Contenidos Estomacales De Especies De Anuros en Reservas Naturales Del Municipio De Villavicencio, Meta, Colombia

Astwood-Romero, Jorge A.; Álvarez-Perdomo, Natalia; Parra-Torres, Manuel Felipe; Rojas-Peña, José Ismael; Nieto-Vera, Mónica T.; Ardila-Robayo, María Cristina

doi:10.15446/caldasia.v38n1.57836

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Rhinella alata is a medium-sized, diurnal, and locally abundant leaf-litter toad in Panama. The species is an exceptionally polymorphic and cryptically colored toad (McElroy, 2016), with a diet almost entirely comprised of ants (Toft, 1980(Toft, , 1981Parmelee, 1999;Menendez, 2001;Fajardo-Martínez et al, 2013;Astwood-Romero et al, 2016). The toad is chemically defended, but unlike aposematic frogs, predation of ants by R. alata should not be influenced by toxin sequestration from their diet because R. alata synthesizes its own toxins (bufodianaloids) in paratoid glands (Lyttle et al, 1996).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ant Morphology Mediates Diet Preference in a Neotropical Toad (Rhinella alata)

McElroy

2019

Copeia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ant Morphology Mediates Diet Preference in a Neotropical Toad (Rhinella alata)

McElroy

2019

Copeia

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Rhinella proboscidea fed on a variety of invertebrates, but the abundance of ants, termites, and mites as prey in the study areas as suggests that the feeding strategy was that of active foragers (Toft 1980). This pattern also was observed for other species of Rhinella, as well as in other bufonids at localities across the globe (Clarke 1974, Hirai and Matsui 2002, Isacch and Barg 2002, Quiroga et al 2009, Sabagh et al 2012, Solé et al 2017) and members of the neotropical R. margaritifera species group (Duellman 1978, Toft 1980, 1981, Parmelee 1999, Maragno and Souza 2011, Fajardo-Martínez et al 2013, Astwood-Romero et al 2016. According to Isacch and Barg (2002), bufonid species probably specialized in ant consumption because they lack teeth, which would constrain the toads to a diet of small prey.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Food habits of Rhinella proboscidea (Anura: Bufonidae) in terra firme forests of central Amazonia

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Food habits of Rhinella proboscidea (Anura: Bufonidae) in terra frme forests of central Amazonia. Anuran species are considered generalist and opportunist feeders. However, some species have dietary specializations. Here we describe the diet composition of Rhinella proboscidea based on the stomach content of 29 individuals captured in terra frme forests in Manaus and São Sebastião do Uatumã, state of Amazonas, Brazil. Each prey item was measured and identifed to Order, Suborder or Family; ants were identifed to Genus. We determined and tested for differences in the trophic niche breadth and the relationships between the frog size and the volume of the largest prey item. We recorded 1614 prey items of 44 taxa. Hymenoptera was the most abundant Order followed by Isoptera, Acari, Coleoptera, Orthoptera, Araneae, Hemiptera, Dermaptera, Diptera, and Collembola. Formicidae comprised 46.56% of the all stomach items and was represented by six subfamilies and 22 genera. Additionally, we found 80 nematodes in a total of 18 frogs. There was a signifcant difference in the trophic niche breadths of the study areas, and a positive relationship between the toad size and volume of the largest prey item consumed. Rhinella proboscidea feeds on a variety of invertebrates, with ants, termites, and mites being the most abundant; this suggests that the toad is an active forager. The most common subfamily was Myrmicinae primarily represented by Crematogaster and Atta. Differences in trophic niche breadths of the study areas may be related to seasonal differences in the diet composition or local factors.

show abstract

“…Rhinella alata is a medium-sized, diurnal, and locally abundant leaf litter toad in Panama. The species is an exceptionally polymorphic and cryptically colored toad (McElroy, 2016), with a diet almost entirely comprised of ants (Toft, 1980;Toft, 1981;Parmelee, 1999;Menendez, 2001;Fajardo, Fajardo and de la Ossa, 2013;Astwood et al, 2016). The toad is chemically defended, but unlike aposematic frogs, predation of ants by R. alata should not be driven by toxin sequestration from their diet because R. alata synthesizes its own toxins (bufodianaloids) in paratoid glands (Lyttle, Goldstein and Gartz, 1996).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Prey’s traits mediate a neotropical toad diet

McElroy

2018

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Received; revision accepted .B. ABSTRACT 1. Despite the widespread occurrence of myrmecophagy in anurans it is generally unclear whether ant-specialists feed on ants opportunistically or whether they preferentially select for certain species, potentially favoring specific morphological, ecological, or nutritional traits. 2. We flushed 105 stomachs of a lowland neotropical toad, Rhinella alata, and identified each consumed ant to species level. We used linear selectivity to calculate predator preference by comparing the abundances of consumed species to their abundances in the leaf litter community on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. We conducted multiple regression models to test whether linear selectivity or general predator preference related to seven morphological characteristics and two measurements of nutritional content. 3. Rhinella alata preferentially harvested 24 ant species. Other species were either avoided (n=34) or were eaten opportunistically (n=26). We found that R. alata predominantly preys upon large ants that are textured with hair and/or rugosity and preference for prey did not relate to nutrition content. Rhinella alata avoided small ants even if they were hyper abundant in the environment, and preferentially ate chemically-defended and aggressive ants if they were large enough. 4. We propose that R. alata prefers large ants because they represent a more efficient prey item in terms of predator handling time and because they are easier to see than are smaller ants. Furthermore, we hypothesize that R. alata predation attempts are more successful when prey are textured because microstructures on the tongue and prey surface may increase prey adhesion.5. The ant specialist R. alata is not specializing on any particular ant species but rather maximizing prey quantity over quality by only eating the largest ants, despite their scarcity in the environment.C.

show abstract

Contenidos Estomacales De Especies De Anuros en Reservas Naturales Del Municipio De Villavicencio, Meta, Colombia

Cited by 7 publications

References 21 publications

Ant Morphology Mediates Diet Preference in a Neotropical Toad (Rhinella alata)

Ant Morphology Mediates Diet Preference in a Neotropical Toad (Rhinella alata)

Food habits of Rhinella proboscidea (Anura: Bufonidae) in terra firme forests of central Amazonia

Prey’s traits mediate a neotropical toad diet

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About