Herpetology Notes, volume 10: 413-415 (2017) (published online on 08 August 2017)

Records of ocular anomaly in two species of anurans in the eastern Amazon region

Jackson Cleiton Sousa1 and Carlos Eduardo Costa-Campos1,*

Amphibian malformations result from both genetic and specimen suffered from anophthalmia of its right eye, environmental factors and can be expected to occur in any while the left eye was present and normal (Figure 1). population at a proportion of approximately 2% (Reeves On 5 October 2016 at 19:42h, during field research et al., 2013). Malformations can occur in association in the Estação Ecológica Maracá-Jipioca (2.0970° N, with environmental factors such as pollution, UV-B 50.4975° W, WGS84; 11 m elev.), an island within radiation, presence of parasites, selective predation and the municipality of Amapá, Eastern Amazon, our developmental errors, which potentially pose threat to team collected one adult specimen of ruber the affected population directly or indirectly (SVL= 29.8 mm). The had its right eye with a (Lannoo, 2008; Johnson et al., 2010). In this note, we abnormal iris coloration, while the left eye was of report two cases of ocular anomaly in two species of normal coloration (Figure 2). It did not outwardly show anurans: Lysapsus bolivianus and Scinax ruber in the other physical abnormalities in the rest of its body. Its eastern Amazon. mobility seemed unaffected by its eye damage, although The genus Lysapsus forms a peculiar group of aquatic during our observations and photographs the , known as “paradoxical frogs” (Santana et al., was not particularly active. This specimen was the only 2013). Lysapsus bolivianus is a small (13–25 mm of its species that we encountered at this locality which SVL), semiaquatic, diurnal, and nocturnal species presented ocular anomaly. found on the water surface in loose clusters of emergent Although we did not investigate the causes of aquatic vegetation (Bosch et al., 1996). Males call from the observed abnormalities, we suggest that the a horizontal position on leaves of aquatic macrophytes anophthalmia recorded in L. bolivianus is the effect of (Melo-Furtado et al., 2014). agrochemicals within the aquatic environment, which The hylid Scinax ruber is a medium sized frog (up are known to affect the development of . to 42 mm SVL), arboreal, nocturnal, and frequently For the island specimen of S. ruber the cause of the observed on bushes and trees in secondary forest and malformation any number of possible factors such as disturbed areas (Lima et al., 2005). The species occurs hybridization, parasites, congenital illness, high levels in the of , Bolivia, , , of UV-B radiation, and high rates of predation, which , the Guianas, eastern , and Trinidad and leads to higher incidences of predator-caused mutilations Tobago (Frost, 2017). (Lannoo, 2008). At 20:35 h on 27 January 2017 an adult male of Voucher specimens were preserved in 10 % formalin L. bolivianus (15.5 mm SVL) was collected on the and later transferred to 70 % ethanol (Heyer et al., 1997) floodplain in Curiaú River (0.2381°N, 51.1294°W, and will be deposited in the Herpetological Collection WGS84), municipality of Macapá, northern Brazil. The of the Universidade Federal do Amapá (CECCAMPOS 01245 – Scinax ruber; CECCAMPOS 01246 – Lysapsus bolivianus, ICMBio collecting permit number 48102-2 and 51436-1) This is the first report of anophthalmia in Lysapsus 1 Universidade Federal do Amapá, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Laboratório de Herpetologia. Macapá, bolivianus and ocular anomaly in Scinax ruber in Eastern AP, Brazil, CEP: 68.903-419. Amazon. More detailed studies should be carried out to * Corresponding author e-mail: [email protected] find the potential role of environmental factors in the 414 Jackson Cleiton Sousa & Carlos Eduardo Costa-Campos

Figure 1. Front (left) and dorsolateral (right) views of an adult Lysapsus bolivianus with anophthalmia of its right eye found on a floodplain of the Curiaú River, municipality of Macapá, northern Brazil.

Figure 2. Lateral (left) and front view (right) of an adult Scinax ruber with an abnormal iris coloration at Estação Ecológica Maracá-Jipioca, municipality of Amapá, northern Brazil.

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Accepted by Hendrik Müller