ABSTRACT

Testes in Anura are paired spherical or ovoid organs lying on the ventral side of kidneys. They are usually situated near the medial anterior part of the kidneys. Each testis is enveloped by peritoneal epithelium, beneath which the connective tissue capsule (tunica albuginea) is formed. In the dorsal part of a testis, the two sheets of peritoneum form a double-layered mesorchium that contains a system of efferent ducts (vasa efferentia; ductuli efferentes), which transport sperm from testes to kidney (Rugh, 1951; Witschi, 1956; Hiragond and Saidapur, 2000). The tunica albuginea contains blood vessels, smooth muscles and nerves. In some species, such as Bombina bombina, B. variegata, B. orientalis (Madej, 1964; Golmann et a l, 1993), or Nectophrynoides occidentalis (Zuber-Vogel and Xavier, 1965), the tunica albuginea contains various amounts of melanophores. In Physalemus cuvieri (de Oliveira et ah, 2002) cells containing dark pigment are also present in interstitial tissue.