Habitat use, reproductive traits and social interactions in a stream-dweller treefrog endemic to the Brazilian Cerrado

Abstract

bstract. The richest anuran fauna is found in the Neotropics, but the natural history of most species is unknown. Bokermannohyla ihitiguara is a stream-dweller treefrog endemic to the Brazilian Cerrado and classified as "Data Deficient" by the IUCN. Herein we describe the species' reproductive biology. Fieldwork was conducted from August 2010 to July 2011. Reproductive activity occurred from October to June and was positively correlated with air temperature, humidity, and monthly rainfall. Individuals were observed only in gallery forests at the margins of streams and males used various kinds of substrates as calling sites. Males did not aggregate in specific parts of the streams and spatial distance between males was higher in the dry season. Males and females did not differ in length, but females without mature oocytes were lighter than males. The reproductive investment (gonad mass/body mass) of males was 0.29% and that of females was 20.26%. Female ovaries contained a mean of 202 ± 75 mature oocytes with a mean diameter of 1.96 ± 0.16 mm. We describe, for the first time for the genus, a complex courtship behaviour and also male-male fight and satellite behaviour. The Cerrado is probably the most threatened savanna in the world, having been intensively modified over the last decades. Endemic species associated to gallery forests, such as B. ibiiiguara, are highly vulnerable to habitat alterations. Thus, our study provides important data on the species' biology, which might be useful for conservation practices, but also to investigate taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships in this genus.

Diversity and evolution of sexually dimorphic mental and lateral glands in Cophomantini treefrogs (Anura: Hylidae: Hylinae)

“…1, Hartmann et al ., ; 2, Present study; 3, Haddad & Sawaya, ; 4, Zina & Haddad, ; 5, Haddad et al ., ; 6, De Carvalho et al ., ; 7, Faivovich et al ., ; 8, Nali & Prado, ; 9, Cardoso, ; 10, Lima et al ., ; 11, Eterovick & Brandão, ; 12, Romero de Perez & Ruiz Carranza, ; 13, Rivera‐Correa et al . (unpub.…”

“…This behaviour is coded as absent in those species lacking SDSGs. It was not explicitly noted byNali & Prado (2012), although it can be inferred from their figures.…”

Topography, more than land cover, explains genetic diversity in a Neotropical savanna tree frog

“…Before intense human modification over the past six decades (Myers, Mittermeier, Mittermeier, Fonseca, & Kent, 2000), the Cerrado included seasonal savannas, grasslands and gallery/riparian forests (Felfili, 1995; Meave, Kellman, Macdougall, & Rosles, 1991). The riparian forests occur alongside streams and provide suitable habitat for forest‐dependent species (Johnson, Saraiva, & Coelho, 1999; Nali & Prado, 2012). In addition, the Cerrado is topographically diverse, including montane regions dominated by high‐elevation plateaus (the chapadas or chapadões ) separated by a network of low elevation savannas (Ab'Saber, 1983; Cole, 1986).…”

“…However, very few studies have investigated the processes leading to genetic differentiation of frogs living in Cerrado habitats (Eterovick, Sloss, Scalzo, & Alford, 2016; Nascimento, Chaves, Leite, Eterovick, & Santos, 2018). Bokermannohyla ibitiguara (Cardoso, 1983) is a stream‐dwelling tree frog endemic to the Serra da Canastra mountain range in the Brazilian Cerrado (Frost, 2020; Haddad, Andrade, & Cardoso, 1988; Nali & Prado, 2012). This species is commonly associated with gallery forests both in preserved habitats of the Serra da Canastra National Park (SCNP) and in modified surrounding areas (Haddad et al., 1988; Nali & Prado, 2012).…”

Nightly calling patterns in a Neotropical gladiator frog

“…Environmental conditions, such as air temperature and humidity, influence anuran calling activity (Brooke et al 2000;Steelman and Dorcas 2010;Nali and Prado 2012) and the influence of air temperature on temporal acoustic parameters has been verified for other species (Lemes et al 2012;Morais et al 2012;Gambale and Bastos 2014). However, here neither temporal parameters of the aggressive nor those of the advertisement calls that varied throughout the night correlated with air temperature, despite the variation of temperature throughout the night.…”