Herpetology Notes, volume 11: 773-775 (2018) (published online on 06 September 2018)

Predation on fuscus (Schneider, 1799) (Anura: Leptodactyliadae) by Ancylometes concolor (Perty, 1833) (Araneae: Ctenidae)

Diego Bueno-Villafañe1,2,*, Edder Ortiz3, Camilo Benitez3, Eliana Andrea Ortiz Velázquez4, Araceli Duré-Prado3, Hugo Cabral1,2,3, Yolanda Piñanez5, and John Kochalka5

Amphibians have a wide variety of predators in all 2012). Presently, there are three lineages recognized major groups of vertebrates, in many of invertebrates for the species (Camargo et al., 2006; De Sá et al., and even in carnivore plants (Duellman and Trueb, 2012): the first one that includes Central American, 1994; Wells, 2007). Due to their gregarious behaviour, Guianan and Amazonian populations, the second abundance and diversity in microhabitats used during including and northwest , and the last different life-stages, they may contribute significantly to including populations from the east and southern part the dynamics of communities in energy flow (McCormic of South America. Populations of at least the first and and Polis, 2005; Wells, 2007; Cortés-Gómez et al., the southeastern clades present similar reproductive 2015), although there is few quantitative information ecology (Lucas et al., 2008), where males build ovoid about these interactions (Toledo, 2005). In the subterranean chambers in the dry margin of , Neotropics, spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) are considered exhibit territorial defense in the surrounding area and an important source of mortality in , with attract females leading them to the chambers. For cases reported for the families Ctenidae, Lycosidae, Cerrado and Pantanal populations (probably south Pisauridae, Sparassidae and Theraphosidae (Menin, clade), it has been stated that they have opportunistic Rodrigues & Azevedo, 2005; Toledo, 2005; Pombal and generalist feeding behavior (De-Carvalho et al., Jr, 2007; Barbo et al., 2009; De-Carvalho et al., 2010; 2008; Sugai et al., 2012). Maffei et al., 2010; Amaral et al., 2015). Ancylometes concolor (Perty, 1833) is a large spider Leptodactylus fuscus (Schneider, 1799) is a medium belonging to the ecological guild of the nocturnal ground sized (32.4–53.3mm) leptodactylid broadly ambushers (Dias et al., 2010), distributed throughout distributed throughout South America, from Panama southern to central South America in , Bolivia, to northern Argentina (Heyer, 1978; De Sá et al., and Argentina (World Spider Catalog, 2018). It is also considered to be an aquatic spider because it can be encountered in moist neotropical environments near water where the spider may either stay on the water surface or go below. This species is one of the largest 1 Instituto de Investigación Biológica del Paraguay, Del Escudo araneomorph spiders, with the male body length of 1607, Asunción, Paraguay. 2 Programa Nacional de Incentivo a Investigadores (PRONII). approximately 20 mm and the female body length of Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), 32 mm. Ancylometes concolor males are lighter brown (21)506223, Tte. 1ª Teófilo del Puerto, Asunción, Paraguay. whereas females are generally darker brown. They 3 Asociación Guyra Paraguay, +595 21 223 567, Av. Cnel. have been observed preying on , tadpoles, fish Carlos Bóveda, Parque Asunción Verde, Viñas Cué, and like hylid frogs (Carvallo & Martínez, 1961; Paraguay. Höfer & Brescovit, 2000). 4 Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de On December 27th, 2017 at 19:51 hours we found Asunción (FCA-UNA). San Lorenzo, Paraguay. 5 Museo Nacional de Historia Natural del Paraguay, +595 21 an adult female of Ancylometes concolor (29.8mm 585 208, Av. Eusebio Ayala, San Lorenzo, Central, Paraguay. SVL) preying on a Leptodactylus fuscus (aprox. * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] 35mm SVL). The observation was made in the city 774 Diego Bueno-Villafañe et al.

Figure 1. Leptodactylus fuscus being preyed upon by the spider Ancylometes concolor on the vegetation near the full of water ditch. City of Caraguatay, Cordillera department, Paraguay. Photograph by Diego Bueno Villafañe.

of Caraguatay (Cordillera Department, Paraguay), at of the frog´s recent meals. The adult female the Vapor Cué Museum, at the border of a ditch full specimen of Ancylometes concolor, IBNP-002.373, of water whose edges had herbaceous and shrubby is housed in the Invertebrate collection of the Museo vegetation (25.2300°S 56.7875°W). In the area there Nacional de Historia Natural del Paraguay. The remains were also active ground species of Elachistocleis of the digested frog, mixed with fragments of the frog’s bicolor, Leptodactylus elenae, Physalaemus cuvieri and recent insect meals, are with the spider in the same vial Rhinella schneideri, albeit in lower densities. One of the of alcohol. authors saw the spider jumping onto the frog, grabbing Predation on leptodactylid frogs by spiders were it and inserting its chelicerae into its ventral area of the previously reported (Boistel and Pauwels, 2002; Menin, hind legs and abdomen. The individual of L. fuscus Rodrigues & Azevedo, 2005; Barbo et al., 2009; Menin emitted agonistic sounds and barely moved its legs in et al., 2009; Calzada-Arciniega, 2014; Amaral et al., attempts to escape. When disturbed, the spider did not 2015). However, this note represents the first report of release the frog, even when it was caught to be collected Ancylometes concolor preying on Leptodactylus fuscus. for observation. About 10 minutes later the frog died, At local level is possible that this predation event is and the spider continued to feed for about an hour and recurrent, since several individuals of Leptodactylus released it afterwards, probably due to the handling fuscus were observed active (although not making and movement made by the authors in the transport. mating calls), as well as several spiders. This opens the At dawn the next day, the frog was almost completely assumption that Leptodactylus fuscus is possibly part degraded, remaining only some hard parts (bones) and of the regular diet of Ancylometes concolor where they the digested debris of other tissues, as well as fragments share space. To corroborate this hypothesis are needed Predation on Leptodactylus fuscus by Ancylometes concolor 775 further studies, including interaction between these Freitas, E.B., Faria, R.G., Batista, R.C., Batista, C.C., Coelho, species and its importance at population level. W.A., Bocchiglieri, A. (2008): História natural de Leptodactylus mystacinus e Leptodactylus fuscus (Anura: ) no Cerrado do Brasil Central. Biota Neotropical 8: 105–115. References Heyer, W.R. (1978): Systematics of the fuscus group of the frog Amaral, L.C., Castanheira, P.D.S., de Carvalho-e-Silva, S.P., genus Leptodactylus (Amphibia, Leptodactylidae). Natural Baptista, R.L.C. 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Accepted by Yunke Wu