Nature 193, 1098 (17 March 1962); doi:10.1038/1931098a0

Regeneration of Limbs in Adult Hymenochirus boettgeri

ROBERT P. GOODE

Department of Zoology, Columbia University, New York 27.

ALTHOUGH many vertebrates have retained to a considerable degree the ability to regenerate organs, adult anurans are generally believed to have lost the power to replace limbs or digits. Isolated cases of regeneration in anurans have been observed, but were considered simply as anomalous occurrences^1–3. In 1932, Rostand⁴ reported that adults of the African 'clawed toad', Xenopus laevis, regularly formed heteromorphic regenerates of amputated digits. This has been confirmed for limbs as well as digits by Gallien and Beetschen⁵, Beetschen⁶, Gitlin⁷, and Skowron and Komala⁸. As part of an extensive analysis of regeneration in the anurans, the present communication reports the normal occurrence of regeneration in another African frog.

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