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Can Anyone Climb? The Skills of a Non-specialized Toad and its Bearing on the Evolution of New Niches

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Abstract

Several studies of arboreal anuran species show morphological specializations for clinging onto narrow substrates. However, little is known about these capacities in non-specialized anurans, which is crucial to understand the initial phases of adaptation to a new niche. To assess the functional requirements related to the evolution of arboreality in anurans we analyzed climbing performance, and correlated anatomical traits, in the terrestrial toad Rhinella arenarum, a species choose as a proxy for the ancestral condition regarding the evolution of this specialized niche. We studied the impact of a substrate of wooden rods with different diameters, arrangements, and slopes on locomotion, grasping, and climbing with a comparative framework. Animals were confronted with climbing tests, video recording their behaviors. Preserved specimens were dissected to assess limb myology, osteology, and tendons’ characteristics. Our results show that how terrestrial toad R. arenarum climbs is different from those displayed by specialized tree frogs. Animals flexed their fingers and toes, grasping the substrate displaying hookings and partial graspings. The palm was scarcely involved in the grip, as in specialized anurans. These actions were performed although flexor and extensor muscles of the digits are highly conserved and generalized. Further, we formally assess the evolutionary history of ecological and anatomical traits related to climbing among Rhinella species to improving the comprehension of the relation between morphofunctional patterns and behavioral climbing skills. Our experiments revealed that this terrestrial toad possesses unexpected climbing capacities, suggesting a way in which evolution of new niches could have developed in the evolution of anurans.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

María Florencia Daneri helped in the early design of the experimental device and Marcelo Ibarzabal helped to build it. Federico Becerra helped capturing specimens in the field. Martina Vassallo helped during photograph of behavioral recording. Silvia Etcheverry helped with the specimens of the herpetological collection of CICyTTP-CONICET (Diamante). Martín Pereyra (IBS CONICET, Argentina) and Julián Faivovich (MACN CONICET, Argentina) suggested useful literature. We are also grateful to Mariana Chuliver Pereyra and Miriam C. Vera for contributing with photos used in this study.

Funding

This research was funded in part by Grants PICT 4300-2016 (FONCYT) and UBACYT 20020160100068BA (University of Buenos Aires), Argentina, to RNM; by Grants PIP 2014-2016 (CONICET) No. 11220130100375 and EXA918/18 (University of Mar del Plata) to AIV; and by Grants PICT 2772-2016, PICT 0832-2018 (FONCYT) and PIP 0389 (CONICET) to VA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras—CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Mar del Plata, Argentina

    Aldo I. Vassallo & Rubén N. Muzio

  2. CICyTTP-CONICET-FCyT, Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos, Diamante, Argentina

    Adriana Manzano

  3. Instituto de Biodiversidad Neotropical, UNT-CONICET, Cátedra de Biología General, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e IML-Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina

    Virginia Abdala

  4. Grupo de Aprendizaje y Cognición Comparada. Laboratorio de Biología del Comportamiento, Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (IBYME)-CONICET E Instituto de Investigaciones Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Vuelta de Obligado 2490, 1428, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, CP, Argentina

    Rubén N. Muzio

Authors
  1. Aldo I. Vassallo
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  2. Adriana Manzano
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  3. Virginia Abdala
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  4. Rubén N. Muzio
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Correspondence to Rubén N. Muzio.

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Vassallo, A.I., Manzano, A., Abdala, V. et al. Can Anyone Climb? The Skills of a Non-specialized Toad and its Bearing on the Evolution of New Niches. Evol Biol 48, 293–311 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-021-09539-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-021-09539-9

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