Reproduction, development and morphological plasticity in the direct-developing frog Pristimantis rosadoi

We report on three clutches with 13, 28 and 33 eggs, respectively, obtained from three Pristimantis rosadoi couples, caught in the wet Ecuadorian Choco region. Embryos developed from two clutches and are illustrated herein. One clutch matured and 25 froglets hatched simultaneously after 21 days. The hatching of froglets, with different amounts of yolk remaining, indicates that this was a response to perceived predation risk and thus indicates plasticity in hatching time. We also observed a distinct change from rough to smooth dorsal skin in two of the three females, after disengaging from amplexus. Our observations on reproduction and morphological change are compared to data known from other species of this genus.