乱伦秀

Frogs have a highly conserved body plan, yet they use a diverse array of locomotor styles 鈥撎齤umping, swimming, burrowing, walking, and climbing. This makes frogs ideal organisms for investigating the relationship between body shape 鈥� both bones and soft tissues 鈥� and locomotor function.听

In research published in the Journal of Anatomy, scientists at 乱伦秀 and the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) have digitally dissected the skeletal and muscle anatomy of the pelvis and hindlimbs of 30 frog species using cutting-edge contrast-enhanced microCT scanning. Their dataset includes the earliest-evolving living frog and covers 160 million years of evolutionary history. Furthermore, this study includes the first detailed dissection of one of the world鈥檚 smallest vertebrates (<1cm body length), the muscles of which are nearly impossible to dissect using traditional methods due to their tiny size. Co-author Dr听Laura Porro, an Associate Professor at 乱伦秀, said:听鈥淩ecent advances in new staining techniques, high-resolution imaging, and 3D visualization have opened new possibilities for understanding human and animal anatomy to a level of detail that was previously not possible.鈥�

With this vast dataset, the team discovered previously unreported anatomical differences between frogs specialising in different locomotor styles across terrestrial, arboreal and aquatic habitats. Additionally, in the first quantitative analysis of its kind, they found evidence that evolutionary history is the key factor determining the number of distinct muscles in the pelvis and thigh, while the separation of shank muscles is influenced more strongly by locomotor mode. This study also presents important implications for future studies of frog palaeontology, as the team found that the lengths of bones were often not reliable predictors of muscle size.听

Dr听Alice Leavey, first author, performed this study as part of her PhD thesis under the supervision of coauthors Dr听Laura Porro (乱伦秀 Division of Biosciences) and Dr听Chris Richards (RVC), funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) London Interdisciplinary Doctoral Programme. Dr听Leavey said the most exciting part about this work was the massive potential for future research and education: 鈥淚 have published all of the 3D anatomical reconstructions with detailed annotations on Sketchfab, free for anyone to download. Schools and universities can use them to teach anatomy in labs for the biological and veterinary sciences. Scientists can use them for biomechanical modelling or making further comparative analyses. We鈥檝e even had requests from a video-games designer to use them to help create more realistic characters. The list of potential uses goes on and on.鈥澨�

Links

• 听

Image

3D digital dissection of the pelvis and hindlimb musculoskeletal system of the common puddle frog, Occidozyga laevis (voucher number: UF-Herp-37009) in VGStudio Max (Version 3.4). Credit: Dr Alice Leavey