Herpetology Notes, volume 14: 935-936 (2021) (published online on 29 June 2021)

Report of a predation event on gutturalis (Anura: ) by Avicularia cf. avicularia (Araneae: Theraphosidae) in Amazon Forest in North Brazil

Abdiel Pinheiro-Freitas1, Thiago Moreira-Brito1, Patrick de Castro Cantuária2, Vinícius Antônio Martins Barbosa de Figueiredo1, Rodrigo Tavares-Pinheiro1, and Carlos Eduardo Costa-Campos1,*

Pristimantis gutturalis (Hoogmoed, Lynch and “Floresta Ombrófila Densa” (Dense Rain Forest). The Lescure, 1977) is a diurnal and terrestrial (Ouboter main watercourse is the Amapari River inserted in the and Jairam, 2012) small species (snout–vent length up micro basin of the Água Fria stream (Drummond et al., to 41 mm) of , distributed in Southern Suriname, 2008; Pedroso-Santos et al., 2019). French Guiana and Northern Brazil (state of Amapá) The predation event occurred on 2 July 2019 at (Frost 2019). It is generally found in the dry leaf litter approximately 19h40 on the forest leaf litter. At first of the forests it inhabits (Ouboter and Jairam, 2012). the A. cf. avicularia was holding the ventral Avicularia Lamarck, 1818 is a of theraphosid section of the body of the frog with its chelicerae. After found all over Central and South America, motionless, the spider carried the frog to a leaf of the including the common Aranea avicularia (Linnaeus, genus Philodendron Schott (ca. 1.50m high) (Fig. 1). 1758) also present in Brazil in the states of Amapá, Pará, We observed the spider manipulating the frog and Maranhão, Amazonas and Mato Grosso (Fukushima and maintaining it for 10 minutes. The anuran attempted Bertani 2017). These spiders are opportunistic feeders to escape from the spider that, it turn, has remained found in human constructions and in trunks, trees and motionless. Voucher specimens were not collected bushes (Stradling 1994; Fukushima and Bertani 2017). and for this reason, the precise determination of the We here describe a single predation event, were an taxonomic status of spider species was not possible (see adult P. gutturalis was attacked and predated upon by Fukushima and Bertani 2017). an A. cf. avicularia. The event took place in the Reserva Predation of adult by spiders has been Extrativista Beija-Flor Brilho de Fogo (0.80440N, widely reported in the literature (see Menin et al., 52.21250W; WGS84), Amazon forest, located at 2005; Toledo 2005). In a review of anurans as spider southeastern part of the municipality of Pedra Branca preys, the main spider families reported were Ctenidae, do Amapari, Amapá state (Brazil), during the rainy Pisauridae, Theraphosidae, Lycosidae and Sparassidae season (temperature 26.5°C; relative humidity 94%). (Menin et al., 2005; Toledo 2005; von May et al., 2019). The climate of the region is Equatorial (Am) according In general, although the reports of spider predation on Köppen-Geiger classification (Alvares et al., 2013), anurans are based on anecdotal observations and single and rainfall has an annual cycle marked by a rainy events, there is an indication that anurans may represent season (December and July) and a dry season (August a significant portion of the Neotropical spiders’ diet and November). The vegetation type of the region is and seem to be an important source of mortality for amphibians (Menin et al., 2005). The most typically documented events of anurophagy by spiders in the Neotropics are those of Theraphosa 1 Universidade Federal do Amapá, Departamento de Ciências blondi (Menin et al., 2005), Xenesthis immanis Biológicas e da Saúde, Laboratório de Herpetologia, Campus (Marín-Martínez and Rojas-Morales, 2016) Avicularia Marco Zero do Equador, 68.903-419, Macapá, AP, Brazil. spp. (Tavares-Pinheiro et al., 2019) and those of an 2 Instituto de Pesquisas Científicas e Tecnológicas do Estado do unidentified theraphosid (von May et al. 2019), while Amapá, Avenida Juscelino Kubitschek, Fazendinha, 68.903- 970, Macapá, AP, Brazil. predation on the genus Pristimantis was previously * Corresponding author: [email protected] reported only by spiders of the family Ctenidae (Jablonski, 2015) and by a distinct order, the © 2021 by Herpetology Notes. Open Access by CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. 936 Thiago Moreira-Brito et al.

Theraphosidae, Aviculariinae) with description of three new aviculariine genera. ZooKeys 659: 1–185. Hoogmoed, M.S., Lynch, J.D., Lescure, J. (1977): A new species of Eleutherodactylus from Guiana (Leptodactylidae, Anura). Zoologische Mededelingen. Leiden 51: 33–41. Jablonski, D. (2015): Predation on Pristimantis ridens (Cope, 1866) by a wandering spider (Ctenidae Keyserling, 1877) in mountain cloud forest of Costa Rica. Herpetology Notes 8: 1–3. Marín-Martínez, M., Rojas-Morales, J.A. (2016): Predation by a Mygalomorphic Spider Xenesthis immanis (Araneae: Theraphosidae) on a Stream-dwelling Frog, Rheobates palmatus (Anura: Aromobatidae). IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 23: 175– 177. Menin, M., de Rodrigues, D.J., de Azevedo, C.S. (2005): Predation on amphibians by spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) in the Neotropical region. Phyllomedusa 4: 39–47. Figure 1. Predation on Pristimantis gutturalis by Avicularia Ouboter, P.E., Jairam, R. (2012): Amphibians of Suriname. Leiden: cf. avicularia in Amazon forest from Reserva Extrativista Brill. Beija-Flor Brilho de Fogo, municipality of Pedra Branca do Pedroso-Santos, F., Sanches, P.R., Costa-Campos, C.E. (2019): Amapari, state of Amapá, Brazil. Anurans and reptiles of the Reserva Extrativista Beija-Flor Brilho de Fogo, Amapá state, eastern Amazon. Herpetology Notes 12: 799–807. Amblypygi of the family Phrynidae (Wizen and Rueda, Stradling, D.J. (1994): Distribution and Behavioral Ecology of an Arboreal ‘’ Spider in Trinidad. Biotropica 26: 84–97. 2016). Tavares-Pinheiro, R., Figueiredo, V.A.M.B., Santos, F.P., Campos, Detailed studies on Natural History are practically E. (209): Adenomera hylaedactyla (Napo Tropical Bullfrog. non-existent for the genus Avicularia (see Stradling, Predation. Herpetological Review 50: 110–111. 1994). The observation of A. cf. avicularia predation Toledo, L.F. (2005): Predation of juvenile and adult anurans on P. gutturalis is a novel record, and only the second by invertebrates: current knowledge and perspectives. report of this arachnid genus preying anurans. Our Herpetological Review 36: 395–400. report adds P. gutturalis to the list of prey species for von May, R., Biggi, E., Cárdenas, H., Diaz, I., Alarcón, C., Herrera, this spider genus, and highlights the need for further V., Santa-Cruz, R., Tomasinelli, F., Westeen, E.P., Sánchez- Paredes, C.M. Larson, J.G., Title, P.O., Grundler, M.R., Grundler, studies to better understand the relationship between M.C., Rabosky, A.R.D., Rabosky, D.L. (2019): Ecological predator-prey. interactions between and small vertebrates in a lowland Amazon rainforest. & Reptile Conservation Acknowledgements. We are grateful to “Secretaria Municipal 13: 65–77. do Meio Ambiente de Pedra Branca do Amapari” for the permit Wizen, G., Rueda, J.A.G. (2016): Pristimantis achatinus (Cachabi our studies in the Reserva Extrativista Beija-Flor Brilho de Robber Frog). Predation. Herpetological Review 47: 440–441. Fogo. We thank the Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio) for providing collection permits (SISBIO/48102-2). We are grateful to Antonio Brescovit for identifying the spider and review on the manuscript.

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