Internal larval characters in anuran systematic studies: a phylogenetic hypothesis forLeptodactylus(Anura, Leptodactylidae)

There are few systematic studies based on internal buccal and larval cranium morphology of anuran tadpoles. Here we hypothesized phylogenetic relationships of frogs of the Leptodactylus genus with 84 internal larval characters, where 63 of them were described for the first time. We recovered Leptodactylus as monophyletic with two major clades. A similar topological arrangement was found by combining the larval with 98 adult morphology characters. PBS analysis revealed that the two data sets contributed differentially to establish major clades of Leptodactylus in the overall tree. This result was corroborated by the IDL test, which also indicated incongruences between data sets. Together with an overview of internal larval descriptions and discussions about the performance of these characters to reconstruct the phylogeny of Leptodactylus (i.e. homologies and homoplasies), we also provided information regarding intraspecific and populational variation found among the morphologies of the tadpoles sampled.