Blouin Michael S
Department of Biology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. Michael S. Blouin is now at Department of Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, Bldg. 471, Mowry Rd., University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0633.
J Morphol. 1991 Sep;209(3):305-310. doi: 10.1002/jmor.1052090306.
Hyla cinerea and H. gratiosa are closely related treefrogs that differ at metamorphosis in the length of the hind limb relative to snout vent length. A developmental series of larvae of the two species raised under uniform laboratory conditions reveals that H. cinerea have proportionately longer legs at metamorphosis than H. gratiosa for the following reasons: 1) Hyla cinerea initiate limb growth at a smaller body size than H. gratiosa, 2) H. cinerea have a faster rate of limb growth, and 3) body growth rates in H. cinerea and H. gratiosa are nearly identical until just before metamorphosis.
灰树蛙和华丽树蛙是亲缘关系密切的树蛙，在变态期时，它们后肢长度与吻肛长度的比例有所不同。在统一的实验室条件下饲养的这两个物种的一系列发育阶段的幼虫表明，灰树蛙在变态期时腿部比例比华丽树蛙更长，原因如下：1）灰树蛙比华丽树蛙在更小的体型时就开始肢体生长；2）灰树蛙的肢体生长速度更快；3）直到变态期前不久，灰树蛙和华丽树蛙的身体生长速度几乎相同。
