lay eggs in the same manner.

Morphology[]

The overall size range for snout-vent length is 37.0-40.6 millimeter in length for males and 39.0-42.1 millimeters in length for females. This is distinguishable from the other synapturanus species whose snout-vent length is at the largest 37.3 millimeters in length. They are a medium brown colored with lighter orange colored spots and a pearl colored underbody and snout. In comparison to other synapturanus frogs, their eyes are smaller making up 3.9% of snout-vent length. The females yellow ovaries are visible through the underside skin which is shown to be translucent in both males and females. This phenotype three group has been found to experience more ossification in the skull, sphenoid-nasal bridge, and septum. They have thicker bony regions namely the radio-ulna and a larger atlas. Their hands make up 20% of snout-vent length with an absence of webbing and discs on the digits. The fourth digit of this frog is rounded in comparison to the other tapered digits.

French Guiana (Orange)

Habitat and climate[]

Their habitat consists of primary forests within the Eastern portion of the Guiana Shield, namely French Guiana. They have been found in firm and well drained soils along massifs and inselbergs sloping areas (Fouquet et al, 2021). French Guiana is a tropical climate with a wet season November-December and a dry season February-March. El Nino and La Nina cause changes in temperature as well as humidity levels. This causes a less consistent climate depending on El Nino and La Nina. The temperature averages at around 26 degrees Celsius and the humidity falls between 75%-100%.

References[]

Antoine Fouquet, Killian Leblanc, Anne-Claire Fabre, Miguel T. Rodrigues, Marcelo Menin, Elodie A. Courtois, Maël Dewynter, Monique Hölting, Raffael Ernst, Pedro Peloso, Philippe J.R. Kok, Comparative osteology of the fossorial frogs of the genus Synapturanus (Anura, Microhylidae) with the description of three new species from the Eastern Guiana Shield, Zoologischer Anzeiger, Volume 293, 2021, Pages 46-73, ISSN 0044-5231, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcz.2021.05.003.

Antoine Fouquet, Killian Leblanc, Marlene Framit, Alexandre Réjaud, Miguel T Rodrigues, Santiago Castroviejo-Fisher, Pedro L V Peloso, Ivan Prates, Sophie Manzi, Uxue Suescun, Sabrina Baroni, Leandro J C L Moraes, Renato Recoder, Sergio Marques de Souza, Francisco Dal Vecchio, Agustín Camacho, José Mario Ghellere, Fernando J M Rojas-Runjaic, Giussepe Gagliardi-Urrutia, Vinícius Tadeu de Carvalho, Marcelo Gordo, Marcelo Menin, Philippe J R Kok, Tomas Hrbek, Fernanda P Werneck, Andrew J Crawford, Santiago R Ron, Jonh Jairo Mueses-Cisneros, Rommel Roberto Rojas Zamora, Dante Pavan, Pedro Ivo Simões, Raffael Ernst, Anne-Claire Fabre, Species diversity and biogeography of an ancient frog clade from the Guiana Shield (Anura: Microhylidae: Adelastes, Otophryne, Synapturanus) exhibiting spectacular phenotypic diversification, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 132, Issue 2, February 2021, Pages 233–256, https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blaa204

C. Kenneth Dodd Jr. (2010). Amphibian Ecology and Conservation : A Handbook of Techniques. OUP Oxford.

Holting. (2021). Synatpuranus mesomorphus [Review of Synatpuranus mesomorphus]. https://phys.org/news/2021-06-zombie-frog-species-narrow-mouthed-family.html

Nelson, C. E., & Lescure, J. (1975). The Taxonomy and Distribution of Myersiella and Synapturanus (Anura: Microhylidae). Herpetologica, 31(4), 389–397. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3891525

Roger, A., Nacher, M., Hanf, M., Drogoul, A. S., Adenis, A., Basurko, C., Dufour, J., Sainte Marie, D., Blanchet, D., Simon, S., Carme, B., & Couppié, P. (2013). Climate and leishmaniasis in French Guiana. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 89(3), 564–569. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.12-0771

Synapturanus. (2021, July 13). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synapturanus

Wells, K. D. (2007). The Ecology & Behavior of Amphibians. University of Chicago Press.