Egg clutch dehydration induces early hatching in red-eyed treefrogs, Agalychnis callidryas.

ABSTRACT: Terrestrial eggs have evolved repeatedly in tropical anurans exposing embryos to the new threat of dehydration. Red-eyed treefrogs, Agalychnis callidryas, lay eggs on plants over water. Maternally provided water allows shaded eggs in humid sites to develop to hatching without rainfall, but unshaded eggs and those in less humid sites can die from dehydration. Hatching responses of amphibian eggs to dry conditions are known from two lineages with independent origins of terrestrial eggs. Here, we experimentally tested for dehydration-induced early hatching in another lineage (Agalychnis callidryas, Phyllomedusidae), representing a third independent origin of terrestrial eggs. We also investigated how dehydration affected egg and clutch structure, and egg mortality. We collected

SUBMITTER: Salica MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5511700 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature