Sand-eating tadpoles in Madagascar: morphology and ecology of the unique larvae of the treefrog Boophis picturatus.

The article discusses a study concerning the ecology and morphology of the sand-eating tadpoles of the treefrog Boophis picturatus in Ranomafana National Park (RNP) in the southern central east of Madagascar. It mentions that the tadpoles were euthanised by immersing into chlorobutanol solution and a principal components analysis (PCA) was performed to analyse the breeding site choice of B. picturatus frogs. It describes the buccal anatomy and external morphology of the tadpole wherein the B. picturatus has an extremely derived oral disc without keratodonts and jaw sheaths. It shows that B. picturatus tadpoles were mainly found in streams with low incline forest areas.