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The frog that can not hop properly

29.6.2022

Translation: machine translated

They whirl around in flight and then land on their backs: Frogs of the genus Brachycephalus are clumsy hoppers. The cause could lie in the inner ear.

It looks like he's drunk: the miniature frog pushes himself off the ground, jumps, then spins in the air, bangs his head on the ground and remains lying on his back with his limbs stretched out before finally picking himself up again. And he is not an isolated case: the tiny frogs of the genus Brachycephalus from Brazil have the smallest known arcuate ducts in the inner ear among adult animals and are therefore unable to control their posture before landing, reports a team of researchers led by Richard Essner of the U.S. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in the journal Science Advances.

The arcuates are important for the sense of balance, especially for perceiving rotational acceleration. To measure and compare them more closely, the group created 3-D casts of the inner ear of 147 species of frogs and toads based on scans, from the largest to the smallest living species. They then analyzed the jumps of 74 frogs from four species of the genus Brachycephalus. The researchers focused on three individuals of the species Brachycephalus pernix. These had difficulty maintaining balance during the flight phase of the jump.

The researchers suspect that the animals' reduced sense of balance also influences other behaviors, such as feeding and locomotion. As a result, the frogs may be at greater risk from predators. The group therefore expects the tiny frogs to have other strategies to defend themselves. For example, frogs of the genus Brachycephalus are clumsy hoppers but can camouflage themselves and wear bone plates or warning colors. In addition, some of them are toxic, for example the species Brachycephalus rotenberga, which has a strong neurotoxin.

Spectrum of Science

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Originalartikel auf Spektrum.de
Titelbild: © Maria Ogrzewalska / Getty Images / iStock (Ausschnitt): Dieser winzige Frosch der Art Brachycephalus ferrrunginus stammt aus dem Atlantischen Regenwald im südlichen Brasilien.

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