Seventy juvenile individuals of Aparasphenodon brunoi were collected on the low parts of tree trunks in an Atlantic Forest remnant. Arthropods were the dominant prey found in their stomachs. Coleoptera (adult and larvae) was the most important prey regarding prey frequency, number, weight, and index of relative importance. Secondary preys included Hymenoptera that was important regarding number of prey and Hemiptera that was important regarding prey weight. Trophic ontogeny was detected. The diversity of prey suggests A. brunoi is an opportunistic sit-and-wait predator

Teixeira, Rogerio L.

Lourenço-de-Moraes, Ricardo

Medeiros, Débora C.

Duca, Charles

Britto, Rogério C.

Bissoli, Luiz C.B.

Ferreira, Rodrigo B.

Rangelands

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The University of Arizona

Fourteenth in a Series: Insight From SRM's Charter Members

Tom Bedell

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Twelfth in a Series: Insight From SRM's Charter Members

Box, Thad

Listening to the Land: On Fossils, Buffaloburgers and Sustainable Ecosystems

Eighth in a Series: Insight From SRM's Charter Members

Firenze University Press: E-Journals

Acta Herpetologica 12(2): 205-208, 2017
ISSN 1827-9635 (print) © Firenze University Press 
ISSN 1827-9643 (online) www.fupress.com/ah
DOI: 10.13128/Acta_Herpetol-20547
Diet of juveniles of the venomous frog Aparasphenodon brunoi 
(Amphibia: Hylidae) in southeastern Brazil
Rogério L. Teixeira1, Ricardo Lourenço-de-Moraes2, Débora C. Medeiros3, Charles Duca3, Rogério C. 
Britto4, Luiz C.P. Bissoli5, Rodrigo B. Ferreira3,*
1 In memoriam
2 Laboratório de Herpetologia e Comportamento Animal, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Campus Samam-
baia, 74001-970 Goiânia, GO, Brazil
3 Laboratório de Ecologia de Populações e Conservação, Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia de Ecossistemas, Universidade Vila 
Velha. Rua Comissário José Dantas de Melo, Boa Vista II, 29102-920 Vila Velha, ES, Brazil. *Corresponding author. E-mail: rodrigo-
ecologia@yahoo.com.br
4 Associação Capixaba em Defesa da Água e da Mata Atlântica (ACADAMA). Rua Lourenço Roldi, 29665-000 São Roque do Canaã, 
ES, Brazil
5 Ello Ambiental. Av.Getúlio Vargas, 29700-010 Colatina, ES, Brazil
Submitted on: 2017, 17th April; revised on: 2017, 29th May; accepted on: 2017, 27st September 
Editor: Daniele Pellitteri-Rosa
Abstract. Seventy juvenile individuals of Aparasphenodon brunoi were collected on the low parts of tree trunks in an 
Atlantic Forest remnant. Arthropods were the dominant prey found in their stomachs. Coleoptera (adult and larvae) 
was the most important prey regarding prey frequency, number, weight, and index of relative importance. Secondary 
preys included Hymenoptera that was important regarding number of prey and Hemiptera that was important regard-
ing prey weight. Trophic ontogeny was detected. The diversity of prey suggests A. brunoi is an opportunistic sit-and-
wait predator.
Keywords. Anura, ecology, Hylidae, predation, ontogeny, feeding pattern.
Studies regarding dietary aspects of animals may 
provide important data for a better understanding of the 
fundamental niche, position in the food webs, feeding 
time strategy, and metabolic needs of a species (Chris-
tian et al., 2007; Miller et al., 2010). Anurans are usually 
considered opportunistic predators regarding their feed-
ing habits and most of them are arthropod consumers 
(Wells, 2007). Generally, the diet of anurans is related to 
their snout-vent length, ability to detect and capture prey 
as well as prey availability in the environment (Giaretta et 
al., 1998; Ferreira et al., 2015).
Aparasphenodon brunoi Miranda-Ribeiro, 1920 is a 
hylid treefrog that uses bromeliads and hollows of tree 
trunks as diurnal refuge (i.e., bromelicolous species, sensu 
Peixoto, 1995) and reproduce in temporary ponds (Wogel 
et al., 2006). It is endemic to the coastal plain of Bra-
zil (i.e., restinga habitat) from São Paulo to Bahia states 
(Ruas et al., 2013; Frost, 2016). This species has a highly 
toxic secretion that may be injected by bony spines on 
the head (Jared et al., 2015). Furthermore, some studies 
have shown that the toxicity of a frog is determined by the 
compounds sequestered from the diet during early devel-
opment stage (e.g., Daly et al., 1994; Sime et al., 2000).
There is little information on the ecology of juveniles 
of the venomous treefrog A. brunoi, and diet studies on 
adults have shown that this treefrog is a generalist forager 
of arthropods (Teixeira et al., 2002; Mesquita et al., 2004). 
The aim of this study is to describe the diet of juveniles 
206 Rogério L. Teixeira et alii
of A. brunoi in an Atlantic Forest remnant from south-
eastern Brazil.
The study area is in the coastal plain of Pontal do 
Ipiranga district, municipality of Linhares, Espírito Santo 
state, Brazil (19°13’S, 39°43’W). The region is character-
ized by pastures and remnants of Atlantic Forest. The 
treefrogs were manually captured at night between Sep-
tember and October 2000. According to Mesquita et al. 
(2004), individuals of this species smaller than 48 mm are 
considered juveniles. The individuals were anesthetized 
using lidocaine cream (5%) and fixed in a solution of for-
malin 10% for 72 hours and then washed and placed in 
a solution of alcohol 70%. In laboratory the specimens 
were measured to the snout-vent length (SVL in mm), 
weighted (0.01 g precision) and dissected to determine 
the sex and to analyze the stomach content. The stomach 
contents were removed, spread in Petri dish and identi-
fied to the lowest taxonomic level possible. 
Preys were dried on paper towels and the following 
parameters for each prey category were evaluated: occur-
rence frequency, number, wet weight (0.0001 g precision), 
and index of relative importance (IRI). The IRI was cal-
culated according to Pinkas et al. (1971) and the percent 
IRI (%IRI) according to Cortés (1997). For intraspecific 
comparison, IRI was calculated for adults of A. brunoi 
using data available on Teixeira et al. (2002). Intact preys 
were measured to the total length with a caliper (0.1 
mm precision). The voucher specimens were deposited 
at the zoological collection of the Instituto Nacional da 
Mata Atlântica/Museu de Biologia Professor Mello Leitão 
(MBML), Espírito Santo State, Brazil. 
The data were tested for normality using Kolmog-
orov-Smirnov test and for homogeneity using Bart-
lett test. SVL and weight were compared between sexes 
using the analysis of variance (ANOVA). In this analysis, 
sex was the independent variable while SVL and weight 
were the dependent variables (Neter et al., 1990). Cluster 
analysis based on Euclidean distance was used to evalu-
ate trophic ontogeny based on size classes of A. brunoi. 
Only the weight value of the main prey was used in this 
analysis and the data were log transformed. The relation-
ship between prey length and anuran SVL was tested by a 
regression analysis. Mean and standard deviation are pro-
vided. The significance level was set to 0.05. 
Seventy juvenile individuals of A. brunoi were col-
lected on the low parts of tree trunks (< 1m). Adults were 
on trees canopy and were not collected. Thirty-two indi-
viduals were juvenile males and 38 were juvenile females. 
Juvenile males ranged on SVL from 31.0 to 39.2 mm 
(mean = 34.3, SD = 2.0 mm) and in weight from 2.0 to 
4.4 g (mean = 2.9, SD = 2.0 g). Juvenile females ranged 
on SVL from 32.1 to 43.6 mm (mean = 36.7, SD = 2.7 
mm) and in weight from 2.1 to 6.7 g (mean = 3.6, SD = 
2.7 g). The SVL and weight differed significantly between 
Table 1. Prey items of juveniles of Aparasphenodon brunoi from Espírito Santo state, southeastern Brazil. F = occurrence frequency; N = 
number of prey; W = weight; IRI = index of relative importance.
Prey F %F N %N W %W IRI %IRI
Insecta
Blattodea 2 3.77 2 3.23 120.1 3.94 27.03 0.77
Coleoptera 
(Adult) 19 35.85 21 33.87 963.5 31.64 2348.53 67.26
Coleoptera 
(Larvae) 8 15.09 8 12.90 267.9 8.80 327.45 9.38
Hemiptera 3 5.66 3 4.84 946.5 31.09 203.36 5.82
Homoptera 1 1.89 1 1.61 1.8 0.06 3.16 0.09
Hymenoptera 7 13.21 10 16.13 127.1 4.17 268.16 7.68
Isoptera 1 1.89 1 1.61 19.3 0.63 4.23 0.12
Orthoptera 5 9.43 5 8.06 333.1 10.94 179.17 5.13
Insect remnant 3 5.66 - - 23.3 0.76
Arachnida
Araneae 3 5.66 3 4.84 160.6 5.27 57.22 1.64
Crustacea
Ostracoda 3 5.66 8 12.90 1.5 0.05 73.30 2.10
Other
Anuran skin 5 9.43 - - 80 2.63
Total - - 62 100.00 3044.7 100.00
207Diet of juveniles of Aparasphenodon brunoi
the sexes (F1,68 = 17.3, P < 0.01; F1,68 = 12.6, P < 0.01, 
respectively). Females were on average larger and heavier 
than males. 
Fifty-three (76%) individuals had food items in 
their stomach, representing 12 prey categories, most-
ly arthropods, (Table 1). Coleoptera (adult and larva) 
was the most important prey regarding prey frequency, 
number, weight, and IRI. Secondary preys included 
Hymenoptera that was important regarding number of 
prey and Hemiptera that was important regarding prey 
weight. It was detected trophic ontogeny in A. bru-
noi (Fig. 1). Specimens less than 36.9 mm had similar 
diet, possibly because they predated more Coleoptera 
(Fig. 2). Specimens larger than 36.9 mm had simi-
lar diet by feeding mostly upon Hemiptera. The length 
of intact prey ingested by A. brunoi varied from 2.8 to 
15.9 mm (mean = 8.9, SD 3.7). There was no relation-
ship between total length of prey and anuran SVL (R² = 
0.003, P > 0.05).
The variety of prey categories suggests that A. brunoi 
is an opportunistic sit-and-wait predator. The diet of A. 
brunoi from another two populations had also a variety 
of prey categories (Teixeira et al., 2002; Mesquita et al., 
2004). In fact, the feeding upon small arthropods has 
been reported in several studies of anurans (Teixeira and 
Coutinho, 2002; Ferreira and Teixeira, 2009; Ferreira et 
al., 2012). The presence of ostracods, common on tank 
bromeliads (Oliveira et al., 1994), indicates bromelicolous 
habit of A. brunoi at the studied fragment.
Apparently, juveniles of A. brunoi feed upon different 
prey categories compared to adults. In our study, Coleop-
tera was the most important prey (%IRI = 67.26). In 
Teixeira et al. (2002), Hymenoptera was the most impor-
tant prey (%IRI = 20.1) for adults of A. brunoi. Coleop-
tera was the least important prey (%IRI = 0.7) for this 
population of adults. In our study, A. brunoi feeds on 
different prey categories according to their SVL. Surpris-
ingly, A. brunoi SVL was not related to prey size. Changes 
on diet correlated to anuran SVL have been reported for 
other species (Giaretta et al., 1998; Teixeira and Vrci-
bradic, 2003; Ferreira et al., 2007). Trophic ontogeny may 
be an important mechanism to avoid intraspecific com-
petition and predation. Probably the diet of the adults at 
tree canopy may strengthen the trophic ontogeny in our 
studied population. The studied remnant may provide 
necessary amount of prey for A. brunoi due to the high 
percentage of stomachs with prey. We recommend future 
studies to evaluate the relationship between prey items 
and A. brunoi toxicity. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Gladstone I. Almeida, Aílston Anastá-
cio and José A. P. Schineider for fieldwork assistance. 
PETROBRAS funded this research. IBAMA provided 
the sampling permit (07/98, 02001.003072/97-21). RLM 
thanks CNPq for scholarship (process 140710/2013-2; 
152303/2016-2). RBF and DCM thank CAPES for schol-
arships. 
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Fig. 2. Prey weight percentage according to snout-vent length 
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