Other Contributions
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Other Contributions NATURE NOTES Amphibia: Anura Incilius occidentalis (Camerano, 1870). Maximum elevation. The Pine Toad, Incilus occidentalis (Bufonidae), is endemic to Mexico and is known from numerous localities in the states of Aguascalientes, Colima, Durango, Estado de México, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, and Zacatecas, and occurs in a wide variety of habitats, including oak and pine-oak forests, scrublands, arid and semi-arid areas, and cloud forest, at elevations from 150 to 2,670 m (Vázquez- Díaz and Quintero-Díaz, 1997; 2005; Lemos-Espinal and Dixon, 2013, 2016; Ramírez-Bautista et al., 2014; Santos- Barrera, 2014). In the state of Aguascalientes, specimens have been reported at elevations from 1,560 m to 2,370 m (McCranie and Wilson, 2001). On 14 July 2017 at 1602 h, during a rainy day, two of us (GEQD, CCF) found a female I. occidentalis (total length = 74 mm; body mass = 121.5 g) under a rock in oak-pine forest at an elevation of 2,770 m in the Sierra Fría, Municipio de San José de Gracia, Aguascalientes (22.229874°N, -102.634953°W; WGS 84; Fig. 1). The toad was collected and photographed, and then released. A photo voucher of this individual is deposited in the University of Texas at Arlington Collection of Vertebrates Digital Collection (UTADC-8934). This voucher represents the highest known elevation for this species in the state of Aguascalientes, as well as for its entire range. Our record increases the known elevation of I. occidentalis by 100 m (Lemos-Espinal and Dixon, 2013; 2016), and confirms the presence of this species in pine-oak forest in the state of Aguascalientes. Fig. 1 An Incilius occidentalis (UTADC-8934) from the Sierra Fría, Aguascalientes, found at an elevation 2,770 m, which represents the maximum known elevation for this widespread species. ' © Carolina Chávez-Floriano Acknowledgments.––We thank the personnel involved with the project The Herpetofauna of Aguascalientes, México, and also are indebted to Roberto Roque-Lozano and César Omar-Trujillo for field assistance, and Carl J. Franklin for providing the photo voucher number. The specimen was handled under scientific permit number SGPA/ DGVS/030709/16, issued by the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT). Mesoamerican Herpetology 621 September 2017 | Volume 4 | Number 3 Other Contributions Nature Notes LITERATURE CITED LEMOS-ESPINAL, J. A. AND J. R. DIXON. 2013. Amphibians and RAMÍREZ-BAUTISTA, A., U. HERNÁNDEZ-SALINAS, R. CRUZ-ELIZALDE, Reptiles of San Luis Potosí. Eagle Mountain Publishing, LC, C. BERRIOZABAL-ISLAS, I. GOYENECHEA M., AND J. M. Eagle Mountain, Utah, United States. CASTILLO-CERÓN. 2014. Los Anfibios y Reptiles de Hidalgo, LEMOS-ESPINAL, J. A. AND J. R. DIXON. 2016. Anfibios y Reptiles México: Diversidad, Biogeografía y Conservación. Sociedad de Hidalgo, México / Amphibians and Reptiles of Hidalgo, Herpetológica Mexicana, A.C., Mexico. Mexico. Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de SANTOS-BARRERA, G. 2014. Geographic variation in Incilius la Biodiversidad, México, D.F., Mexico. occidentalis (Anura: Bufonidae), an endemic toad from MCCRANIE, J. R., AND L. D. WILSON. 2001. The herpetofauna of the Mexico, with a redescription of the species and delimitation Mexican state of Aguascalientes. Courier Forschungsinstitut of the type locality. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad, 85: Senckenberg 230: 1–57. 414–428. QUINTERO-DÍAZ, G. E., J. VÁZQUEZ-DÍAZ, AND J. J. SIGALA R. VÁZQUEZ-DÍAZ, J., AND G. E. QUINTERO-DÍAZ. 1997. Anfibios y Rep- 2008. Anfibios. Pp. 135–139 In La Biodiversidad en Aguas- tiles de Aguascalientes. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios calientes: Estudio de Estado. Comisión Nacional para el Multidisciplinarios de Aguascalientes, and Gobierno del Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad, Mexico, D.F., Estado de Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes, Mexico. Instituto del Medio Ambiente del Estado de Aguascalientes, VÁZQUEZ-DÍAZ, J., AND G. E. QUINTERO-DÍAZ. 2005. Anfibios y Aguascalientes, and Universidad Autónoma de Aguasca- Reptiles de Aguascalientes. 2nd ed. Comisión Nacional para el lientes, Aguascalientes, Mexico. Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad, México, D.F., and Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Multidisciplinarios de Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes, Mexico. GUSTAVO ERNESTO QUINTERO-DÍAZ1,2, RUBÉN ALONSO CARBAJAL-MÁRQUEZ2,3, AND CAROLINA CHÁVEZ- FLORIANO2 1Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes, Centro de Ciencias Básicas, Departamento de Biología. C.P. 20131, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes, Mexico. E-mail: [email protected] (Corresponding author) 2Conservación de la Biodiversidad del Centro de México, A.C., Andador Torre de Marfil No. 100, C.P. 20229, Aguascali- entes, Aguascalientes, Mexico. 3El Colegio de la Frontera Sur. Departamento de Conservación de la Biodiversidad. Unidad Chetumal, Av. Centenario Km 5.5, 77014, Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Lithobates forreri (Boulenger, 1883). Diet. Forrer’s Leopard Frog, Lithobates forreri, is a large ranid (females to 110 mm) wit a distribution restricted to major rivers and swampy areas along the Pacific versant of Mexico from central Sonora and southwestern Chihuahua southward to west-central Costa Rica, at elevations from sea level to 1,300m (Frost and Bagnara, 1976; Savage, 2002; Frost, 2017). Although this common species is rather widely distributed, little information is available on its diet. Lemos-Espinal et al. (2007) suggested that it probably feeds on small invertebrates. Fishing spiders of the genus Dolomedes (family Pisauridae) are large and somewhat robust, and usually are encountered near permanent bodies of water where they forage along the surface aided by the hairs on the ventral surface of their body, which are coated with hydrophobic substances; at least three species (D. holti, D. triton, and D. vittatus) are found in Mexico (Carico, 1973; CONABIO, 2008). On 11 May 2017 at 2042 h, at Rancho Ecoaldea, Ojo de Cielo, San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico (21.577007°N, -105.060498°W; WGS 84; elev. 482 m), one of us (JALB) found a young L. forreri foraging along the edge of a pool of water within in a dry stream in tropical deciduous forest. The frog detected the moving spider, which also appeared to be foraging along the rocks surrounding the puddle, and proceeded to prey on the spider. Soon after we captured the frog it regurgitated its prey, which we identified as a Dolomedes sp. (Fig. 1); we released the frog after taking the photograph. We observed several other spiders of what appeared to be the same species in the immediate area. Mesoamerican Herpetology 622 September 2017 | Volume 4 | Number 3 Other Contributions Nature Notes Fig. 1. A Lithobates forreri with the legs of its prey protruding from its mouth (left), and the regurgitated fishing spider, Dolomedes sp. (right). ' © Jesús A. Loc-Barragán Acknowledgments.––We thank Jorge L. Escamilla-Dimas for field assistance. LITERATURE CITED CARICO, J. E. 1973. The Nearctic species of the genus Dolomedes FROST, D. R., AND J. T. BAGNARA. 1976. A new species of leopard (Araneae: Pisauridae). Bulletin of the Museum of Com- frog (Rana pipiens complex) from northwestern Mexico. parative Zoology at Harvard College 144: 435–488. Copeia, 1976: 332–338. CONABIO (COMP.) 2008. Catálogo de autoridades taxonómicas LEMOS-ESPINAL, J. A. AND H. SMITH. 2007. Anfibios y Reptiles del de los arácnidos (Arachnida: Arthropoda) de México. Base Estado de Chihuahua, México / Amphibians and Reptiles de datos SNIB-CONABIO. México. Incluye información of the State of Chihuahua, Mexico. Universidad Nacional del proyecto BK006. (www.biodiversidad.gob.mx/especies/ Autónoma de México, Tlalnepantla, Estado de México, and gran_familia/animales/aracnidos/doc/Aracnidos.pdf). Comision Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Bio- FROST, D. R. 2017. Amphibian Species of the World: An Online diversidad, México, D.F., Mexico. Reference. Version 6.0. American Museum of Natural His- SAVAGE, J. M. 2002. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: tory, New York, New York, United States. (www.research. A Herpetofauna between Two Continents, between Two Seas. amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.html; accessed 22 The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, United June 2017). States. JESÚS A. LOC-BARRAGÁN1, RUBÉN ALONSO CARBAJAL-MÁRQUEZ2,3, AND MARCO A. DOMÍNGUEZ-DE LA RIVA4 1Coordinación de monitoreo de fauna silvestre. Forestales A.C. Calle Valparaíso No. 100, C.P. 63157, Cd. Del Valle, Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico. E-mail: biolocbarragá[email protected] (JALB, Corresponding author) 2El Colegio de la Frontera Sur. Departamento de Conservación de la Biodiversidad. Unidad Chetumal, Av. Centenario Km 5.5, 77014, Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico. 3Conservación de la Biodiversidad del Centro de México, A.C., Andador Torre de Marfil No. 100, C.P. 20229, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes, Mexico. 4Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes, Centro de Ciencias Básicas, Departamento de Biología, C.P. 20131, Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes, Mexico. Mesoamerican Herpetology 623 September 2017 | Volume 4 | Number 3 Other Contributions Nature Notes Rheohyla miotympanum Cope, 1863. Predation. Spiders are important predators of anuran amphibians. Almost 48% of the reports of invertebrates preying on amphibians pertain to spiders (Toledo, 2005), and thus arachnids not only are prey but also competitors for some anurans (Wells, 2007). In the Neotropics, some of the principal families of spiders that that prey on anurans