POLYMORPHISM IN SOME PELOBATID TOADS OF THE GENUS SCUTIGER

Polymorphism in some pelobatid toads is reported. The skin texture and the secondary sex characters in sympatric or allopatric populations of four Scutiger, namely S. mammatus (Guenther), S. glandulatus (Liu), S. muliensis Fei et Ye and S. ruginosus Zhao et Jiang are discussed. And the lens proteins of the three sympatric Scutiger are analysed by isoeleetric focusing in thin layer of polyaerylamide gel. It is considered that the first three of the 4 species studied are valid species, and that the three types of the sex characters of S. ruginous are but the polymorphic variants of the first three species respectively. The fact that these variants exhibit the same character (numerous warts on the skin) simultaneously in three closely related species is an expression of parallel polymorphism.