Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription or Fee Access

Age Structure and Growth in the Zamda Toad, Bufotes zamdaensis (Anura, Bufonidae)

Sergey M. Lyapkov, Artem A. Kidov, Irina V. Stepankova, Kirill A. Afrin, Spartak N. Litvinchuk

Abstract


The paper provides the first data about age structure and growth of the Zamda toad, Bufotes zamdaensis (Boulenger, 1882), from the Himachal Pradesh State (India). The study of age structure of toads was carried out using skeletochronology. The minimal and maximal ages in males of B. zamdaensis were 4 and 7 years, respectively, with mean age of 5.4 years. The majority of males (60%) were 5 years old. The age in females ranged from 5 to 9 years with mean value of 6.1 years. The majority of females (71%) were 5 – 6 years old. Males of B. zamdaensis can reach maturation after four winterings and females after five winterings. Unlike closely related species B. latastii, the growth rate in both sexes does not decrease significantly after the 1st and 2nd wintering and remains high after the 3rd and 4th wintering.

Keywords


the Zamda toad; Bufotes zamdaensis; age; growth; skeletochronology

Full Text:

PDF

References


Altunişik A. and Özdemir N. (2015), «Life history traits in Bufotes variabilis (Pallas, 1769) from 2 different altitudes in Turkey», Turk. J. Zool., 39, 153 – 159.

Borkin L. J. and Litvinchuk S. N. (2013), «Amphibians of the Palearctic: taxonomic composition», Tr. Zool. Inst. RAN, 317(4), 494 – 541 [in Russian].

Chen X., Ni G., He K., Ding Z.-L., Li G.-M., Adeola A. C., Murphy R. W., Wang W.-Z., and Zhang Y.-P. (2016), «An improved de novo pipeline 1 for enrichment of high diversity mitochondrial genomes from Amphibia to high-throughput sequencing», bioRxiv; doi: 10.1101/080689.

Dubois A. and Bour R. (2010), «The nomenclatural status of the nomina of amphibians and reptiles created by Garsault (1764), with a parsimonious solution to an old nomenclatural problem regarding the genus Bufo (Amphibia, Anura), comments on the taxonomy of this genus, and comments on some nomina created by Laurenti (1768)», Zootaxa, 2447, 1 – 52.

Fei L. and Ye C.-Y. (2016), Amphibians of China. Vol. 1, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Science Press, Beijing.

Fei L., Ye, C.-Y., Huang, Y.-Z., and Chen X.-N. (1999), «Taxonomic studies on Bufo viridis from west China (Amphibia: Anura)», Zool. Res., 20(4), 294 – 300.

Fei L., Ye C.-Y., Huang Y.-Z., Jiang J.-P., and Xie F. (2005), An Illustrated Key to Chinese Amphibians, Sichuan Publishing House of Science and Technology, Chongqing.

Fei L., Hu S.-Q., Ye C.-Y., and Huang Y.-Z. (2009), Fauna Sinica. Amphibia. Vol. 2. Anura, Chinese Academy of Science, Science Press, Beijing.

Fei L., Ye C.-Y., and Jiang J.-P. (2012), Colored Atlas of Chinese Amphibians and Their Distributions, Sichuan Publishing House of Science & Technology, Chengdu.

Frost D. R. (2019), Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6.0, American Museum of Natural History, New York. http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.html

Giacoma C. (1999), «Struttura di popolazione», Riv. Idrobiol., 38(1 – 3), 251 – 265.

Gokhelashvili R. K. and Tarkhnishvili D. N. (1994), «Age structure of six Georgian anuran populations and its dynamics during two consecutive years (Anura)», Herpetozoa, 7(1/2), 11 – 18.

Kidov A. A., Matushkina K. A., Litvinchuk S. N., Blinova S. A., Afrin K. A., and Kovrina E. G. (2016), «The first captive breeding of the Lataste’s toad, Bufotes latastii (Boulenger, 1882) in laboratory conditions», Curr. Stud. Herpetol., 16(1 – 2), 20 – 26 [in Russian].

Kusano T., Maruyama K., and Kaneko S. (2010), «Body size and age structure of a breeding population of the Japanese common toad, Bufo japonicus formosus (Amphibia: Bufonidae)», Curr. Herpetol., 29(1), 23 – 31.

Kutrup B., Cikar E., Colak Z., Bulbul U., and Karaoglu H. (2011), «Age and growth of the green toad, Bufo viridis (Laurenti, 1768) from an island and a mainland population in Giresun, Turkey», J. Anim. Vet. Adv., 10(11), 1469 – 1472.

Ledentsov A. V. and Melkumyan L. S. (1986), «On longevity and growth rate in amphibians and reptiles in Armenia», Tr. Zool. Inst. AN SSSR, 158, 105 – 110 [in Russian].

Litvinchuk S. N., Borkin L. J., Skorinov D. V., Mazepa G. A., Pasynkova R. A., Dedukh D. V., Krasikova A. V., and Rosanov J. M. (2012), «Unusual triploid speciation in green toads Bufo viridis group in High-altitude Asia», in: N. B. Ananjeva et al. (eds.), Problems of Herpetology, Minsk, pp. 160 – 165 [in Russian].

Litvinchuk S. N., Borkin L. J., Skorinov D. V., Pasynkova R. A., and Rosanov J. M. (2016), «Natural polyploidy in amphibians», Vestn. SPbGU. Biol., 3, 77 – 86 [in Russian].

Litvinchuk S. N., Borkin L. J., Mazepa G., Skorinov D. V., Melnikov D. A., and Rosanov J. M. (2017), «Distribution of amphibians in the Western Himalaya (India)», in: L. J. Borkin (ed.), Russian Himalayan Research: Past, Present, Future, Evropeisky Dom, St. Petersburg, pp. 188 – 194 [in Russian].

Litvinchuk S. N., Skorinov D. V., Pasynkova R. A., Kidov A. A., Matushkina K. A., Borkin L. J., and Rosanov J. M. (2019), «Polyploid speciation in Asian green toads of the genus Bufotes (Bufonidae)», Univ. Tr. Volzh. Region. Estestv. Nauki, 1(25), 80 – 93 [in Russian].

Lyapkov S. M. (2019), «Age composition and growth characteristics of Rana temporaria from populations with extremally short activity season», Univ. Tr. Volzh. Region. Estestv. Nauki, 1(25), 94 – 101 [in Russian].

Lyapkov S. M., Kornilova M. B., Serbinova I. A., Korsun E. V., and Novitsky R. V. (2009), «Formation of countergradient and cogradient variation in life-history traits of brown frogs», Curr. Stud. Herpetol., 9(3 – 4), 103 – 121 [in Russian].

Lyapkov S. M., Kidov A. A., Stepankova I. V., Afrin K. A., and Litvinchuk S. N. (2020), «The first results of skeletochronological estimation of age, body size and growth in the Lataste’s toads, Bufotes latastii (Boulenger, 1882) (Anura, Bufonidae)», Russ. J. Herpetol. [in press].

Marunouchi J., Kusano T., and Ueda H. (2000), «Validity of back-calculation methods of body size from phalangeal bones: an assessment using data for Rana japonica», Curr. Herpetol., 19, 81 – 89.

Matkovskiy A. V., Lyapkov S. M., and Starikov V. P. (2011), «Postmetamorphic growth rate and age composition in Rana arvalis populations near the northern limit of its range according to skeletochronological data», Curr. Stud. Herpetol., 11(3 – 4), 143 – 156 [in Russian].

Matushkina K. A., Yanchurevich O. V., and Kidov A. A. (2015), «Age and growth of the Eichwald’s toad (Bufo eichwaldi Litvinchuk, Borkin, Skorinov et Rosanov, 2008) in the Lenkoran Lowland (Southeastern Azerbaijan)», Curr. Stud. Herpetol., 15(3 – 4), 114 – 119 [in Russian].

Matushkina K. A., Kidov A. A., and Seryakova A. A. (2017), «Captive breeding of narrowly distributed triploid toad, Bufotes baturae (Stöck, Schmid, Steinleinet Grosse, 1999) with the use of complete feeds for aquarium fish», Vestn. Tambov. Univ. Estestv. Tekhn. Nauki, 22(5 – 1), 960 – 964.

Matushkina K. A., Kidov A. A., and Litvinchuk S. N. (2020), «Keeping, breeding and maintenance of zooculture of the Ladakh toad, Bufotes latastii (Boulenger, 1882)», Russ. J. Herpetol. [in press].

Rosso A., Doglio S., Bovero S., Castellano S., and Giacoma C. (2000), «Struttura di età di tre popolazioni di rospo smeraldino (Bufo viridis) in Piemonte», in: C. Giacoma (ed.), Atti del I Congresso Nazionale della Societas Herpetologica Italica, Torino, pp. 459 – 466.

Schabetsberger R., Langer H., Jersabek C. D., and Goldschmidt A. (2000), «On age structure and longevity in two populations of Bufo bufo (Linnaeus, 1758), at high altitude breeding sites in Austria», Herpetozoa, 13, 187 – 191.

Sinsch U., Leskovar C., Drobig A., König A., and Grosse W.-R. (2007), «Life-history traits in green toad (Bufo viridis) populations: indicators of habitat quality», Can. J. Zool., 85, 665 – 673.

Smirina É. M. (1989), «A technique for determining the age of amphibians and reptiles by layers in bones», in: N. N. Szczerbak (ed.), A Guide to the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, pp. 144 – 153 [in Russian].

Smirina É. M. and Makarov A. N. (1987), «On the establishment of the correspondence of the number of layers in tubular bones in amphibians to the age of individuals», Zool. Zh., 66(4), 599 – 604 [in Russian].

Tarkhnishvili D. N. and Gokhelashvili R. K. (1999), «The amphibians of the Caucasus», Adv. Amphib. Res. Former Soviet Union, 4, 1 – 233.

Tomašević N., Cvetković D., Miaud C., Aleksić I., and Crnobrnja-Isailović J. (2008), «Interannual variation in life history traits between neighbouring populations of the widespread amphibian Bufo bufo», Rev. Ecol., 63, 371 – 381.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2021-28-3-138-144

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.