1997

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 7, pp. 137-138

Anomalies of Gonads in Bufo viridis from Uzbekistan
E. V. Vashetko, A. N. Ganieva, and A. S. Nuridzhanov

Institute of Zoology, Uzbek Academy of Sciences, A. Niyazova Street 1,Tashkent 700095, Uzbekistan

Abstract.- Collected material of Bufo viridis inhabiting the Ferghana Valley, the city of Tashkent. Tashkent andDzhizak regions of Uzbekistan in 1971. 1972, and 1992-1993 has revealed cases of hermaphroditism (0.8%) andanomalies (1.49c) in the gonads of male toads from areas with different levels of urbanization.

Key words:Amphibia. Anura. Bufonidae, Ranidae, Bufoviridis,Ranahermaphroditism.

rV a>

Figure 1 Underdeveloped ovary (a) and testis (b) in ahermaphrodite Bufo viridis.
.

Introduction
There is not much evidence in the literature, at least in
the former

USSR, of cases of hermaphroditism andanomalies in the inner organs of reptiles and amphibi-ans.

Terentyev (1950) reported the anomalies of thegonads in various frog species, which were recordedby other researchers. Yakovleva (1964) observed acombination of male and female sexual organs inVipera ursini from the vicinity of the city of Frunze

Brushko (1968) andRadzhabov (1975( described cases of hermaphrodit(currently Bishkek), Kyrgyzstan.

ism in Elaphc dione and anomalies of the gonads in
Coluber ravergieri and Elaphe Dione.

rial

During the whole period of collection of the mateon the ecology of tailless amphibians in Uzbeki-stan (1971-1995), the authors recorded the individualsof Bufo viridis showing anomalies in their gonads.

ridibunda,Uzbekistan, gonads,

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 7. p. 138

1997

length of the left testis was 6.5mm andits

appendix 6mm.
Noteworthy, similar anomalies of the gonads havebeen recorded for Rami ridibunda from the Ferghana
Valley as one testis of an individual was bigger thanthe other (8.5x4.5
and 4.5x2.5 mm); another indi-mm

vidual'slefttestisconsistedof threelobes(3x2;2x1.5; 2x1 mm) and the right one measured 7x4 mm.

The ratio of the testes (a), testes (b), andFigure 3.

Besides, the testes of another individual were unusu-appendages (c).

ally knobby and consisted of 5-8 lobes.

While analyzing the material collected from dif(Fig. 2).

when one or both testes consisted of 2-4 in
was andthe lobes.

In the collection of 1971. there

individual

whose both testes consisted of the lobes:

the right lobe measuring 3x2.5; 3x2; 3.5x2.5
the left one 3x2.5; 5x3 mm.

mm andone testis being bigger than the other(10x5.1 and 4.5x3;

12.5x3 and 7x3. 5mm.

etc.).

In

0.8% of the cases the individuals had only one testis,
relatively well developed (9x7 mm and 9x6 mm), andwhich well corresponded in weight and indices to thetestes of the animals with the same sizes.
tes

So, two tes-of a male, whose body length reached 68.5mm.

weighed 134 mg, and a single testis of a male measuring 67 mm was 176 mg. Besides, there were individu-

whose gonad appendices were equal to or bigger
than the gonad itself (Fig. 3). So, the length of theals

right testis

anomalous changes in the male gonads were characteristicof those individuals inhabiting areas with dif-ferent levels of urbanization of their habitats.

The individuals that con-stituted 4.5% showed gonads significantly different insize (Fig. 3),

ferent areas, our attention was drawn to the fact thatwas 8 mm and its appendix 7 mm.

TheLiterature Cited
Bhushko, Z. K.

1968.

[A case of hermatophroditism

Pp. 43-45. In Herpetology in Central Asia. Fan Publishers, Tashkent. (In Russian).
in Elaphe dione].

Radzhabov, B. 1975. [On the question of the anomalous texture of some inner organs of snakes]. Pp. 8385. In Ecology and biology of the animals in Uzbekistan.

Fan Publishers. Tashkent.

Terentyev,P.

V.

1950.

(In Russian).

[The Frog].

Nauka Publishers, Moscow. 345 pp.
Yakovleva,

I.

D.

1964.

Ilim Publishers. Frunze.

Sovetskaya(In Russian).

|The reptiles of Kirgizia].
127 pp. (In Russian).