Herpetology Notes, volume 11: 293-299 (2018) (published online on 17 April 2018) Parental attendance and site selection of Centrolene savagei (Ruiz-Carranza and Lynch 1991) in the western and central Andes of Colombia María Lucia Prado-Sañudo1, Alan Giraldo1.* and Wilmar Bolívar-García1 Abstract. Centrolene savagei (Centrolenidae) is part of the group of glassfrogs and is an endemic species to Colombia. It is characterized by a small size, a green dorsum with dark green and white dots, lack of humeral spine and rounded snout. The males of this particular species perform parental care of the clutches by sitting on them. In order to describe parental attendance strategies exhibited by males of this species, we monitored eight localities in the Western and Central Andes of Colombia, where the species has been reported. For each individual and clutch identified we recorded height, distance to the edge, nearest edge, and leaf area. We also recorded number of eggs, canopy cover, and presence or absence of parental care of each clutch. We established that male attendance is less common during daylight hours, and it is not related with climatic or local environment conditions, but may be associated with other factors such as the presence of potential predators. Centrolene savagei presents a significant preference for laying its clutches on sites with heights between 0.1–2.0 m above water level; however, the number of eggs is not related with factors such as height, leaf area, distance to the edge or nearest edge. Keywords: Amphibians, Centrolenidae, oviposition site, male attendance Introduction Castro-Herrera and Vargas-Salinas, 2008; Guayasamin et al., 2008; 2009; Luna-Mora, 2011; Rojas-Morales et Centrolene savagei (Ruiz-Carranza and Lynch, al., 2011; Escobar-Lasso and Rojas-Morales 2012; Diaz- 1991) is an endemic glassfrog of Colombia that is Gutiérrez et al., 2013). This species lays egg clutches characterized by a small body size, green dorsum with in the upper side of the leaves and the males exhibit dark green and white dots, rounded snout when viewed parental attendance placing themselves near to or over dorsally, and lack of humeral spine (Fig. 1). Since the clutch (Vargas-Salinas et al., 2007; Quintero-Angel 2004, Centrolene savagei has been listed by IUCN as a vulnerable species (Castro-Herrera and Bolivar-García, 2010; AmphibiaWeb, 2009), being mainly affected by the clearing of forests for agriculture and environmental pollution (Blaustein and Kiesecker, 2002). Currently, Centrolene savagei has been registered in the Central and Western Andes of Colombia (Cordilleras Occidental and Central of Colombia) in the departments of Quindío, Antioquia, Risaralda, Caldas, Tolima and Valle del Cauca (Ruiz-Carranza-Carranza and Lynch, 1991; Cadavid et al., 2005; Vargas-Salinas et al., 2007; 1 Universidad del Valle, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Departamento de Biología, Grupo de Investigación en Ecología Animal. Calle 13 # 100-00, Cali, Colombia. * Corresponding Author. E-mail: alan.giraldo@correounivalle. Figure 1. Male of Centrolene savagei Ruiz-Carranza and edu.co Lynch 1991. 294 María Lucia Prado-Sañudo et al. Table 1. Localities.1 LAT: latitude, LON: Longitude, E: Elevation (m above sea level), P: mean precipitation (mm/year), T: mean 2 Table 1. Localities. LAT: latitude, LON: Longitude, E: Elevation (m above sea level), P: temperature (°C) 3 mean precipitation (mm/year), T: mean temperature (°C) 4 LOCALITY MUNICIPALITY LAT LON E P T Alto Bonito Manizales 05°06’42.9’’N 75°30’33.4’’W 1780 2600 18 Florencia Samaná 05°31’41.3’’N 75°02’52.0’’W 1520 1460 20 La Pastora Pereira 04°42’07.0”N 75°32’04.9”W 2100 2220 12 Santa Rosa Santa Rosa de 04°53’23.5’’N 75°37’10.3’’W 1650 2573 19 de Cabal Cabal Finlandia Finlandia 04°40’57.6’’N 75°38’21.2’’W 1830 2515 17 Boquía Salento 04°38’05.8’’N 75°35’28.2’’W 1720 1820 15 Alto el Otoño Santiago de Cali 03°22’21.4”N 76°36’08.1”W 1650 2000 18 Chicoral La Cumbre 03°33’44.5’N 76°35’35.1’’W 1790 1200 19 5 6 7 8 9 10 et al., 2008; Ruiz-Carranza11 and Lynch, 1991; Vargas- of parental attendance and to evaluate the tendency of Salinas et al., 2014).12 staying and ovipositting at higher levels. 13 Recently, absence14 of male attendance during the daylight hours15 was Tableobserved 2. Number at Alto of individuals el Otoño, and Cali, clutches of Centrolene savagei registered at 6 localities 16 of study. Materials and Methods department of17 Valle del Cauca (Pers. Obs. Prado- Sañudo). According LOCALITYwith Delia etAlto al. (2014),Santa Rosa the Finlandialack TheBoquía data wasAlto collected del Chicoral in 8 field tripsTotal between October of parental care in glassfrogs mayBonito cause de Cabalembryos to 2012 and JuneOtoño 2013; each field trip lasted 3 days, and Males 7 7 2 2 20 8 46 hatch faster. Additionally, other behavioural changes was performed in one of the eight localities established Females 0 2 0 0 1 0 3 were observed, such as the tendency of males to stay according to previous registers of the species (Table 1, Juveniles 0 0 0 1 6 2 9 and sing on leaves 3m above the ground (Pers. Obs. Figure 2). Visual encounter survey was conducted along Amplexus 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 Prado-Sañudo). Clutches 2 5 0 one creek1 over8 an established3 transect19 of 500 meters Here, we examined18 eight populations of Centrolene per locality. All individuals and egg clutches were savagei in the departments19 of Caldas, Risaralda, Quindío registered and a consecutive number was assigned. 20 and Valle del Cauca,21 in order to describe the changes Adult individuals were marked by toe clipping; and 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 Figure 2. Sampled localities. 1 2 Table 1. Localities. LAT: latitude, LON: Longitude, E: Elevation (m above sea level), P: 3 mean precipitation (mm/year), T: mean temperature (°C) 4 LOCALITY MUNICIPALITY LAT LON E P T Alto Bonito Manizales 05°06’42.9’’N 75°30’33.4’’W 1780 2600 18 Florencia Samaná 05°31’41.3’’N 75°02’52.0’’W 1520 1460 20 La Pastora Pereira 04°42’07.0”N 75°32’04.9”W 2100 2220 12 Santa Rosa Santa Rosa de 04°53’23.5’’N 75°37’10.3’’W 1650 2573 19 de Cabal Cabal Finlandia Finlandia 04°40’57.6’’N 75°38’21.2’’W 1830 2515 17 Boquía Salento 04°38’05.8’’N 75°35’28.2’’W 1720 1820 15 Alto el Otoño Santiago de Cali 03°22’21.4”N 76°36’08.1”W 1650 2000 18 Chicoral La Cumbre 03°33’44.5’N 76°35’35.1’’W 1790 1200 19 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Parental attendance12 and site selection of Centrolene savagei in Colombia 13 295 14 Table 2. Number15 of Tableindividuals 2. Number and clutches of individuals of Centrolene and clutches savagei of Centroleneregistered at savagei 6 localities registered of study. at 6 localities 16 of study. 17 LOCALITY Alto Santa Rosa Finlandia Boquía Alto del Chicoral Total Bonito de Cabal Otoño Males 7 7 2 2 20 8 46 Females 0 2 0 0 1 0 3 Juveniles 0 0 0 1 6 2 9 Amplexus 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 Clutches 2 5 0 1 8 3 19 18 19 20 21 22 Table 3. Hours23 of male attendance over clutches of Centrolene savagei. 3224 Table 3. Hours of male attendance over clutches of Centrolene savagei. 3325 26 OBSERVATION TIME 27 MALE PRESENT MALE ABSENT 28 29 LOCALITY CLUTCH DURING DURING DURING DURING 30 DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT 31 1 - 21:35 12:01 - Alto Bonito 2 - 21:50 12:01 - 1 20:45 1 11:54 11:27 - 20:59 - 11:22 2 21:15 20:16 Santa Rosa - 11:20 de Cabal 11:22 3 - 21:20 20:16 11:20 20:16 4 11:22 - 11:20 21:22 5* - - 11:55 - 11:43 20:39 Boquía 1 - 21:36 12:39 20:17 1 - 20:30 13:56 21:11 14:01 22:57 2 - 21:30 11:52 22:36 12:25 14:03 23:09 3 22:10 12:14 - Alto del 11:41 Otoño 21:33 11:37 4 - 21:50 - 12:07 11:48 5 - 22:38 - 12:18 6 - 20:55 12:27 - 7 - 21:50 12:33 - 8 - 22:15 12:38 - 1 - - 10:53 19:45 Chicoral 2 - 21:25 11:00 - 3 11:00 - 11:00 21:30 34 *Fully hatched clutch 35 36 37 38 additionally, height above the ground, distance to the For clutches, the number of eggs,2 canopy cover, and edge of the creek, nearest edge and leaf area were presence or absence (overnight and daylight hours) of registered for each individual and each clutch detected. male surveillance were registered as well. 296 María Lucia Prado-Sañudo et al. Figure 3. Types of parental attendance exhibited by males of Centrolene savagei. a) male over the clutch, b) male next to the clutch, and c) male in a leaf near the clutch. In order to search for individuals and clutches at is a relationship between the number of eggs per clutch heights above 3m, 4 ascent stations were set up along and variables such as height, nearest edge, distance to the transect, and ascent equipment was used to reach the edge of the creek, and leaf area, Spearman tests was heights up to 6m above the ground.