Development of the urostyle during metamorphosis in five species of anurans

Normal development of the urostyle is described during late stages of metamorphosis in five species of anurans: Xenopus laevis (Daudin), Bufo americanus Holbrook, Pseudacris triseriata (Wied), Hyla chrysoscelis Cope, and Rana pipiens Schreber. The developing urostyle of all five species is composed of essentially the same cartilaginous elements: one pair of basidorsals above the notochord and the subtended hypochord. Among the five species there is variation in such details as the number of spinal nerve foramina and the degree of fusion of the basidorsals; however, both the hypochord and basidorsals are very similar in all five genera examined. Consideration of the literature suggests that contradictory descriptions of the developing urostyle result from (1) varied methods of study (alizarin-staining of whole specimens or serial cross-sections), (2) the variety of species examined, and (3) the particular stage of development of the tadpole described by an investigator.