Therefore, it could be generalized inhibitor Bosutinib that (1) aquatic anuran embryos, which develop in lowlands and open areas, have a wider range of thermal tolerances than terrestrial embryos and (2) embryos of direct development species have the lowest range of thermal tolerances and consequently are the most sensitive to temperature. Zweifel’s work [1] also demonstrated a wide range of thermal tolerances for eight anuran species with aquatic reproduction of the arid southwest of the United States; these ranges were a little more than 17��C for Spea hammondii and 19.5��C for Lithobates pipiens and Spea bombifrons. In another study, Townsend and Stewart [16] reported a temperature range for a normal embryonic development of Eleutherodactylus coqui from 20.5��C to 25.0��C and a Q10 of 3.

92, which was higher than that for any temperate frog species of aquatic breeding, except forAscaphus truei. According to these data, Townsend and Stewart [16] suggested that aquatic embryos are less sensitive to changes in temperature than are terrestrial embryos, as was found in the present study.Direct development species, as those of the genus Pristimantis and Eleutherodactylus, can be found in Colombia from the sea level to more than 4000m altitude [36, 37]. Species with aquatic reproduction and larval development can be also distributed from the sea level, as Rhinella marina, to high mountains as the Andean frog D. labialis found at 4000m altitude. Additionally, species with an intermediate reproductive mode, as arboreal embryos with aquatic tadpoles, can be also found in lowlands, for example, Cochranella ramirezi at 60m [37], and highlands, for example, Centrolene buckleyi at 3450m altitude [38].

Thus, it appears that there is not a physiological restriction of the reproductive modes for the altitudinal distribution of their species, although highlands in Colombia are mainly dominated by direct development species of the genus Pristimantis [15, 37].Aspects related to the reproductive modes, such Entinostat as the color and size of the eggs and clutches, do not show a clear relationship to the thermal sensitivity of embryos. For example, wide ranges of embryonic thermal tolerances are found in species with white eggs deposited in foam nests on ponds (E. pustulosus), brown and black eggs deposited as a film on lentic water (D. microcephalus and H. crepitans, resp.), and black egg strings deposited in lotic or lentic water (R. marina). On the other hand, a high thermal sensitivity is registered in the white eggs of the direct development species (E. johnstonei and P. uranobates) and the terrestrial black eggs of D. truncatus. The eggs of the last three species were the most sensible to temperature and also the largest.