Bufo paracnemis. Male reproductive behavior

PEROTTI MG

HERPETOLOGICAL REVIEW

Hammond, Louisiana 70402, USA

Lugar: Hammond; Año: 1994 vol. 25 p. 62 - 62

0018-084X

Wells (op. cit.) postulated that male-male aggression withoutsite attachment should lead to maintenance of inter-individualdistances in a breeding chorus. I observed 11 naturally occurringagonistic interactions between males. The distance between combatingmales was < 0.5 m on all occasions. A simple experimentwas performed in the field. On four opportunities, males of similarsize were placed on the site of a neighboring male to simulateinvasion by an intruder. In all four cases the resident male forcefullyexpelled the intruder. The intruder then returned to hisinitial site. In conclusion, B. paracnemis at my study site exhibitedthe characteristics of a prolonged breeder: breeding chorusesoccurred for more than a month; males called from stationarypositions on a given night; and minimum inter-male spacing wasmaintained at the breeding pond.