Meeting Abstract
Neotropical tree frogs of the subfamily Hylinae have three main locomotion modes with a direct impact on species fitness; they jump, swim and climb. Convergences in morphotype and locomotion are primarily driven by microhabitat, but in some cases morphology is the result of long-term phylogenetic constraints. Swimming is a critical behavior during life history for predator avoidance, reproduction, and early developmental stages. However, is still poorly understood how swimming evolved in closely related species with multiple locomotion modes. This study aims to understand the evolution of morphological traits and their influence on swimming behavior and performance in the Subfamily Hylinae. We included 225 individuals from 16 localities in Mexico, corresponding to 31 species and 14 genera. Our data set includes linear velocity of one complete swimming trial, backstroke kick (both legs simultaneously or alternating), forearm rowing present or absent, and microhabitat as arboreal (bellow or above 2m) and aquatic (still or moving water). We estimated the correlations among the evolution of traits along the phylogeny by using the threshold model. We found that Hylinae species use the two types of swimming reported for frogs, alternating gait (the presumed primitive condition in frogs) and simultaneously gait (the derived locomotion mode). In addition there is a high rate of inter- and intra- specific variation in swimming behavior and performance. Our evolutionary correlation analyses support that: faster swimming behavior is correlated with smaller limbs; a simultaneously gait is correlated with larger limb structure; microhabitat is not correlated with swimming speed or behavior; and arboreality is correlated with smaller radio-ulna and tibia. Which has important implications for the study of tree frog evolution and habitat selection.
