CECOAL   02625
CENTRO DE ECOLOGIA APLICADA DEL LITORAL
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Phrynohyas venulosa (Veined Treefrog). Diet
Autor/es:
DURÉ, MARTA I.; KEHR, ARTURO I.
Revista:
HERPETOLOGICAL REVIEW
Editorial:
Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
Referencias:
Lugar: Connecticud, USA; Año: 2006 vol. 37 p. 338 - 339
ISSN:
0018-084X
Resumen:
PHRYNOHYAS VENULOSA (Veined Treefrog). DIET. Phrynohyas venulosa has wide distribution in Central and South America, ranging from lowlands of Mexico to Amazon Basin of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and Brazil, Guianas, and Brazil, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago (Frost 2004. database at http:// research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.html). In Argentina are distributed in Jujuy, Salta, Formosa, Chaco, Corrientes, Entre Ríos y Misiones (Cei 1980.  Amphibians of Argentina. Monitore Zoologico Italiano MS). We analyzed the stomach contents of 20 specimens collected 15 km northwest of Corrientes (27º28’S, 58º50’W), Corrientes, Argentina, between February 1994 and March 1999. Only 35.00% (N=7) had identifiable stomach content  (males: 64.40 ± 16.33 mm SVL, N= 3; females: 76.65 ± 5.70 mm SVL, N= 4). From the diet analysis we identified seven prey item and was better represented numerically by Hymenoptera (Formicidae) and volumetrically by Coleoptera. Other preys of volumetrical importance were Orthoptera and Hemiptera. Besides, the ants were the most frequent prey. Type, number, volume and frequency of food item are presented in Table 1. The values of diversity (Shannon Index, using natural logarithm) and niche amplitude (Levins index)for this species were 1.15 and 2.08  respectively. Due to the scanty number of specimens met with identifiable stomach content we use a non parametric test (Sperman Rank Correlations) for the analysis of the morphological and diet correlations. Only was observed a positive and significant correlation between the snout-vent length  and mouth width of the frogs (rs= 0.85; p= 0.01). Nevertheless the number of ingested preys was not correlated with predator snout-vent length  (rs= 0.05, p= 0.90)  and the width mouth was not correlated with volume of  preys (rs= 0.53, p= 0.21). Phrynohyas venulosa is an arboreal frog with low mobility. Due to diet composition and  behavior observed in the field we think that it would be a generalist predator,  with a diet constituted principally for ants and others big size preys . Therefore, it would use a "sit-and-wait" strategy  for  obtaining  its preys. We suppose that the lack of correlation between the morphological variables and preys, should be to the strategy used for obtaining food, due to the fact that it is a sedentary species the possibility of election diminishes considerably. Besides the high number of specimens found without stomach content, it would indicate that this frog feeds to irregular intervals, depending of preys availability. Submitted by MARTA I. DURÉ and  ARTURO I. KEHR. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral (CECOAL-CONICET), C.C. 291, (3400) Corrientes, Argentina. E-mail: martadure@yahoo.com. Submitted by MARTA I. DURÉ and  ARTURO I. KEHR. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral (CECOAL-CONICET), C.C. 291, (3400) Corrientes, Argentina. E-mail: martadure@yahoo.com.