Article Review: Intense Bone Fluorescence Reveals Hidden Patterns in Pumpkin Toadlets

Article Review

Article Name:Intense Bone Fluorescence Reveals Hidden Patterns in Pumpkin Toadlets

Authors: Sandra Goutte, Matthew J. Mason, Marta M. Antoniazzi, Carlos Jared, Didier Merle, Lilian Cazes, Luís Felipe Toledo, Hanane el-Hafci, Stéphane Pallu, Hugues Portier, Stefan Schramm, Pierre Gueriau & Mathieu Thoury

Journal Name: Scientific Reports

Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-41959-8

Citation: Goutte, Sandra, et al. "Intense bone fluorescence reveals hidden patterns in pumpkin toadlets." Scientific Reports 9.1 (2019): 5388.

Blog Post 2

               The article describes fluorescent patterns in two pumpkin toadlet species (Brachycephalus ephippium and B. pitanga). The researches were able to determine that the fluorescence originates from the dermal bond of the head and back. In order to characterize the fluorescent properties, they used a combination of histological fluorescence and X-ray imaging techniques.

                 These species of frogs reside in the Atlantic forest in Brazil, diurnal in all species, and toxic with bright colors as a majority. They found that florescence was present in both male and females, but not in younger individuals due to ossification not having taken place. With the Brachycephalus ephippium, they were dissected to check sexual organs and vocal slits for sexual majority. What they found was the dermal bone was more developed in those that were sexually mature compared to sub-adults. Fully-developed dorsal plates gave a yellow fluorescence, while those who were sub-adults and juveniles had a blue fluorescence. It was assumed that this fluorescence was influenced by different thicknesses of the epidermal layer over the dermis. For the Brachycephalus pitanga, none were dissected since everyone was identified as mature individuals and were assumed to have similar late-stage developed dermal ossification.

               This article is based on observations to describe characteristics of these species of frog. Researchers noticed a unique characteristic and took the time to document them and these writings help others understand better about this topic. The fact that these frogs give off a fluorescence from their bones, is fascinating to learn about on its own. Something added in their conclusions is that they found that this fluorescence could be the bridge that helps them identify each other. Reason for this assumption was due to that these frogs were deaf to their own advertisement calls. Instead, they were known to use visual communication with hand-waving and mouth-gaping.

- Javier Polo Jr.