Phyllomedusa burmeisteri was studied during breeding aggregations in a temporary pond in southeastern Brazil. Males were territorial and aggressive. Behavioral patterns exhibited by them included acoustical and visual communication, chase, and wrestling, the latter when the intruder did not retreat with the preceding threats. Females also performed visual displays, however in different contexts, before approaching toward a calling male. The vocal repertoire of P. burmeisteri consisted of two types of advertisement call (short type and long type), territorial call and encounter call. Information about spatial-temporal distribution, courtship, and mating behavior are presented.

BREEDING ACTIVITY OF PHYSALAEMUS SIGNIFER (ANURA, LEPTODACTYLIDAE) IN A TEMPORARY POND. The breeding activity of Physalaemus signifer (Girard, 1853) was monitored from July 1999 to July 2000 in a temporary pond in Palmital, Municipality of Saquarema, State of Rio de Janeiro, Atlantic Rain Forest, Brazil. Males were sexually actives only in four nights, arriving at the pond on the early rainy season. Males in amplexus were larger and spent more nights in the reproductive aggregation than solitary ones. The number of nights was correlated with the mass of the males. Males adopted satellite behavior as alternative tactic for mate acquisition. Changes between calling and satellite tactics were observed in different nights. Calling males were not larger and heavier than satellite ones. Satellite behavior seemed to be related with the order of arrival on the pond. Size and mass of males did not influence the results of fights. Resident males won the majority of agonistics combats. Three types of vocalizations are described: advertisement, territorial, and encounter calls.

Observations on the courtship behaviour, mating behaviour and mating success of a leaf-frog, Phyllomedusa rohdei, population were conducted in a temporary flooded site of the Atlantic Forest, south-eastern Brazil. We did not find any influence of size and body weight on male mating success across three scales: seasonal, nightly chorus and local groups (males found within 1 m of a mated pair). In addition, no evidence was found that female Phyllomedusa rohdei exhibit overt mate choice. The formation of mated pairs in P. rohdei occurred because males moved toward the females, rather than reverse. The only variable that was significantly related to male mating success was the number of nights of participation in chorus activity. Besides calling tactics, males showed active searching behaviour. There was no evidence of size-and mass-assortative mating, and a high percentage of fertilization at all size and mass ratios of males and females was observed. Clutches in this species are produced in the same manner found in others members of Phyllomedusa; a purse-like nest is made over water by folding a leaf around the egg mass (embryos and fluid-filled capsules). Finally, we supply a list of several studies that examined the relationship between size or mass ratios of males and females in amplexus and its influence on fertilization rate, and show that size-assortative mating in anurans is inconsistent (present in some species but not in other).

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