WASHINGTON: Scientists have found a new species of frog that gives birth to tadpoles though frogs are amphibians and amphibians lay eggs. The mammalian ability in an amphibian was quite shocking.
This little amphibian from the rain forests of Indonesia’s island of Sulawesi is the only one of the world’s 6,455 frog species to give direct birth to tadpoles, eschewing the common froggy practice of laying eggs, scientists said .
“Reproduction in most frogs could not be more different from human reproduction. In this case, what is most interesting, ironically, is that the reproductive mode is more similar to our own,” said herpetologist Jimmy McGuire of the University of California, Berkeley, whose research appears in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
This frog, usually grey or brown, measures about 1-1/2 inches long (40 mm), weighs less than two-tenths of an ounce (5 grammes) and belongs to the Asian group of fanged frogs. Males possess two fang-like projections from the lower jaw that are used in fighting.
The frog lives along small streams and puddles in rainforest habitats, doing its best to avoid being eaten by larger fanged frog species as well as snakes and frog-munching birds.Its mode of reproduction sets this frog apart.
“The vast, vast majority of frogs have external fertilization. For mating, the male grips the female around the waist and releases sperm as she releases her eggs,” McGuire said.
Those eggs mature through stages including the aquatic tadpole larval phase, typically limbless with a tail that propels it through the water.
About a dozen frog species rely on internal fertilization, McGuire said. All but the newly identified one either deposit fertilized eggs or give birth to froglets, essentially miniature versions of an adult that already passed through a modified tadpole stage while still in an egg capsule inside the female.
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