Meeting Abstract
Semi-aquatic and terrestrial frogs both use the locomotor apparatus (i.e., the hind limb) but can differ greatly in swimming and jumping performance. We conducted a morphological analysis of the hindlimb musculature of two relatively closely related microhylid frogs, which differ in locomotor habit. The semi-aquatic frog, Austrochaperina palmipes is an excellent swimmer and hops on land, often hopping from rock to rock in its stream habitat, whereas the terrestrial frog, Mantophryne laterals is an excellent jumper in its forest understory habitat. We compared muscle architecture, including CSA, pinnation angle, fiber length, muscle length, and muscle moment arm to model forces produced during the jump and correlated it with kinematics of swimming and jumping performance to examine whether there is any design features which explain the variation in performance.
