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- Title
The Urogenital System of the Male Rhyacotriton and the Evolution of the Male Urogenital Duct System in Salamanders.
- Authors
Siegel, D. S.; Wilson, F. R.; Aldridge, R. D.
- Abstract
Between 1945 and 1967 a series of articles on the male urogenital anatomy of salamanders was published in the Journal of the Tennessee Academyof Science. These manuscripts covered morphological aspects of all salamander families except for the Dicamptodontidae and Rhyacotritonidae. Here, we provide data on the reproductive biology of Rhyacotriton and describe the morphology of the epididymal complex of the genital kidney and the collecting ducts of the pelvic kidney. We then coded characteristics of male salamander urogenital structures and compared the urogenital anatomy of salamanders in a phylogenetic context. The genital kidney of the Rhyacotritonidae is characterized by a number of characteristics most similar to that of Sirenidae (i.e., the testis communicates with the Wolffian duct via a sequential arrangement of vasa efferentia, renal corpuscles, and efferent epididymal ducts; no longitudinal duct or afferent epididymal ducts were observed), many of which have not been described previously in other salamanders. Despite the similarity of the genital kidney to that of sirenids, the pelvic kidney of the Rhyacotritonidae is most similar to that of the Cryptobranchidae and the Hynobiidae (i.e., collecting ducts that communicate individually with the cranial portion of the cloaca), a condition that could be considered homoplastic in the context of our current understanding of salamander phylogeny. In culmination, male urogenital duct structures support a monophyletic Salamandroidea; however, support weakens with the exclusion of male cloacal morphology.
- Subjects
GENITOURINARY organs; RHYACOTRITON; BIOLOGICAL evolution; SALAMANDERS; PUBLISHED articles; ANIMAL morphology; PHYLOGENY
- Publication
Journal of the Tennessee Academy of Science, 2012, Vol 87, Issue 1, p11
- ISSN
0040-313X
- Publication type
Article