T. marmoratus with 7 legs

[coendeurloo]

When I went to check on the recently metamorphed T. marmoratus juveniles I received from a good friend, there was one that stood out of the crowd because of his funny walk. When I looked at it more carefully, he appeared to have the amazing amount of 7 legs!

I immediatly took some photos and made a short movie of how it moves, of course it is uncertain if he will make it into adulthood, so I have to gather the material now. He can move rather good on a wet environment. It looks like he can use all 4 of his front legs, although this seems to be more of a drag. the extra hind leg seems to be paralyzed, and isn't developed as much as the other hind legs because it isn't used at all.

Movie on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Xa5RbPN-c

 

[i_love_necturus]

Whoa! Thats weird. That video is also amazing, kinda creepy. Keep us posted on his or her progress! I hope he/she makes it to adulthood.

Its too bad Paris Reily hasn't been around, I think she'd get a real kick (no pun intened) out of that little guy/gal.

 

[carpy]

i have seen something like that before, in a species of african frog, where it is caused by a parasite. could this possibly be the cause?

Alex

 

[coendeurloo]

I have never heard of anything like that and I don't think it's the case here. Maybe some experts want to share their opinion on this rarity? How rare is this actually?

I have seen a L. vulgaris with an extra leg, but never as many as 3 extra legs.

 

[Kaysie]

My guesses would be fused embryos (like 'siamese' twins), or severe deformations due to pesticides or some other mutagen. With that many extra legs, I can't see it being the usual injury-but-not-amputation regrowth.

 

[chris_dishmon]

i have seen something like that before, in a species of african frog, where it is caused by a parasite. could this possibly be the cause?

Alex

think i saw that on the Discovery channel.

 

[carpy]

yea, think i saw that on the discovery channel as well thinking about it.

 

[jshadowstalker]

alex is right. also there are case's of multiple limb frog's in north american leopard frog populations. look it up the info's out there.....

 

[CloudNewt]

Thats incredible, I had one with 5 legs, and it didnt use the extra 1, but it died.....I got some pictures but they are not very good. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v636/phoebe_jones/?action=view&current=picz015.jpg Its not very good but you can just see the extra leg on the back leg, right.