Meeting Abstract
The microhylid frogs of New Guinea and its satellite islands form a large monophyletic clade of over 300 species with tremendous ecological and morphological diversity. These frogs have long been hypothesized to be part of an adaptive radiation with specializations suggested for burrowing, terrestrial, semi-aquatic, arboreal, and scansorial lifestyles. We conducted a comparative analysis of morphology, ecology, and performance with a phylogenetic context to establish the reality of the ecomorphs and an evolutionary process of adaptive radiation. We have furthermore conducted a detailed morphological analysis for a jumping and swimming specialist to understand their design features. We characterized the hindlimb musculature including the major extensors and flexors at the hip, knee, and ankle joints and modeled hindlimb forces. We analyzed skeletal morphology using microCT and found that while characteristics of the femur are highly conserved, there is clear variation in the length and shape of the tibiofibula and pelvis. We interpret these results in relation to specializations for jumping and swimming locomotor modes.
