Fil: Barrionuevo, Jose Sebastian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”; Argentin

Barrionuevo, Jose Sebastian

CONICET Digital

English

Telmatobius atacamensis (Atacama Water Frog). Cannibalism.

LAReferencia - Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas Latinoamericanas

Herpetological Review 46(3), 2015420    NATURAL HISTORY NOTESOligacanthorhyncidae (Schmidt 1985. In Crompton and Nickol [eds.], Biology of the Acanthocephala, pp. 273–305. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK). Development to the adult worm occurs when the amphibian is eaten by a suitable defini-tive host.One female was infected with both Mesocestoides sp. and O. pipiens and one male (SVL = 70.0 mm) was infected with all four parasite species. Both Mesocestoides and O. pipiens have been reported in Anolis carolinensis (Green Anole) from Louisi-ana (Conn and Etges 1984. Proc. Helminthol. Soc. Washington 51:367–369) and in S. hurterii from Oklahoma previously (McAl-lister et al. 2005. Texas J. Sci. 57:383–389). Cosmocercoides varia-bilis has been reported from Gastrophyrne carolinensis (Eastern Narrowmouth Toad) from Louisiana (McAllister and Bursey 2005. Comp. Parasitol. 72:124–128) and from S. hurterii in Okla-homa (McAllister et al. 2005, op. cit.).In summary, the acanthocephalan cystacanth represents a new paratenic host record for S. hurterii (HWML 64768), al-though not a new geographic record for the parasite in Louisiana (Elkins and Nickol 1983. J. Parasitol. 69:951–956). We suggest that additional S. hurterii from other parts of Louisiana be exam-ined as new host and distributional records may be added to the growing list of helminths of this amphibian.We thank S. E. Trauth (ASUMZ) and S. Gardner (HWML) for expert curatorial assistance. The Louisiana Department of Wild-life and Fisheries issued a scientific collecting permit to MBC. MATTHEW B. CONNIOR, Life Sciences, Northwest Arkansas Commu-nity College, Bentonville, Arkansas 72712, USA (e-mail: mconnior@nwacc.edu); CHRIS T. McALLISTER, Science and Mathematics Division, Eastern Oklahoma State College, Idabel, Oklahoma 74745, USA (e-mail: cmcallis-ter@se.edu); CHARLES R. BURSEY, Biology Department, Pennsylvania State University, Shenango Campus, Sharon, Pennsylvania 16146, USA (e-mail: cxb13@psu.edu). SCAPHIOPUS HURTERII (Hurter’s Spadefoot). REPRODUC-TION. Scaphiopus hurterii is considered an explosive breeder as-sociated with torrential rainfall. Because of these requirements, they are seldom observed breeding. Between 11 March and 3 April 2012, we observed this species breeding three times during torrential rainfall events at a site in extreme northern Louisiana (3.8 km NE Spearsville, Union Parish, Louisiana, USA; 32.9562°N; 92.5718°W, WGS 84). On 11 March (ambient temperature 16.1°C), we discovered a breeding site (Fig. 1A), consisting of a temporary pool in a cattle pasture and were able to capture a total of eight toads (five males, three females). On 21 March (ambient temper-ature 12.2°C), we were able to document another breeding event at the same site and were able to capture 11 individuals (nine males, two females). Finally, on 03 April (ambient temperature 15.5°C), we observed another breeding event and were able to capture six individuals (five males, one female). The mean snout-vent length (SVL) for a small sample of adult individuals was 63.2 mm (range 57–68 mm) for six females and 67.4 mm (range 62–71 mm) for nine males.  Our male-biased captures are likely the re-sult of our sampling time (ca. 2200–2400 h), since males migrate to breeding site first and start calling to attract females. Both call-ing males and amplectant pairs were observed during all three of these events. Previously, the lowest air temperature for calling males in Louisiana was 16°C (Dundee and Rossman 1989. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Louisiana. Louisiana State Universi-ty Press, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 300 pp.); however, rainfall more so than ambient temperature is likely a predictor of breeding. We also collected six egg clusters that were laid on vegetation (Fig. 1B) and mean egg counts were 100.8 (range 49–131). This is com-parable to mean egg cluster counts of 111.8 in Arkansas (Trauth and Holt 1993. Bull. Chicago Herpetol. Soc. 28:236–239). Voucher specimens were deposited within the Arkansas State University Museum of Zoology (ASUMZ) Herpetology Collection, State Uni-versity, Arkansas as ASUMZ 32017–32025.This research was conducted under a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries scientific collecting permit.  MATTHEW B. CONNIOR, Life Sciences, Northwest Arkansas Commu-nity College, Bentonville, Arkansas 72712, USA (e-mail: mconnior@nwacc.edu); TOBIN FULMER, 1033 Magnolia Drive, El Dorado, Arkansas 71730, USA; CHRIS T. McALLISTER, Science and Mathematics Division, Eastern Oklahoma State College, Idabel, Oklahoma 74745, USA (e-mail: cmcallis-ter@se.edu); STANLEY E. TRAUTH, Department of Biological Sciences, Arkansas State University, State University, Arkansas 72467, USA (e-mail: strauth@astate.edu).TELMATOBIUS ATACAMENSIS (Atacama Water Frog). CANNI-BALISM. Among anurans, cannibalism has been documented both in tadpoles preying on conspecific eggs or tadpoles and in adults preying on those stages and/or on other postmetamor-phic individuals (Polis and Myers 1985. J. Herpetol. 19:99–107). Telmatobius atacamensis is a medium-sized aquatic frog living in high altitude streams of a restricted area of the Puna Plateau of Salta Province, in northern Argentina (Lavilla and Barrionuevo 2005. Monogr. Herpetol. 7:115–165). As in most of the 62 species of Telmatobius, the diet of T. atacamensis is unknown, although some data exist for nine species (e.g., Lavilla 1984. Acta Zool. Lil-loana 38:51–57; Wiens 1993. Occ. Pap. Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kan-sas 162:1–76; Formas et al. 2005. Monogr.  Herpetol. 7:103–114).Fig. 1. A) Scaphiopus hurterii breeding site in Union Parish, Louisi-ana. B) S. hurterii egg clusters attached to vegetation in the tempo-rary breeding pool in top photo.Herpetological Review 46(3), 2015NATURAL HISTORY NOTES     421On 24 February 2005 a female T. atacamensis (SVL = 60.4 mm) was found in a small lateral pool (ca. 200 × 300 cm, 50 cm deep) that had lost contact temporarily with the stream Los Pa-tos (24.3108°S, 66.2162°W, WGS84; 3945 m elev.), close to San Antonio de Los Cobres. The female was fixed 12 h after collec-tion (FML SB0157). Upon examination of the female’s stomach contents, a juvenile of the same species (SVL ca. 28 mm) was found. It was only partially digested at the anterior part of the head and therefore was perfectly recognizable. In the same pool, four adult T. atacamensis were found and many tadpoles and ju-veniles were observed. This is the first case of cannibalism in T. atacamensis. Can-nibalism has been recorded among species of Telmatobius so far only in T. culeus (Pérez Bejar 1998. Unpubl. dissertation Univer-sidad de San Andres, Bolivia). Among the species of Ceratophry-idae, a phylogenetically related group, cannibalism is common both in adults and larvae (Schalk et al. 2014. South. Am. J. Her-petol. 9:90–105). Cannibalism in aquatic environments has been associated with high concentrations of several cohorts in small bodies of water, a condition observed in our study site.J. SEBASTIÁN BARRIONUEVO, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Natura-les “Bernardino Rivadavia” Buenos Aires, Argentina; e-mail: sbarrionuevo@macn.gov.ar.THELODERMA ASPERUM (Hill Garden Bug-eyed Frog). DE-FENSIVE BEHAVIOR. Amphibians exhibit a wide range of de-fensive behaviors that differ between taxonomic groups (Toledo et al. 2011. Ethol. Ecol. Evol. 23:1–25). Herein, we report the anti-predator behavior of a southeast Asian rhacophorid frog, The-loderma asperum. This genus currently includes 23 recognized species (Frost 2014. http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/; 31 Mar 2015). Theloderma asperum inhabits lowland to mountain forests from northeast India through Myanmar and adjacent China, upland Thailand, Laos, central and northern Vietnam to southwest Guangxi and south Indonesia (Sumatra). At 2308 h on 27 June 2012, we captured an adult female T. asperum (SVL = 30 mm) on vegetation (ca. 2 m above the for-est floor) near Sa Pa town in mountainous subtropical forest of Hoang Lien Mountains, northern Vietnam (22.328°N, 103.826°E, WGS84; 1266 m elev.). After its capture, the individual was put on the ground where it immediately curled up into an arched and rigid posture. The head was ventrally flexed, all limbs were bent and kept close to the body (Fig. 1). Eyes were closed the whole time and the individual remained in this position for at least 15 min (Fig. 1A) and remained arched and motionless during subse-quent handling (Fig. 1B). No defensive call or smell was emitted. We consider the defensive behavior shown in this case as “shrinking or contracting behavior” (sensu Toledo et al. 2010. J. Nat. Hist. 44:1979–1988; Toledo et al. 2011, op. cit.), a type of death feigning (or thanatosis) behavior. There is a published technical report that gives a similar description of this behavior in T. asperum (see Pawar and Birand 2001. A Survey of Amphib-ians, Reptiles, and Birds in Northeast India. Centre for Ecological Research and Conservation, Mysore, India. 120 pp.). The genus Theloderma is well known for cryptic coloration and body shape (e.g., Vitt and Caldwell 2014. Herpetology: An Introductory Bi-ology of Amphibians and Reptiles. 4th ed., Elsevier, San Diego, California; Rauhaus et al. 2012. Asian J. Conserv. Biol. 1:51–66), which are types of passive defense employed by anurans (Toledo et al. 2011, op. cit.). For example, T. asperum is a tree bark and potentially a bird-dropping mimic and T. corticale (Mossy Frog) is mottled green and brown and resembles moss growing on rock (Vitt and Caldwell 2014, op. cit.). Therefore, they may use con-tracting behavior in addition to cryptic coloration to evade pre-dation. A similar case of defensive behavior has been reported for another member of the family Rhacophoridae, Rhacophorus feae (Fea’s Treefrog; Vinh et al. 2013. Herpetol. Rev. 44:129).DANIEL JABLONSKI, Department of Zoology, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynská dolina B-1, 842 15, Bratislava, Slovakia (e-mail: dan-iel.jablonski@balcanica.cz); DAVID HEGNER, Mšenská 3938/26, 466 04 Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic.ZACHAENUS CARVALHOI (Carvalho’s Bug-eyed Frog). DIET. Frogs in the genus Zachaenus (Cycloramphidae) are associated with leaf litter in forested areas and are endemic to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil (Izecksohn 1982. Arq. Univ. Fed. Rural. R. de Ja-neiro 5:7–11). The information on diet for this genus is exclusive to Z. parvulus (Van Sluys et al. 2001. J. Herpetol. 35:322–325). Herein we present data on the diet of specimens of Z. carvalhoi present in the collections of the Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF 663, 674–678, 692, 708, 753, 760, 773, 781, 792–800, 819–830, 863–865) collected at three forest fragments in the municipality of Juiz de Fora, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil: Fa-zenda Floresta (21.7425°S, 43.2922°W; WGS84), Reserva Biológi-ca Municipal Poço D’Anta (21.7541°S, 43.3108°W), and Parque Municipal da Lajinha (21.7922°S, 23.3808°W). We found identi-fiable items in 17 out of the 36 guts examined. The items were identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level. The primary items found were Coleoptera (76%) and Hymenoptera (ants; 58%), and occasional items were Myriapoda (11%), Arachnida Fig. 1. Defensive behavior displayed by Theloderma asperum in northern Vietnam. A) Dorsal view, B) ventral view. 

https://ri.conicet.gov.ar/bitstream/11336/50509/2/CONICET_Digital_Nro.011a894e-b82c-4187-9e05-df8e71541dfe_A.pdf

Telmatobius atacamensis (Atacama Water Frog). Cannibalism.

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

CONICET Digital

LAReferencia - Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas Latinoamericanas