title: A comparative ultrastructural analysis of spermatozoa in Pleurodema (Anura, Leptodactylidae, Leiuperinae).
abstract: This study describes the spermatozoa of 10 of the 15 species of the Neotropical frog genus Pleurodema through transmission electron microscopy. The diversity of oviposition modes coupled with a recent phylogenetic hypothesis of Pleurodema makes it an interesting group for the study of ultrastructural sperm evolution in relation to fertilization environment and egg-clutch structure. We found that Pleurodema has an unusual variability in sperm morphology. The more variable structures were the acrosomal complex, the midpiece, and the tail. The acrosomal complex has all the structures commonly reported in hyloid frogs but with different degree of development of the subacrosomal cone. Regarding the midpiece, the variability is given by the presence or absence of the mitochondrial collar. Finally, the tail is the most variable structure, ranging from single (only axoneme) to more complex (presence of paraxonemal rod, cytoplasmic sheath, and undulating membrane), with the absence of the typical axial fiber present in hyloid frogs, also shared with some other genera of Leiuperinae. J. Morphol. 277:957-977, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Biología de Anfibios, Histología Animal, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.|Instituto de Bio y Geociencias (IBIGEO) - CONICET, Universidad de Salta, Salta, Argentina.
authors.forename: Julio C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Cruz
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Limnología (INALI) - CONICET, Santa Fe, Argentina.|División Herpetología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia" - CONICET, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Daiana P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Ferraro
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Biología de Anfibios, Histología Animal, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farías
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biologia Estrutural e Funcional, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil.
authors.forename: Julio S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biologia Estrutural e Funcional, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil.
authors.forename: Shirlei M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Recco-Pimentel
authors.affiliation: División Herpetología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia" - CONICET, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Julián
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Faivovich
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Biología de Anfibios, Histología Animal, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Gladys N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Hermida
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001001:Anura / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification; D005075:Biological Evolution; D008297:Male; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010802:Phylogeny; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000648:ultrastructure*
keywords: foam nest; phylogeny; spermatozoon; ultrastructure