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Bite force in the horned frog (Ceratophrys cranwelli) with implications for extinct giant frogs

Of the nearly 6,800 extant frog species, most have weak jaws that play only a minor role in prey capture. South American horned frogs (Ceratophrys) are a notable exception. Aggressive and able to consume vertebrates their own size, these “hopping heads” use a vice-like grip of their jaws to restrain...

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Autores principales: Lappin, A. Kristopher, Wilcox, Sean C., Moriarty, David J., Stoeppler, Stephanie A. R., Evans, Susan E., Jones, Marc E. H.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5607344/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28931936
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-11968-6
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author Lappin, A. Kristopher
Wilcox, Sean C.
Moriarty, David J.
Stoeppler, Stephanie A. R.
Evans, Susan E.
Jones, Marc E. H.
author_facet Lappin, A. Kristopher
Wilcox, Sean C.
Moriarty, David J.
Stoeppler, Stephanie A. R.
Evans, Susan E.
Jones, Marc E. H.
author_sort Lappin, A. Kristopher
collection PubMed
description Of the nearly 6,800 extant frog species, most have weak jaws that play only a minor role in prey capture. South American horned frogs (Ceratophrys) are a notable exception. Aggressive and able to consume vertebrates their own size, these “hopping heads” use a vice-like grip of their jaws to restrain and immobilize prey. Using a longitudinal experimental design, we quantified the ontogenetic profile of bite-force performance in post-metamorphic Ceratophrys cranwelli. Regression slopes indicate positive allometric scaling of bite force with reference to head and body size, results that concur with scaling patterns across a diversity of taxa, including fish and amniotes (lizards, tuatara, turtles, crocodylians, rodents). Our recovered scaling relationship suggests that exceptionally large individuals of a congener (C. aurita) and extinct giant frogs (Beelzebufo ampinga, Late Cretaceous of Madagascar) probably could bite with forces of 500 to 2200 N, comparable to medium to large-sized mammalian carnivores.
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spelling pubmed-56073442017-10-04 Bite force in the horned frog (Ceratophrys cranwelli) with implications for extinct giant frogs Lappin, A. Kristopher Wilcox, Sean C. Moriarty, David J. Stoeppler, Stephanie A. R. Evans, Susan E. Jones, Marc E. H. Sci Rep Article Of the nearly 6,800 extant frog species, most have weak jaws that play only a minor role in prey capture. South American horned frogs (Ceratophrys) are a notable exception. Aggressive and able to consume vertebrates their own size, these “hopping heads” use a vice-like grip of their jaws to restrain and immobilize prey. Using a longitudinal experimental design, we quantified the ontogenetic profile of bite-force performance in post-metamorphic Ceratophrys cranwelli. Regression slopes indicate positive allometric scaling of bite force with reference to head and body size, results that concur with scaling patterns across a diversity of taxa, including fish and amniotes (lizards, tuatara, turtles, crocodylians, rodents). Our recovered scaling relationship suggests that exceptionally large individuals of a congener (C. aurita) and extinct giant frogs (Beelzebufo ampinga, Late Cretaceous of Madagascar) probably could bite with forces of 500 to 2200 N, comparable to medium to large-sized mammalian carnivores. Nature Publishing Group UK 2017-09-20 /pmc/articles/PMC5607344/ /pubmed/28931936 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-11968-6 Text en © The Author(s) 2017 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Lappin, A. Kristopher
Wilcox, Sean C.
Moriarty, David J.
Stoeppler, Stephanie A. R.
Evans, Susan E.
Jones, Marc E. H.
Bite force in the horned frog (Ceratophrys cranwelli) with implications for extinct giant frogs
title Bite force in the horned frog (Ceratophrys cranwelli) with implications for extinct giant frogs
title_full Bite force in the horned frog (Ceratophrys cranwelli) with implications for extinct giant frogs
title_fullStr Bite force in the horned frog (Ceratophrys cranwelli) with implications for extinct giant frogs
title_full_unstemmed Bite force in the horned frog (Ceratophrys cranwelli) with implications for extinct giant frogs
title_short Bite force in the horned frog (Ceratophrys cranwelli) with implications for extinct giant frogs
title_sort bite force in the horned frog (ceratophrys cranwelli) with implications for extinct giant frogs
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5607344/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28931936
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-11968-6
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