Cite this article as:
Yartsev V. V., Evseyeva S. S. HISTOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SKIN OF SALAMANDRELLA KEYSERLINGII (CAUDATA, HYNOBIIDAE) MALES IN THE AQUATIC AND TERRESTRIAL PHASES OF THEIR SEASONAL CYCLE. Current Studies in Herpetology, 2018, vol. 18, iss. 1, pp. 54-63. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18500/1814-6090-2018-18-1-2-54-63
HISTOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SKIN OF SALAMANDRELLA KEYSERLINGII (CAUDATA, HYNOBIIDAE) MALES IN THE AQUATIC AND TERRESTRIAL PHASES OF THEIR SEASONAL CYCLE
Histological features of the skin of Salamandrella keyserlingii males are analyzed as depends on the seasonal cycle phase. Skin areas from the middle of the tail’s right side (caudal skin, CS), the center of the throat sac (throat skin, TS), and the middle of the back (dorsal skin, DS) were examined. For them, the presence of the stratum corneum of the epidermis and the fullness degree of the mucous glands were es-timated, and the relative areas of the main structural elements (epidermis, strata compactum and spongiosum, connective tissue in the whole, granular and mucous glands) were measured. It was estab-lished that, regardless of the skin area, the aquatic morphotype males had no cornified epidermis with se-cretion of their mucous glands. By quantitative histological parameters, seasonal variability was more pronounced for TS and CS and was not detected for DS. In the males of the aquatic morphotype, in com-parison with those of the terrestrial one, TS and CS were characterized by a larger area of the connective tissue and stratum compactum. For the epidermis, differently directed changes were noted, depending on the site: the CS of the aquatic morphotype males had a more powerful epidermis layer as compared to the individuals of the terrestrial morphotype, and in the TS, on the contrary, the epidermis area was larger in the terrestrial phase. For the TS of the terrestrial morphotype males, hypertrophy of their granular glands was found in comparison with those of the aquatic morphotype.
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