Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2020 | 12(14): 17041–17044
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
doi: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6291.12.14.17041-17044
#6291 | Received 11 June 2020 | Final
received 28 July 2020 | Finally accepted 28 August 2020
A frog that eats foam: predation
on the nest of Polypedates sp. (Rhacophoridae) by Euphlyctis
sp. (Dicroglossidae)
Pranoy Kishore Borah 1, Avrajjal Ghosh 2, Bikash
Sahoo 3 & Aniruddha Datta-Roy 4
1–4 National Institute of Science
Education and Research (NISER), Homi Bhabha National
Institute (HBNI), Bhubaneswar, Jatni, Khurda, Odisha 752050, India.
1 pranoykishore.borah@niser.ac.in
(corresponding author), 2 avrajjal.ghosh@niser.ac.in, 3 bikash.sahoo@niser.ac.in,
4 datta.roy@niser.ac.in
Editor: Neelesh Dahanukar, Indian Institute
of Science Education and Research, Pune, India. Date of
publication: 26 October 2020 (online & print)
Citation:
Borah, P.K., A. Ghosh, B. Sahoo & A. Datta-Roy (2020). A frog that
eats foam: predation on the nest of Polypedates
sp. (Rhacophoridae) by Euphlyctis
sp. (Dicroglossidae). Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(14): 17041–17044. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6291.12.14.17041-17044
Copyright: © Borah et al.
2020. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License. JoTT
allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and distribution of this article in any
medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of
publication.
Funding: Intramural
financial support from the Department of Atomic Energy, Govt.
of India, through National Institute
of
Science Education and Research (NISER) for facilitating this study.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors are thankful to Dr.
Chan Kin Onn, Museum Officer (Lecturer), Herpetology (Systematics &
Evolution), Curator of Amphibians & Reptiles, Lee Kong Chian
Natural History Museum, National University of Singapore. We would also like to thank Mr. Krishnendu Banerjee, for assisting us with the
literature. Finally, we would like to
thank the School of Biological Sciences, National Institute of Science
Education and Research, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India for the departmental and
logistical support.
Predation is one of the most widespread foraging
behaviour prevalent in the animal kingdom (Curio 1976; Taylor 1984). Amphibians, with respect to predation,
generally prefer waiting for prey while being stationary as a method for
foraging (i.e., ambush predation) (Duellman & Trueb 1986). It is
to be noted here that visual detection is the primary method with which anurans
spot prey (Freed 1988).
At least six families of amphibians are known to
produce foam nests for egg laying, namely: Hylidae, Hyperoliidae, Leptodactylidae, Microhylidae, Myobatrachidae, and
Rhacophoridae (Haddad et al. 1990; Andreone et al. 2005; Haddad & Prado 2005). Various hypothetical functions have been attributed
to foam nests of frogs. These include
inhibition to the growth of tadpoles (Pisano & Del Rio 1968), resistance to
desiccation (Ryan 1985; Downie 1988), improvement
towards the supply of respiratory gases (Seymour & Lovebridge
1994), regulation of temperature (Downie 1988),
predator defense (Downie
1988, 1990), as a source of food (Tanaka & Nishihira
1987), and also growth acceleration (Prado et al. 2005). Predation on foam nest has previously been
reported, where non-anuran species have been seen to predate on these nests in
various conditions (Villa et al. 1982; Lingnau &
Di-Bernardo 2006).
In this note we report a predation behaviour on the
foam nest of one species of anuran (Polypedates
sp.) by another species (Euphlyctis sp.).
Observations: An individual of Euphlyctis
sp. was observed feeding on a foam nest of Polypedates
sp. on 14 March 2020 at 09.42h (Image 1).
The observation was made on top of Barunei
Hills, in the Khurda District of the state of Odisha
in India (20.157°N & 85.643°E, 227m).
The weather was clear and sunny with an ambient temperature of
32ºC. It was an opportunistic
observation made while inspecting amphibians in an ephemeral pool of water
inside a small cave on top of a stunted hill.
The pit was observed to harbour a community of three species of anurans—Euphlyctis sp., Polypedates
sp. and a Duttaphrynus sp. We observed an individual of Euphlyctis eating, with gulping motion, from one of
the foam nests of the Polypedates sp. that was
at the side of the water pool on a rock substratum, intermittently. The observation was captured in video and
photographs were created using the snapshot from the videos for visual
reference. The image and video files
were submitted to the Lee Kong Chian Natural History
Museum of the National University of Singapore digital repository for
reference. The accession numbers are
provided in Table 1 given below. The
video files have also been deposited into figshare
repository (https://figshare.com/ with the following DOI: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.12720617). After
recording the aforementioned behaviour, the frog was left undisturbed. Identification of the observed individuals
was conducted till genus level as it was in a field setting and no
morphometrics and meristic data were collected for comparison. Hence, in that respect, it would be difficult
to identify the organisms up to the species level.
Discussion: Scavenging has been reported in some
species of anurans (Nishikawa & Ochi 2016; Gazdar
et al. 2019). Besides predation and
scavenging, oophagy and cannibalistic behaviour have also been reported from
some species (Crump 1983, 1992; Rajput et al. 2011; Mahapatra et al.
2017). Predation on anuran foam nest has
been reported from arthropods and snakes (Villa et al. 1982; Menin & Giaretta 2003);
however, this behaviour has not been reported from anurans till date. Generally, amphibians are considered to be
opportunistic in their feeding habits, in contrast, empirical studies have
suggested that some species may be selective (Duellman
& Trueb 1986).
Feeding mechanisms in adult anurans involves a flick of the lingual
region where the postero-dorsal surface becomes
antero-ventral surface of the fully extended tongue (Regal & Gans 1976). In this
recorded observation, however, we notice a gulping mechanism of feeding on the
foam nest without the use of the lingual region.
Anurans are key components in an ecosystem serving
both as predator and prey thus linking a variety of trophic levels and
maintaining the trophic structure in the ecosystems (Duellman
& Trueb 1986).
Similar observations and further focus on these behaviours would help us
understand the diversity in the range of foraging behaviour in amphibians. This will in turn help us acknowledge
ecosystem dynamics in terms of interaction of trophic levels as well as
interrelationships among different families of amphibians with respect to predator and
prey relationships.
Table 1. Accession numbers of
files deposited in Lee Kong Chian Natural History
Museum, Zoological Reference Collection, National University of Singapore.
|
File type |
Accession number |
|
Video files |
ZRC(IMG) 1.195a |
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.195b |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.195c |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.195d |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.195e |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.195f |
|
|
Snapshots from the videos |
ZRC(IMG) 1.194a |
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.194b |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.194c |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.194d |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.194e |
|
|
Images |
ZRC(IMG) 1.196a |
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.196b |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.196c |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.196d |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.196e |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.196f |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.196g |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.196h |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.196i |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.196j |
|
|
ZRC(IMG) 1.196k |
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Erratum
Marler, T.E. & A.J. Lindstrom (2020). Leaf
nutrients of two Cycas L. species contrast among in situ and ex situ
locations. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(13): 16831–16839. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6205.12.13.16831-16839
Table 2. Green leaf nitrogen concentration (mg·g-1)
of Cycas micronesica and Cycas nongnoochiae plants in various locations. Ex situ sites
included Chonburi, Thailand (curated by Nong Nooch Tropical Botanical Garden) and Angeles City,
Philippines (curated by University of Guam).
Header should read:
|
Cycas Genotype |
Site |
In situ |
Ex situ |
t |
p |