Herpetology Notes, volume 12: 1167-1168 (2019) (published online on 11 November 2019)

Predation event on the poison trivittata (Spix, 1824) by the giant fishing spider Ancylometes rufus (Walckenaer, 1837)

Daniel Ramos-Torres1,* and Javier F. Caicedo-Moncada1

Ameerega trivittata (Spix, 1824) is a frog of medium This is the first record of Ancylometes rufus preying on size that is widely distributed throughout the Amazon Ameerega trivittata. This spider usually preys on small- basin; including , , , , sized anurans, such as Scinax alter (Prado & Borgo, , , Paraguay, , and (Silverstone, 1976, Grant et al. 2006, Frost, 2013). Ancylometes rufus (Walckenaer, 1837) is a large sized fishing spider distributed throughout the rainforests of the Amazon basin and the Atlantic coast of Brazil (Höfer & Metzner, 2011). This species forages mainly on the ground, where it feeds mostly of arthropods (Höfer & Brescovit, 2000, Gasnier et al. 2002). This spider is known to prey on anurans, tadpoles and fishes (Azevedo, 2000, Azevedo & Smith, 2004). Although A. rufus can occur far from water bodies, it is much more abundant close to aquatic environments, which offer a large availability of food, and an additional escape route (Azevedo, 2000, Höfer & Brescovit, 2000, Gasnier et al. 2009). On 18 November 2016, between 17:00 h and 18:15 h, we report the first record of a predation event on Ameerega trivittata by Ancylometes rufus in the Colombian Amazon, Leticia, sidewalk “La arenosa”, in a pond (4.1197°S, 69.9508°W, 84 m a.s.l.). We observed a juvenile male Ancylometes rufus hunting an adult Ameerega trivittata at the edge of a small temporary pond (Figure 1), Ancylometes rufus was observed on the surface of the pond capturing with its chelicerae, and with the assistance of its pedipalps, an Ameerega trivittata (Figure 1B). Five tadpoles were being carried by the Ameerega trivittata.

Figure 1. A juvenil male Ancylometes rufus, from La arenosa (Leticia, Colombia) preying on an adult Ameerega trivittata, 1 Facultad de Ciencias y Educación, Licenciatura en Biología, Figure A (above) shows the spider preying its prey and Figure Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Bogotá, Cra. B (below) shows the Ancylometes rufus in the surface of the 4 No. 26D 54, Bogotá, Colombia. pond holding onto from the dorsal region of the Ameerega * Corresponding author. E-mail: trivittata with its chelicerae, additionally five tadpoles are [email protected] observed on the back of the Ameerega trivittata. 1168 Daniel Ramos-Torres & Javier F. Caicedo-Moncada

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Accepted by Simon Maddock