Meeting Abstract
Anuran locomotor strategies are diverse and include saltation, swimming, walking, climbing, and burrowing. Burrowing has many benefits for frogs: predator avoidance, exploitation of novel food stores, and (especially for desert-dwelling frogs) access to a moist and cool environment. This behavioral strategy is widely convergent across anuran phylogeny—from basal groups like Rhinophrynidae to higher groups like Hemisotidae. Within burrowing frogs, there are two main burrowing strategies: head-first burrowing and feet-first burrowing. The majority (95%) of burrowing anurans dig feet-first, such as Scaphiopus, Breviceps, and Pelobates. While front-first burrowing is less common, it has evolved independently at least seven times across Anura. These forward-burrowers tend to be more specialized for life underground. Some of their adaptations include a reinforced rostrum, ossified sternum, enlarged forelimb retractor muscles, and robust forelimb and pectoral girdle bones. Using CT data generated through the oVert Thematic Collections Network, this project will (1) quantify shape variation in the humerus, coracoid, and scapula of burrowing taxa with 3D morphometrics, (2) visualize the muscular anatomy of the pectoral girdle with DiceCT techniques, and (3) identify potential front-first burrowing species based on their pectoral anatomy. This work also provides a framework for predicting locomotor modes in taxa for which the natural history is poorly known.
