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SPHENOPHRYNE - American Museum of Natural History

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104 BULLETIN AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY NO. 253<br />

Fig. 61. Changes <strong>of</strong> proportions relative to body size in five species: 1, Oxydactyla stenodactyla; 2,<br />

Austrochaperina derongo; 3,Sphenophryne cornuta; 4,Liophryne schlaginhaufeni; 5,Austrochaperina<br />

palmipes.<br />

<strong>of</strong> teeth or presence <strong>of</strong> serrations would be<br />

apomorphies, possibly either sequential or<br />

independent.<br />

VOMER: This is a complex bone that may<br />

derive from vomerine and palatine precursors,<br />

but whose developmental history remains<br />

to be clarified (Trueb, 1973; de Sá and<br />

Trueb, 1991). I use the term vomer without<br />

prejudice as to the bone’s true nature. In most<br />

species studied (including three Australian<br />

species not illustrated here, but see Zweifel:<br />

1985b, fig. 47), a lateral arm <strong>of</strong> bone extends<br />

from the midline <strong>of</strong> the palate to the maxilla<br />

(or almost so), and an anterior arm passes<br />

medial to the internal naris, in most instances<br />

sending a branch laterally along the anterior<br />

border <strong>of</strong> the naris (fig. 65). The exceptional<br />

species is Austrochaperina novaebritanniae<br />

(fig. 65J), in which there are separate anterior<br />

and posterior bones, and the lateral arm stops<br />

short <strong>of</strong> the maxilla. This may represent a<br />

pedomorphic state. In Sphenophryne cornuta<br />

the lateral arm also tapers out short <strong>of</strong> the<br />

maxillary shelf while the prenasal branch is

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