The South American Suckermouth

Southwestern Association of Naturalists

The South American Suckermouth Armored Catfish, Pterygoplichthys anisitsi (Pisces: Loricaridae), in Texas, with Comments on Foreign Fish Introductions in the American Southwest Author(s): Leo G. Nico and R. Trent Martin Source: The Southwestern Naturalist, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Mar., 2001), pp. 98-104 Published by: Southwestern Association of Naturalists Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3672381 . Accessed: 10/09/2014 17:50

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This content downloaded from 158.135.136.72 on Wed, 10 Sep 2014 17:50:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 98 TheSouthwestern Naturalist vol.46, no. 1 the assumption of Briggs and Miller (1960), waterclingfishes of the genus Gobiesoxfrom south- of the Museum of later confirmed by Miller based on examina- ern Mexico. Occasional Papers of 616:1-15. tion of the Paris specimen, that the population Zoology,University Michigan BURR,B. M., AND D. G. BUTH. 1977. New localities fromRio Chapalagana is G. fluviatilis. for the rare Mexican clingfish,Gobiesoxfluviatilis, from Durango and Chihuahua. Southwestern Resumen-Se confirmala presencia de Gobie- Naturalist22:125-128. sox in el Rio en el Es- fluviatilis Chapalagana ESPINOSA,P. H., ANDJ. L. CASTRO-AQUIRRE.1996. A new tado de Zacatecas, tambien se reafirmala hi- freshwaterclingfish (Pisces: Gobiesocidae) from p6tesis de Briggsy Miller (1960) acerca de que Baja CaliforniaSur, Mexico. Bulletinof the South- las poblaciones por ellos colectadas en otros ern CaliforniaAcademy of Sciences 95:120-126. estados, pertenecen a la misma especie colec- ESPINOSA, P. H., P. FUENTES MATA, AND J.L. CASTRO- de Gobiesox tada por Pellegrin en 1901. AGUIRRE.1987 (1988). Presencia flu- viatilisBriggs y Miller (Pisces: Goiesociformes) en We are gratefulto O. J. Polaco fordonating the el rio Cuitzmala, Jalisco, M6xico y sus implica- specimenand forfield data used in thisstudy, as well ciones zoogeograficas. Anales del Instituto de as forhis comments and observations.We also thank Biologia, Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de 2 anonymousreviewers for their comments on the M6xico. Serie Zoologia 58:727-734. paper.We thankMadame Beauchot for the loan of MILLER,R. R., AND M. L. SMITH. 1986. Origin and Pellegrin'sspecimen and theUnited States National geographyof the fishesof central Mexico. In: Ho- ScienceFoundation grant DEB 80-02017. cutt, C. H., and E. O. Wiley,editors. The zooge- ography of North American freshwaterfishes. & New York. 487-517. LITERATURECITED John Wiley Sons, Pp. NELSON,J. S. 1994. Fishes of the world, Third ed. BRIGGS,J. C. 1951. A review of the clingfishes(Go- John Wiley & Sons, New York. biesocidae) of the eastern Pacific with descrip- PELLEGRIN,J. 1901. Poissonsrecueillis par M. L. Diguet tions of new species. Proceedings of the Califor- dans l'Etat de Jalisco (Mexique). Bulletin du Mu- nia Zoological Club 1:57-108. seium National D'Histoire Naturelle,Paris 7:204- BRIGGS,J. C. 1955. A monograph of the clingfishes 207. (Order Xenopterygii). Stanford Ichthyological Bulletin 6:1-224. Submitted5 April1999. Accepted29 December1999. BRIGGS,J. C., ANDR. RKMILLER. 1960. Two new fresh- AssociateEditor was David R. Edds.

THE SOUTH AMERICAN SUCKERMOUTH ARMORED CATFISH, PTERYGOPLICHTHYS ANISITSI (PISCES: LORICARIIDAE), IN TEXAS, WITH COMMENTS ON FOREIGN FISH INTRODUCTIONS IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST

LEO G. NIco* AND R. TRENT MARTIN

UnitedStates Geological Survey, Florida CaribbeanScience Center, 7920 N. W 71stStreet, Gainesville, FL 32653-3071 (LGN) 6310 Overdale,Houston, Texas 77087 (RTM) *Correspondent:[email protected]

Fishes of the familyLoricariidae, commonly P disjunctivusin Florida (Fuller et al., 1999). An known as suckermoutharmored catfishes,are introducedpopulation of P multiradiatusis also bottom-dwellingspecies thatare naturallydistrib- establishedin Puerto Rico (Bunkley-Williamset uted in freshwaters of South and CentralAmer- al., 1994). Commonlyknown as sailfincatfishes, ica. The familyis quite diversewith more than membersof the genus are characterizedby large 600 describedspecies. At least 2 loricariidsof the dorsal finswith 9 or more (usually10+) dorsal- genus Pterygoplichthys(subfamily Hypostominae) fin rays (Armbruster,1997). Several other lori- have established populations in the United cariidcatfishes also have breedingpopulations in States,P multiradiatusin Florida and Hawaii and warm-watersites of the United States.However,

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"""Yi : "/ H, s _A------4 0:w-E HOUSTONII.I . 1)s------1-6. HO~STON%% %h3 r ~qA TEXA 0o 2 %ls us?95lic?''`KILOMETERS %%

5 KILOMETERS

FIG. 1-Map of waterwaysand major roadwaysin a portion of BuffaloBayou drainage, Harris Co., Texas, showing sites where suckermouth armored catfishhave been captured or observed (stars; 1, Sims Bayou upstream of State Highway 35 at HemingwayAvenue; 2, Brays Bayou near Interstate45; 3, Brays Bayou at MacGregor Park; 4, Buffalo Bayou near Wayside Drive; 5, Sims Bayou near Anna Held Road). Solid stars represent records of P anisitsisupported by museum voucher specimens; other records are unconfirmed.

thereare only3 documentedcases of established at the site,but not captured.Two of the larger populationsof loricariidsin theAmerican South- P anisitsi(479 mm TL and 470 mm TL), taken west,and all are based on recordsof 1 or more in June to July1998, were gravidfemales. The unidentifiedspecies assignableto the genus Hy- smallestspecimen (120 mm TL) was capturedon postomus.Two populationsare knownfrom Tex- 30 June 1999. The largestspecimen captured was as, 1 occurringin the headwatersof the San An- a gravidfemale taken 17 May 1999; live it mea- tonio River,Bexar Co., and another in Comal sured 502 mm TL and 380 mm standardlength, Springs,Comal Co. (Barron, 1964; Hubbs et al., SL. On 6 June and 18 September2000, armored 1978, 1991; Whitesideand Berkhouse,1992). An- catfishwere takenfrom an upstreamsite of Sims other unidentified Hypostomuspopulation is Bayou near Anna Held Road (29038'45"N, knownfrom Nevada in Indian Spring,a thermal 95020'05"W; K. K. Schlicht,Texas Parksand Wild- spring in Clark Co. (Courtenay and Deacon, life Department,pers. comm.). We were sent 3 1982; Fuller et al., 1999). specimens (ca. 260 to 290 mm SL) fromthe Sep- This note documentsthe occurrenceof an ap- tembercollection, and we identifiedall as P an- parentlyreproducing nonindigenous population isitsi. of the South American loricariidcatfish Pterygo- During the past few years, armored catfish plichthysanisitsi recently discovered in the Buffalo have been reported fromseveral other sites in Bayou drainage, Harris Co. (Houston area), the BuffaloBayou drainage. M. J. Kelly (Texas southeasternTexas (Fig. 1). During the period Natural Resource Conservation Commission, July1998 to November 1999, one of the authors pers. comm.) reported the occurrence of suck- (RTM) captured 29 P anisitsi(120 to 502 mm ermoutharmored catfish in nearbyBrays Bayou, total length,TL) with a cast net in Sims Bayou a tributaryof BuffaloBayou in the south Hous- just upstreamfrom State Highway 35 at Heming- ton area ca. 5 km northof the Sims Bayou site. wayAvenue (29040'05"N, 95'17'51"W), ca. 13 km He observedthe catfishgulping air in the bayou upstreamfrom the stream'sconfluence with Buf- near the Interstate45 crossing shortlyafter a falo Bayou. Additional P anisitsiwere observed large fishkill eventin July1998; Kellyalso sight-

This content downloaded from 158.135.136.72 on Wed, 10 Sep 2014 17:50:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 100 The SouthwesternNaturalist vol. 46, no. 1 ed a possible suckermoutharmored catfishin central South America (Weber, 1992). The spe- BraysBayou at MacGregorPark duringthe same cies was originally described by Eigenmann period. Based on that information,the second and Kennedy (1903). Like all loricariidcatfish- author visited Brays Bayou (ca. 29042'43"N, es, R anisitsihas a body coveringof bony plates 95018'40"W) on 17 May 1999 and successfully and a ventral mouth modified into a sucking netted a single P anisitsi(390 mm TL, 285 mm disk. Members of the genus Pterygoplichthysare SL). Texas Parks and WildlifeDepartment biol- somewhat distinctin having 9 to 14 dorsal fin ogistscaptured 2 specimens (356 and 458 mm rays. Texas specimens we examined (n = 14) TL) originallyidentified as "plecostomus"on 10 have 11 to 12 dorsal fin rays (counts do not in January1996 duringfish survey work the main include the dorsal spines). In contrast,Hypos- channel of BuffaloBayou, Houston (M. Webb, tomusand most other loricariids have 7 (very Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, pers. rarely 8) dorsal fin rays (Weber, 1991, 1992; Their site was at an comm.). capture outflow Armbruster1997). Color pattern on the fins from a wastewater near Drive plant Wayside and dorsal body of P. anisitsitypically is dark and is ca. 10 km north (29045'14"N,95017'58"W) with white spots, although some large individ- of the Sims site We Bayou capture (Fig. 1). pre- uals are verydark above withfew spots. Weber sume the involvedis P species anisitsi;however, (1992) used abdominal color patternas an im- because no were the iden- specimens preserved, portant trait in distinguishingmany of the of those fishis unconfirmed.If valid, the Buf- tity closely-relatedmembers of the genus. In adult falo record indicates P anisitsiis Bayou fairly and large juvenile anisitsi,the abdomen is and has been in Texas waterssince P. widespread covered by large white spots, many of which at least the of beginning 1996 and probablyear- are to form a vermiculate lier. irregularlyjoined The abdominal observed in To our the Texas records pattern. pattern knowledge, repre- the of Texas P anisitsi with the sent the firstdocumented case of P anisitsiin majority agree described and illustratedfor this watersoutside South Americaand also pattern spe- open pro- cies in Weber (1992). However, the same vide the firstevidence for pat- reproductionby any tern is similar to that of a subset of Florida species of Pterygoplichthysin the AmericanSouth- specimens all identified by Page (1994) as P west.Voucher specimens of the Texas P anisitsi disjunctivus,a species endemic to the Amazon are deposited in fishcollections of the Texas Co- River basin and recentlydescribed as new by operativeWildlife Collection at Texas A&M Uni- Weber (1991). One Texas specimen (SL = 274 versity(TCWC 10815.01 [1]) and the Florida mm; UF 111701) has an unusual abdominal Museum of Natural History (UF 111706 [1]; color in that the white are small 111707 [1]; 111708 [1]; 111709 [1]; 114798 [3]). pattern spots The source of the Texas introductionis un- and only a few are interconnected. The existence of abnormal or in- known,but is likelythe result of an aquarium seemingly termediate abdominal color in some release. Several membersof the genus are pop- patterns from introduced ular in the aquarium trade. Pterygoplichthysanis- specimens Pterygoplichthys in Texas itsi,or a closely-relatedspecies, is sold in local populations (and elsewhere) suggests the of pet storesin the Houston area as plecostomus. possibility introgressivehybridization. W. Armbruster Plecostomus(or pleco) is a name looselyapplied Indeed, J. (Auburn University, has seen a number of by hobbyiststo manysuckermouth armored cat- pers. comm.) Pterygopli- in the trade that he considers fishesof the subfamilyHypostominae, especially chthys aquarium the of artificial Be- Hypostomus.In the aquarium trade, P anisitsiis products hybridization. cause of the of sometimesgiven the common name snow-king variety unusual patternscom- plecostomus (J. W. Armbruster,Auburn Univer- mercially available, Armbrusterbelieves that sity,pers. comm.). We suggestthat, in viewof its several differentcombinations of crosses have nativedistribution, it be called the southernsail- occurred. In his briefreview of Pterygoplichthys, fin catfish. Armbruster(1997) listed 21 nominal species, Pterygoplichthysanisitsi belongs to the P mul- of which 13 were considered to be valid. Many tiradiatusgroup (Liposarcussensu Weber, 1991, differentforms are in the aquarium trade. Ge- 1992) and is native to the Parantiand Uruguay netic work,in progress,comparing introduced riverdrainages (La Plata Riverbasin) in south- populations of Pterygoplichthyswith specimens

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SimsBayou at Houston,TX - USGS gagestation collected in South America may help resolve 35 the issue. hybridization 30 BuffaloBayou is a 72-km-longstream flowing O - though Houston and is part of the Galveston P?25 - Bay basin of the Texas-Gulf region in south- 20 ...... eastern Texas. Its lower course is the Houston , ...... Ship Channel. Sims Bayou is an urban stream ca. 38 km long and draining an area ca. 200 1 . . . 0 .1 '-0-- Mean km2 that feeds into Buffalo Bayou where the Co 1 5 . bayou formspart of the estuarine reach of the S ...... ----- Minimum Houston Channel. Sims flows Ship Bayou OctNov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep along the southern margin of the Houston 1996 1997 ...... metropolitan area and drains mostly agricul- Month tural and residential land. The stream has rel- FIG. 2-Monthly watertemperatures (minimum, water and an unstable flow ativelypoor quality mean, and maximum)for Sims Bayou at Houston, regime. According to United States Geological Harris Co., Texas for October 1996 to September Survey data, during low flow Sims Bayou is 1997. (Source: UnitedStates Geological Survey hy- largely sustained by wastewatereffluent from drologicgage station08075500.) Houston suburbs and from industrial wastes. The stream is currentlybeing re-channelized to be deeper, wider, and lined with concrete corded in 1997 at the Houston Hobby Airport blocks. As a resultof this disturbance and poor (29039'N, 95017'W; elevation 14 m) show min- erosion controls, Sims Bayou carries a large imums ranging from -0.80C (January) to sediment load. In the capture reach, Sims Bay- 23.20C (July; National Climatic Data Center ou is ca. 15 to 20 m wide and 1.3 m deep. and United States Air Force Combat Climatol- The presence ofjuveniles and gravidfemales ogy Center, 1998). For the period of record suggests that P anisitsiis reproducing in the (13 July 1993 through the end of 1997) the BuffaloBayou drainage. No nest burrowswere water temperatureminimum for Sims Bayou at seen, but detection was greatlylimited because the United States Geological Survey gage sta- of low water clarity.In general, the most im- tion at HighwaySR 35 near the site of capture portantfactor affecting potential survivalof in- was 6.0OC (13 January 1997-Fig. 2). troduced loricariid catfishes is their general Some loricariidsin southern South America lack of tolerance to low temperature. Thus, naturallyoccur in verycold water in mountain whetherP anisitsiwill become permanentlyes- streams (J. W. Armbruster,Auburn University, tablished in areas outside its native range de- pers. comm.). However, the lower lethal tem- pends heavilyon its abilityto surviveshort pe- perature of P. anisitsihas yet to be determined. riods of low temperatureor adapt to a low tem- In their studyon temperaturetolerance of for- perature regime. In South America, P anisitsi eign fishesintroduced to Florida, Shafland and naturally occurs from near 15'S to approxi- Pestrak (1982) examined 6 specimens of a lor- mately34'15'S latitude (Weber, 1992). It is the icariid and reported lethal temperature to be only Pterygoplichthyswith a native range extend- 11 to 120C. These authors reported the Florida ing well outside the tropical zone. Thus, its tol- loricariid as Hypostomussp., but recent evi- erance to cold temperatures is most likely dence suggests they were likely examining P greater than that of other members of the ge- multiradiatus(Fuller et al., 1999). During re- nus. The most southern natural records recent years, 1 Pterygoplichthysspecies in penin- ported by Weber are from the lower Uruguay sular Florida has invaded as far north as River basin. Annual mean air temperature in 29030'N latitude (L. G. Nico, pers. obser.). In that region is ca. 160C (Walter et al., 1973). addition, these catfishare likelyable to survive Weather informationavailable for nearby Co- cold spells by taking refuge in burrows.In the lonia del Sacramento, Uruguay (34o27'S, urban streams of the Houston area, Pterygopli- 57?50'W; elevation 23 m), for 1997 shows chthysapparently is using outflowfrom sewage monthly air temperature minimums ranging treatmentplants as thermal refugia (M. Webb, Texas Parks and Wildlife ob- from 1.O0C (July) to 15.40C (January); data re- Department,pers.

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60 59------Established/PossiblyEstablished Extirpated/ProbablyExtirpated 50 ------DI . EJ Reported .. 403 U) 22..24.8)L C ( 35 a) u 30 22cn ------30i"22 ::24 ------25 ------0 ----- M_ iiijii iiiii 1 3 :::::: 0 10 22 111 11 ...... 11 8 ... - ...... c~...... 01 1 ...... 0013 9

FIG. 3--Numbers of nonindigenous foreignfishes recorded fromeach of the 12 southwesternstates. Estab- lished species are those having one or more breeding populations; extirpatedfishes include species previously considered establishedbut whose only known reproducingpopulation (or populations) has been either eradi- cated or became extirpatednaturally; reported species are fishesknown or recorded fromone or more localities, but withno evidence of reproduction.(Modified frominformation given in Fuller et al., 1999.) ser.). Based on the above, the continued sur- water quality (e.g., south Florida canals) as well vival of P anisitsiin Texas is a possibility. as in less disturbed water bodies (i.e., natural Members of the genus Pterygoplichthysshare streams and lakes). In Florida these catfishes many ecological and life-historyattributes typ- may be causing significantchanges in food web ical of nonindigenous fishes activelyspreading structureand also may be competing with na- in other parts of the southern United States: tive species for food and space. In their discus- medium to large body size, parental care of sion of the suckermouth armored catfishHy- eggs or young, a generalized diet, ability td postomussp. in Texas, Hubbs et al. (1978) re- breathe air,and broad environmentaltoleranc- ported possible local displacement of algae- es (Nico and Fuller, 1999). Pterygoplichthysare feeding native fishes such as Campostoma large loricariids that commonly reach sizes of anomalumby this introduced loricariid. Ptery- 40 cm TL or more. They are primarilydetriti- goplichthysanisitsi may have a similardetrimen- vores, but also feed on aquatic benthic inver- tal effectin Texas, particularlyif it spreads into tebrates and attached algae (Goulding et al., less disturbed water bodies in the state. 1988; L. G. Nico, pers. obser.). Members of this In southwesternstates, the numbersof foreign genus also have the abilityto breathe air and fishspecies withcurrently established (i.e., repro- are able to surviveup to 30 h out of water (Val ducing) or possibly established populations and De Almeida-Val, 1995). Nevertheless, ef- range from2 (Kansas and Utah) to 19 (Califor- fects of introduced suckermoutharmored cat- nia-Fig. 3). Many other foreign species have fishes in the United States have yet to be doc- been reported but are not known to be repro- umented fullyand the ultimate impact of the ducing. In their summarymatrix, Fuller et al. Texas introductionis unknown. In Hawaii, the (1999) reported34 species of nonindigenousfor- thousands of nesting tunnels excavated by eign fishtaxa (i.e., species and severalunidenti- male P multiradiatusin reservoir banks have fied forms)for Texas; of these,as manyas 9 have contributed to siltation problems (Devick, established or possiblyestablished populations. 1989). In Florida, Pterygoplichthysspecies are lo- In addition to the unidentifiedsuckermouth ar- cally abundant in degraded habitatswith poor mored catfish (Hypostomussp.), foreign fishes

This content downloaded from 158.135.136.72 on Wed, 10 Sep 2014 17:50:55 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions March2001 Notes 103 with reproducing populations in the state in- BARRON,J. C. 1964. Reproduction and apparent clude blue tilapia (Oreochromisaureus), redbelly over-wintersurvival of the suckermoutharmored Plecostomus in the headwaters of the tilapia (Tilapia zilliz),goldfish (Carassius auratus), catfish, sp., San Antonio River.Texas of Science 16: idella), common Journal grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon 449-450. (Poeciliareticulata), carp (Cyprinuscarpio), guppy BUNKLEY-WILLIAMS,L., E. H. WILLIAMS, C. G. LIL- swordtail and JR., green (Xiphophorushellerii), possibly YSTROM,I. CORUJO-FLORES,A.J. ZERBI,C. ALIAUME, Mossambique tilapia (Oreochromismossambicus). ANDT. N. CHURCHHILL.1994. The South Ameri- Recently,Nile tilapia (0. niloticus)supposedly has can sailfinarmored catfish,Liposarcus multiradia- been introducedto Sims Bayou and may be re- tus (Hancock), a new exotic established in Puerto producing (R. T. Martin,pers. obser.). Several Rican freshwaters. Caribbean Journal of Science other foreignfishes may have had reproducing 30:90-94. AND populationsin Texas watersbut are now consid- COURTENAY,W. R., J. E. DEACON.1982. Status of introduced fishes in certain in ered extirpated.Based on our preliminaryfind- spring systems the Texas of anisitsiis suc- southern Nevada. Great Basin Naturalist42:361- ings, population P. 366. However,additional mon- cessfullyreproducing. DEVICK,W. S. 1989. Disturbances and fluctuationsin in the Buffalo willbe re- itoring Bayou drainage the Wahiawa Reservoirecosystem. Project F-14-R- to assess the statusof the P anisitsi quired fully 13, Job 4, Study I. Hawaii Department of Land population and to evaluate potentialimpacts of and Natural Resources, Division of Aquatic Re- thisspecies on the nativebiota. sources, Honolulu. EIGENMANN,C. H., AND C. H. KENNEDY. 1903. On a Resumen-Muestrasde peces colectadas dur- collection of fishesfrom Paraguay, with a synopsis ante 1996-1999 en el drenaje de Buffalo Bay- of the American genera of cichlids. Proceedings of the of Natural ou, Texas, aportaron varios especimenes del Academy Sciences, Philadelphia 55:497-537. bagre loricarido Pterygoplicthysanisitsi. Este re- brinda el de anisitsien FULLER,P. L., L. G. NICO, ANDJ. D. WILLIAMS.1999. porte primerregistro P. fishes introduced to inland wa- los Estados el de Nonindigenous Unidos. Asimismo, ejemplo ters of the United States. American Fisheries So- esta sirve discutirel de especie para magnitud ciety,Special Publication 27, Bethesda, Maryland. introducci6n de peces de aguas continentales GOULDING,M., M. L. CARVALHO,AND E. G. FERREIRA. del Suroeste. 1988. Rio Negro, rich life in poor water.SPB Ac- ademic Publishing, The Hague, The Nether- We are gratefulto J. W. Armbrusterfor verifying lands. identificationof Texas anisitsiand for Pterygoplichthys HUBBS,C., R. J. EDWARDS,AND G. P. GARRETT.1991. his commentson a draftof themanuscript. We also An annotated checklistof the freshwaterfishes of thankD. A. Sneck-Fehrerof the UnitedStates Geo- Texas, with to identificationof Texas for H. L. keys species. logicalSurvey providinghydrologic data, of Science, 43:1-56. for and weatherdatabase Journal Supplement Jelks accessing decoding HUBBS,C., T. LUCIER,G. P. GARRETT,R. J. EDWARDS, L. G. and W. F. Smith-Vanizfor files, Jelks reading S. M. DEAN,E. MARSH,AND D. BELK. 1978. Surviv- M. of and commentingon the manuscript, J. Kelly al and abundance of introduced fishes near San the Texas NaturalResource Conservation Commis- Antonio, Texas. Texas of Science 30:369- our attentionthe of Journal sion forbringing to presence 376. in M. Webb and K. PterygoplichthysBrays Bayou, NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER AND UNITED STATES Schlichtof theTexas Parks and Wildlife Department AIR FORCE COMBAT CLIMATOLOGY CENTER. 1998. for us withother records of loricariidcat- providing International surface weather observations, and R. H. Robinsof the FloridaMuseum of fish, 1982-1997. laser discs, 5 vol- Natural and R. K. of the Texas Co- Computer optical History Vaughn umes. United States WildlifeCollection for assistance in cata- Jointlyproduced by Depart- operative ment of Commerce, National Oceanic and At- loguingvoucher specimens. mospheric Administration, National Climatic Data Center and United States Department of Air LITERATURECITED Force, Air Force Combat Climatology Center, ARMBRUSTER,J. W. 1997. Phylogenetic relationships Asheville,North Carolina. of the sucker-moutharmored catfishes (Lorica- NIco, L. G., AND P. L. FULLER. 1999. Spatial and tem- riidae) with particular emphasis on the Ancistri- poral patterns of nonindigenous fish introduc- nae, Hypostominae, and Neoplecostominae. Un- tions in the United States. Fisheries 24(1):16-27. published Ph. D. dissertation,University of Illi- PAGE,L. M. 1994. Identificationof sailfincatfishes in- nois, Urbana. troduced to Florida. Florida Scientist57:171-172.

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SHAFLAND,P. L., ANDJ. M. PESTRAK.1982. Lower le- WEBER, C. 1991. Nouveaux taxa dans Pterygoplichthys thal temperaturesfor fourteen non-nativefishes sensu lato (Pisces, Siluriformes,Loricariidae). in Florida. Environmental Biology of Fishes 7: Revue Suisse de Zoologie 98:637-643. 149-156. WEBER,C. 1992. Revision du genre Pterygoplichthys VAL,A. L., ANDV. M. F. DE ALMEIDA-VAL.1995. Fishes sensu lato (Pisces, Siluriformes, Loricariidae). of the Amazon and their environment.Zoophy- Revue Francaise d'Aquariologie 19:1-36. siologyVol. 32. Springer-Verlag,Berlin, Germany. WHITESIDE, B. G., AND C. BERKHOUSE. 1992. Some WALTER, H., E. HARNICKELL, AND D. MUELLER-DOM- new collection locations forsix fishspecies. Texas BOIS. 1973. Climate-diagrammaps of the individ- Journal of Science 44:494. ual continents and the ecological climatic re- gions of the earth. Springer-Verlag,Berlin, Ger- Submitted17June 1999. Accepted29 December1999. many. AssociateEditor was David R. Edds.

ATTEMPTED PREDATION OF COUCH'S SPADEFOOT (SCAPHIOPUS COUCHIJ) JUVENILES BY ANTS (APHAENOGASTER COCKERELLI)

KEVIN E. BONINE*, GAGE H. DAYTON, AND ROBIN E. JUNG

UnitedStates Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center 12100 BeechForest Road, Laurel, MD 20708 Presentaddress of KEB: Departmentof Zoology, University of Wisconsin,Madison, WI 53706 Presentaddress of GHD: Departmentof Wildlifeand FisheriesSciences, Texas A&M University, CollegeStation, TX 77843 *Correspondent:kebonine@students. wisc.edu

Some amphibians may be potentially abun- sands of newly metamorphosed Couch's spa- dant and vulnerable prey, especially early in defoots may emerge en masse. life. For example, newly metamorphosed Aphaenogastercockerelli inhabit desert flat- southern spadefoot toads (Scaphiopusmultipli- lands, build subterranean nests in the open catus) are preyed on by submerged tabanid (Creighton, 1950), and usually forage noctur- (horsefly) larvae as they move across muddy nally on seeds, plant tissue,pieces of fruit,and shores away from their natal pond (Jackman dead or moribund insects (Whitfordand Et- et al., 1983). However, only a handful of pub- tershank,1975; Wheeler and Wheeler, 1986). lications discuss predation of amphibians by They switch to a more insect-richdiet when ants. Ants prey on newlymetamorphosed cane possible, especially during brood-rearingwhen toads (Clerke and Williamson, 1992), on protein is limiting(Whitford et al., 1980). Typ- brooding salamanders (Forester,1979), and on ically,A. cockerelliforage individually.However, spadefoot eggs (Dayton and Jung, 1999). Fritz when requiring assistance to transportlarger et al. (1981) observed that some aposematical- food items, they employ both short and long- ly colored frogs are distastefulto ants. Here, range pheromone recruitmentto attractnest- we report the attemptedpredation ofjuvenile mates (Holldobler et al., 1978). Couch's spadefoot toads (Scaphiopus couchii, On 30 June 1998 at 2157 h, we observed 1 Pelobatidae) by the ant Aphaenogastercockerelli individualA. cockerelli(8.7 mm total length) at- (Myrmicinae) at 2 Texas localities in 2 differ- tempting to carry a newly metamorphosed ent years. Couch's spadefoot (10 mm snout-ventlength; Scaphiopuscouchii is a southwesterndesert- tail was 5 mm long) awayfrom the water'sedge adapted spadefoot that breeds in ephemeral at Paint Gap Tank, an old livestocktank in Big pools during the rainy season from May Bend National Park, BrewsterCo., Texas (UTM throughSeptember (Stebbins, 1985). This spe- zone 13, 3251979N, 0664754E, 1087 m elevation, cies can metamorphose fromegg to terrestrial Ta 28.60C,Twaer 28.20C,pool dimensions:ca. 5 juvenile in as few as 8 days (Newman, 1989). m by 14 m by 0.25 m deep). The ant and spa- Depending on size and duration of pool, thou- defoot struggledon the muddy bank about 10

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