Corneal curvatures and refractions of central American frogs

Abstract

We employed neutralizing infrared videophotorefraction and photokeratometry to examine the manifest refractions and corneal curvatures of 21 species of anurans (frogs and toads) in five families (Dendrobatidae, Bufonidae, Centrolenidae, Leptodactylidae, and Hylidae) resident in Central America. We found that all of the annurans exhibited hyperopic refractions in air, but that the observed hyperopia was not totally explained by the small eye artefact (Glickstein & Millodot, 1970). An allometric comparison of the corneal radii of these small anurans with those of a large number of other vertebrates, inferred from ocular axial lengths, showed that their corneal radii increased significantly more rapidly with increasing body size than that of other vertebrates generally (allometric slope constants: anurans: 0.270 ± 0.032; other vertebrates: 0.151 ± 0.004). Among the anurans examined, nocturnal Hylids had significantly larger eyes than diurnal Dendrobatid frogs and Bufonid toads.