A description of the skeletal development of ranids is scarce despite being well known in the family Ranidae. Herein, the description of several species of two genera representing the family Ranidae from Turkey is studied wherein the larval and adult cranial skeletons of Pelophylax caralitanus are described and compared with that of the water frog (Pelophylax bedriagae) and mountain frog (Rana macrocnemis). The data are based on cleared and double-stained specimens of 20 Gosner developmental Stages (26-46). The first element to ossify in P. caralitanus is the parasphenoid (Stage 30), followed by the exoccipitals (Stage 34) and prootics (Stage 35). The metamorphic climax commences at Stage 42 during which several modifications to the chondrocranium will unfold. In addition, ranids demonstrate remarkable differences between the water (Pelophylax sp.) and mountain (Rana sp.) frog species: (a) the ventromedial bridge between the corpora of the suprarostral cartilage in the larval upper jaw, (b) the number of processes of the central corpus in the hyobranchial skeleton, and (c) the differences in the ossification time and sequence between Pelophylax sp. and Rana sp. A detailed description of the larval osteological features of P. caralitanus conforms to the current phylogenetic position and provides a model for comparison with other ranids.
Keywords: Pelophylax; Ranidae; cranium; ossification sequences; osteology.
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