Wang Xiuping, Zhang Meihua, Zhang Wenyi, Jiang Jianping, Dong Bingjun
College of Life Sciences, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang 110034, China.
Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Jul 17;15(14):2118. doi: 10.3390/ani15142118.
Sexual dimorphism is prevalent among animals, influencing both functional morphological traits and behavioral performances. In this study, we investigated the sexual differences in the morphological parameters of (Anura, Microhylidae) during the breeding season using 48 specimens. Our results reveal that among the 16 external morphological traits, females had significantly larger snout-vent length and eye diameter than males. The former presumably contributes to enhancing fertility, while the latter is associated with larger body size. Males exhibited significantly greater head width and thigh width than females, which may be related to accessing a wider range of food sources and enhancing their locomotor ability, respectively. Among the 32 appendicular muscles, 10 displayed significant sexual dimorphism in dry mass, suggesting divergent reproductive strategies between the sexes. Among the eight internal organs analyzed, males possessed significantly heavier hearts and lungs than females, which is likely an adaptation to higher metabolic demands and calling behavior. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that sex-specific differences in external morphology, muscle mass, and internal organ mass reflect distinct ecological and reproductive adaptations between males and females and contribute to the phenotypic diversities in Anura.
两性异形在动物中普遍存在，影响着功能形态特征和行为表现。在本研究中，我们使用48个标本调查了繁殖季节姬蛙科（无尾目）的形态参数的性别差异。我们的结果表明，在16个外部形态特征中，雌性的吻肛长度和眼直径显著大于雄性。前者可能有助于提高繁殖力，而后者与更大的体型有关。雄性的头宽和大腿宽显著大于雌性，这可能分别与获取更广泛的食物来源和增强运动能力有关。在32块附肢肌肉中，有10块在干质量上表现出显著的两性异形，表明两性之间存在不同的繁殖策略。在分析的八个内部器官中，雄性的心脏和肺比雌性的明显更重，这可能是对更高代谢需求和鸣叫行为的一种适应。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，外部形态、肌肉质量和内部器官质量的性别特异性差异反映了雄性和雌性之间不同的生态和繁殖适应性，并促成了无尾目的表型多样性。
