Herpetology Notes, volume 12: 483-486 (2019) (published online on 13 May 2019) Leptodactylus chaquensis - the voracious generalist frog as a predator of two different anuran species Murilo S. Queiroz¹,*, Rodney M. P. Couto², and Maiara C. Miguel³ Most species of anurans are generalist and During a nocturnal collection of anurans on October opportunistic foragers, feeding on the availability of 09, 2018 that took place in a temporary lagoon located prey in the environment (Eterovick and Sazima, 2004; in the riparian forest of the Véstia stream (-20.395400 Wells, 2007; Santos and Vaz silva, 2012). The type of -51.394400), in the municipality of Selvíria-MS, under behaviour in the search for food combined with the type the SISBIO 58746-4 license at 11:20 p.m. (Brasília, of habitat has influence on determining which preys DF time, Brazil) we observed a L. chaquensis female are ingested (Van Sluys and Rocha, 1998). They can adult trying to prey on a Physalaemus cuvieri (Fitzinger, consume a wide variety of prey including other species 1826) female adult (Fig.1 A–B). The L. chaquensis of amphibians and are even known to be cannibalistic specimen had bitten P. cuvieri, which remained inflated (Wells, 2007; Santos and Vaz Silva, 2012; De Sá et al., in anti-predatory behaviour (Noble, 1931; Toledo et al., 2014). Among the anurans to have opportunistic feeding 2011), since the beginning of the recording. On some are the Leptodactylidae (Toledo et al., 2007). occasions, P. cuvieri performed movements with the Leptodactylus chaquensis (Cei, 1950) is a medium- hind limbs. The scene was observed for 40 minutes. We sized species associated with flooded environments and tried to capture both anurans but L. chaquensis released water bodies, active during the nocturnal period (Heyer the prey and both escaped. et al., 2004; Weiler et al., 2013). It is widely distributed, On the same day, another individual L. chaquensis occurring in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and female (SLV 80mm) was observed and collected, in Uruguay (Heyer et al., 2004; Weiler et al., 2013). In which two specimens of female anurans were identified Brazil, it is found in the states of Acre, Mato Grosso, in its stomach content: Scinax nasicus (Cope, 1862) Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio Grande (SLV 35mm) (Fig. 1-C) and Physalaemus cuvieri (SLV do Sul, Rondônia and São Paulo (Oda et al., 2014). It is 30mm) (Fig. 1-D), one belonging to the Hylidae family considered a generalist species that feeds on arthropods and the other to the Leptodactylidae respectively. The and smaller anurans and has an explosive mode of specimens were deposited in the Zoological Collection reproduction, building foam nests (Schaefer et al., 2006; of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul Weiler et al., 2013). (ZUFMS). The predation of anurans by L. chaquensis is common (Duré, 1999; Piatti and Souza, 2011; Pereira et al., 2015, Oda et al., 2016; Camurugi et al., 2017), however, this is the first record of a specimen with two different species ¹ Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Zoologia), in their stomach. Anurans have great diversity in life Instituto de Biociências de Botucatu, IBB - UNESP, 18618- 970, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil. history patterns, and most species reproduce in rainy ² Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados, Faculdade de seasons (Stebbins and Cohen, 1995). Scinax nasicus and Ciências Biológicas e Ambientais. KM 12, Cx P.364, 79804- P. cuvieri reproduce in temporary or permanent water 970 Rodovia Dourados - Itahum, Dourados, Mato Grosso do bodies in rural areas, depositing the eggs directly in the Sul, Brazil. water or in foam nests near the bordering vegetation ³ Programa de Pós-graduação em Biologia Animal, Instituto de (Kwet et al., 2004; Condez et al., 2009). There are few Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul. Cx P. 549, 79070–900, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, records on the predation of S. nasicus and P. cuvieri by Brazil. other anurans, however, there are records of arthropods, * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] snakes, birds and other organisms feeding on these 484 Murilo S. Queiroz et al. Figure 1. Predation of Leptodactylus chaquensis on two other species of anurans. A: record of an attempted predation on Physalaemus cuvieri observed on the day of collection; B: Detail of L. chaquensis biting P. cuvieri by the head; C: Detail of Scinax nasicus collected from the stomach and partially digested; D: Detail of the anurans in the position that they were found in, in the stomach of L. chaquensis (P. cuvieri is on the left and S. nasicus is on the right). Photos by: A and B: Rodney, M.P. Couto; C and D: Murilo S. Queiroz. species (Table 1), which emphasizes the importance be frequent, however, there is some difficulty in of these animals in trophic networks in different conducting field studies that measure the frequency of ecosystems. these occurrences. Therefore, this work contributes to Records on batrachophagy are important and provide disseminating knowledge about how diverse is food information on trophic dynamics in these systems. webs involving anurans. Pombal Jr. (2007) points out that these events may Leptodactylus chaquensis - the voracious generalist frog as a predator 485 Table 1. Records of the predation relationship among the species of L. chaquensis, P. cuvieri and S. nasicus. Table 1. Records of the predation relationship among the species of L. chaquensis, P. cuvieri and S. nasicus. Predator Prey Class Family Species Family Species Reference Insecta Belostomatidae Lethocerus annulipes Leptodactylidae Physalaemus cuvieri Nenda et al., 2008 Arachnida Ctenidae – Leptodactylidae Physalaemus cuvieri Nenda et al., 2008 Amphibia Leptodactylidae Leptodactylus chaquensis Leptodactylidae Physalaemus centralis Costa-Pereira et al., 2015 Amphibia Leptodactylidae Leptodactylus chaquensis Hylidae Pseudis platensis Oda et al., 2016 Amphibia Hylidae Trachycephalus typhonius Hylidae Scinax nasicus Sugai et al., 2017 Reptilia Colubridae Mussurana bicolor Leptodactylidae Leptodactylus chaquensis Cortés-Gomez et al., 2015 Reptilia Dipsadidae Philodryas nattereri Leptodactylidae Physalaemus cuvieri Gambale et al., 2014 Reptilia Dipsadidae Helicops modestus Leptodactylidae Physalaemus cuvieri Costa et al., 2009 Birds Ardeidae Syrigma sibilatrix Leptodactylidae Leptodactylus chaquensis Aoki and Filho 2013 Birds Ardeidae Tigrisoma lineatum Leptodactylidae Leptodactylus chaquensis Cortés-Gomez et al., 2015 Birds Tyrannidae Pitangus sulphuratus Hylidae Scinax nasicus Toledo et al., 2005 Birds Trogonidae Trogon surrucura Hylidae Scinax nasicus Toledo et al., 2005 Mammals Mustelidae Lontra longicaudis Leptodactylidae Leptodactylus chaquensis Ferreira et al., 2017 Acknowledgments. We are sincerely grateful to Dr. Daniel De Sá, R.O., Grant, T., Camargo, A., Heyer, W.R., Ponssa, M.L., Cunha Passos for the pre-peer review and suggestions on this Stanley, E. (2014): Systematics of the Neotropical Genus manuscript, with Matthijs Strietman for the help in translation, Leptodactylus Fitzinger, 1826 (Anura: Leptodactylidae): Dr. Vanda Lúcia Ferreira for the support with main text, Dr. Phylogeny, the Relevance of Non-molecular Evidence, and Fernando Paiva for the photos edition and Dr. Luciano Alves dos Species Accounts. South American Journal of Herpetology 9: Anjos with laboratory activities. We are grateful to Coordenação 1–128. 1 de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for Duré, M.I. (1999): Leptodactylus chaquensis (NCN) diet. the fellowship. Herpetological review 30: 1. Eterovick, P.C., Sazima, I. (2004): Anfíbios da Serra do Cipó. Ed. References PUC Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte. 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