Herpetology Notes, volume 14: 889-891 (2021) (published online on 10 June 2021)

Aggressive interaction in minutus (Anura: ) in the state of Amapá, Eastern Amazon

Vinícius A.M.B. de Figueiredo1,*, Débora Regina dos Santos Arraes2, Janaina Freitas Calado2, Abdiel Pinheiro de Freitas1, and Carlos E. Costa-Campos1

Males of most species of anurans vocalise genus. Thus, we here report an aggressive interaction at night and frequently aggregate in the context of the between two males of Dendropsophus minutus. chorus, in which males gather and vocalise to attract Between 22:00-23:00h on 11 February 2019, in an females (Wells, 1977). A few studies of calling males abandoned pool in municipality of Serra do Navio have revealed that many properties of their vocalisations, (0.9066°N, 52.0073°W; WGS 84), Amapá state, such as timing, rate, duration and frequency, are plastic , we were observing an assemblage of anuran with respect to various aspects of the social environment. amphibians in reproductive activity in which there were This means that anurans may modify the aspects of their many specimens of D. minutus in vocalisation activity. calls in response to some competition (Wells, 1988). While photographing some specimens, we observed a The vocalisations have an important function in the male individual (brown) vocalising next to a female. aggressive interactions related to territoriality, because Near the brown male and in the opposite direction, there fights may cause injuries (Martins et al., 1998). was another male also vocalising (yellow). When the Aggressive interactions have been reported in several brown individual noticed the presence of the other, it studies within family Hylidae (Dendropsophus, Bastos approached and changed its vocalisation. Although this and Haddad, 1996; Miranda et al., 2008; Boana, Martins first part has not been registered, the following sequence et al., 1998; Giasson and Haddad, 2006; Moura et al., of the event is described based on Figure 1. The video 2010; Scinax, Bastos and Haddad, 2002; Alcantara et recording was deposited at Figshare with the following al., 2007). access code: Dendropsophus minutus (Peters, 1872) is a small- . is broadly distributed in South America, occurring in After the brown individual (hereafter referred to , and Trinidad, south of the , as DM1) approached the other (Fig. 1A), the yellow east of , Brazil, and , being specimen (hereafter referred to as DM2) noticed its one of the most common anurans found in South America presence and changed its position and vocalisation (Fig. (Frost, 2019). This species inhabits open and forested 1B). DM2 left from its position and placed its forelimbs areas and may be found in both natural and anthropogenic from behind toward the dorsal region of the DM1, environments (Abegg et al., 2014). Aggressive partially pressing down on the cervical region (Fig. interactions are poorly documented in Brazil and there 1C) and the final portion of dorsum of the other male are almost no such records within the Dendropsophus (Fig. 1D). DM1 changed its position in order to remove the members of the DM2 from its dorsum (Fig. 1E). Then, DM2 hopped on top of the DM1, fully grasping the cervical region and pushing the male against the ground (Fig. 1F). After approximately 10 seconds, DM1 1 Universidade Federal do Amapá, Departamento de Ciências escapes from DM2 (Fig. 1G) and moves away from the Biológicas e da Saúde, Laboratório de Herpetologia, Campus Marco Zero do Equador, 68.903-419, Macapá, AP, Brazil. site where it was initially vocalising (Fig. 1H). 2 Universidade do Estado do Amapá, Curso de Ciências Territorial disputes with physical combat in D. Naturais, Avenida Presidente Vargas, 68.900-070, Macapá, minutus were observed by Cardoso and Haddad (1984) AP, Brazil. and Haddad (1987), involving male combats of an intra * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] and interspecific nature. Both literature records differ © 2021 by Herpetology Notes. Open Access by CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. from ours because the individuals which we observed 890 Vinícius A.M.B. de Figueiredo et al.

Figure 1. Aggressive interaction between two males of Dendropsophus minutus in an urban area, municipality of Serra do Navio, state of Amapá.

were not perched or over vegetation. Also according to territoriality in D. minutus was the acquisition of finite observations made by Haddad (1987), the losing male resources, represented by females. Furthermore, having did not leave the place and adopted the satellite male a suitable site to reproduce allows the male direct access behaviour, which was not observed by us as well, since to females and increases the attractiveness of male for the loser left the observed place after we stop the video. mating (Wells, 1977). The competition among anurans and territoriality are As proposed by Haddad and Cardoso (1992), females shaped by the abundance of available resources, such of D. minutus cannot analyse all males at the reproductive as sites for oviposition and calling and availability of site due to the large distances between males and the females to reproduce (Kaufmann, 1983; Wells, 2007). high number of males generally available. In this way, According to Haddad (1987), the main function of the most active males have an advantage in getting a Aggressive interaction in Dendropsophus minutus in the state of Amapá 891 female to reproduce. Our observations contribute and Giasson, L.O.M., Haddad, C.F.B. (2006): Social Interactions increase the knowledge of the reproductive biology and in Hypsiboas albomarginatus (Anura: Hylidae) and the agonistic interactions of D. minutus. Significance of Acoustic and Visual Signals. Journal of Herpetology 40: 171–180. Haddad, C.F.B. (1987): Comportamento reprodutivo e Acknowledgments. We would like to thank Janaína Lima comunicação sonora de Hyla minuta Peters, 1872 (Amphibia, (IEPA) for providing the pre-peer review of this manuscript and Anura, Hylidae). Unpublished Master’s thesis, Universidade Rogério Bastos for providing many valuable suggestions. We are Estadual de Campinas, São Paulo. also grateful to Universidade Federal do Amapá (UNIFAP) and Haddad, C.F.B., Cardoso, A.J. (1992): Elección del macho por la Christopher Jaster (PARNA Montanhas do Tumucumaque) for hembra de Hyla minuta (Amphibia: Anura). Acta Zoológica logistical support during the fieldwork. We thank the Instituto Lilloana 41: 81–91. Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio) for Kaufmann, J.H. (1983): On the definitions and functions of providing collection permits (SISBIO #48102-2). dominance and territorially. Biological Reviews 58: 1–20. Martins, M., Pombal, J.P.J., Haddad, C.F.B. (1998): Escalated References aggressive behaviour and facultative parental care in the nest Abegg, A.D., Rosa, C.M., Borges, L.M. (2014): Predation of building gladiator Hyla faber. Amphibia-Reptilia 19: 65– Dendropsophus minutus (Anura: Hylidae) by Aglaoctenus 73. oblongus (Aranae: Lycosidae). Herpetology Notes 7: 605–606. Miranda, D.B., Garey, M.V., Monteiro-Filho, E.L.A., Hartmann, Alcantara, M.B., Lima, L.P., Bastos, R.P. (2007): Breeding activity M.T. (2008): Sinalização visual e Biologia Reprodutiva de of Scinax centralis (Anura, Hylidae) in Central Brazil. Iheringia, Dendropsophus werneri (Anura: Hylidae) em área de Mata Série Zoologia 97: 406–410. Atlântica no Estado do Paraná, Brasil. Papéis Avulsos de Bastos, R.P., Haddad, C.F.B. (1996): Breeding activity of the Zoologia 48: 335–343. Neotropical treefrog Hyla elegans (Anura, Hylidae). Journal of Moura, M.R., Silva, E.T., Mângia, S. (2010): Interspecific combat Herpetology 30: 355–360. in anurans: a case of Hypsiboas faber (Wied-Neuwied, 1821) Bastos, R.P., Haddad, C.F.B. (2002): Acoustic and aggressive (Hylidae) and Rhinella pombali (Baldissera-Jr, Caramaschi & interactions in Scinax rizibilis (Anura: Hylidae) during the Haddad, 2004) (Bufonidae). Biotemas 23: 169–171. reproductive activity in southeastern Brazil. Amphibia-Reptilia Wells, K.D. (1977): The social behaviour of anuran amphibians. 23: 97–104. Behaviour 25: 666–693. Cardoso, A.J., Haddad, C.F.B. (1984): ‘’Variabilidade acústica Wells, K.D. (1998): The effect of social interactions on anuran em diferentes populações e interações agressivas de Hyla vocal behavior. The evolution of the auditory system, minuta (Amphibia, Anura).’’ Ciência e Cultura 36: 1393–1399. p. 433-454. Frost, D. (2019): Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Wells, K.D. (2007): The ecology and behavior of amphibians. Reference. Version 6.0. Available at http://research.amnh.org/ Chicago, USA, Chicago University Press. herpetology/amphibia/index.html. Accessed on 05 May 2019.

Accepted by Robson Ávila