Sains Malaysiana 44(9)(2015): 1289–1299

Vocal Apparatus Structure of the Sarawak Frogs (Amphibia: Anura: Ranidae)

(Struktur Alat Vokal Katak Sarawak (Amfibia: Anura: Ranidae))

ELVY QUATRIN DEKA¹, LELA SU’UT², HASNIZAM ABDUL WAHID³ & RAMLAH ZAINUDIN¹*

¹Department of Zoology, Faculty of Resource Science and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak Bumi Kenyalang, Malaysia

²Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak Bumi Kenyalang, Malaysia

³Department of Music, Faculty of Applied and Creative Arts, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

94300 Kota Samarahan, Sarawak Bumi Kenyalang, Malaysia

Received: 1 April 2014/Accepted: 24 May 2015

ABSTRACT

Studies have shown that some characters, such as morphological, biochemical and behavioural characteristics were shared among con-specifics of closely related frog species. It is hypothesized that closely related frogs would have similar vocal apparatus structure to produce similar call characteristics, in order to be recognized by con-specifics. The vocal apparatus structures of the frogs from Ranidae were, thus, investigated and calls were recorded from various locations in Sarawak, Borneo. The vocal apparatus was sliced and stained using haematoxylin and eosin staining method. The prepared slides were scanned using Dotslide System Olympus BX51. Captured images were further measured using Microscope Olympus BX51. The results showed that the vocal apparatus structure of ranids in Sarawak differed in length between pulvinar vocale and posterior margin (pvpm) or known as vocal cord stricter. This character was deemed to be the most significant character to discriminate the Sarawak ranids. It is suggested that histological analysis is also a good method for study of phenotypic variation of frog species, as shown by the vocal apparatus structure of the anurans. This study provides an alternative method to differentiate taxonomic identity among frog species.

Keywords: Advertisement call; histological method; Ranidae; variations; vocal apparatus

ABSTRAK

Kajian terdahulu telah menunjukkan sesetengah ciri seperti morfologi, biokimia dan kelakuan dikongsi bersama antara spesies yang berkait rapat. Hipotesis menyatakan spesies katak yang berkait rapat akan mempunyai struktur alat vokal yang sama untuk menghasilkan bunyi panggilan yang sama untuk dikenali oleh individu daripada spesies berkenaan. Justeru, struktur alat vokal katak Ranidae telah dikaji dan bunyi panggilan telah dirakam dari beberapa tempat di Sarawak, Borneo. Alat vokal dipotong dan diwarna dengan kaedah pewarnaan hematoxilin dan eosin. Slaid yang telah disediakan diimbas dengan Dotslide System Olympus BX51. Gambar yang telah dirakam kemudian diukur menggunakan Mikroskop Olympus BX51. Keputusan menunjukkan bahawa struktur alat vokal ranid di Sarawak berbeza antara spesies pada jarak antara vokal pulvinar dan pinggir posterior (pvpm) atau dikenali sebagai kawalan peti suara, dan struktur ini adalah paling signifikan untuk membezakan ranid Sarawak. Ini telah menunjukkan bahawa analisis histologi merupakan satu kaedah yang bagus untuk mengkaji variasi finotaip spesies katak seperti pada struktur alat vokal katak. Kajian ini telah menyediakan satu kaedah alternatif yang boleh digunakan untuk membezakan identiti taksonomi antara spesies katak.

Kata kunci: Alat vokal; kaedah histologi; panggilan mengawan; Ranidae; variasi

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*Corresponding author; email: zramlah@frst.unimas.my