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Many conservation and management policies adopted in countries with megadiverse forest remnants largely neglect local human communities living in areas surrounding preserves. We investigated the attitudes and knowledge of teachers and students towards scorpions and frogs in the limits between a tropical rainforest reserve and a large Amazonian city. We aimed to identify possible deficiencies in environmental education and the level of knowledge about these animals. Data were collected from 110 students of both genders, aging between eight and 16 years old, representing four different schools located at the periphery of Manaus City, Amazonas State, Brazil. Written responses concerning personal experiences, knowledge, and background about the animals were collected from students and teachers through open- and closed-ended questions. Hand drawn responses were also gathered from the students. Members of the studied population showed more negative than positive attitudes towards scorpions and frogs. We found that gender and sex held similar attitudes in relation to these animals. However, boys tended to be more interested than girls were in the biology of scorpions. In addition, attitudes towards scorpions became more negative as age increased. Most students pictured scorpions and frogs as dangerous, lethal, or aggressive. Such conceptions were also recorded among teachers. We detected a huge lacuna in the knowledge on the importance and about biological and ecological aspects of both groups. Educational activities focused on emotional affinity of students with animals should be associated with traditional lessons, which can enhance conservation strategies.

ABSTRACT. The brilliant-thighed frog [Allobates femoralis (Boulenger, 1884)] is distributed across the Amazon basin and aggregates several allopatric evolutionary lineages, some of which present variation in their advertisement calls. In 2009, an unregistered call phenotype was discovered in the region of Altamira and Vitória do Xingu, State of Pará, Brazil, where males emit advertisement calls formed by six notes, diff ering from the typical four-note calls described for other A. femoralis populations. In this study, we describe in detail these untypical calls. Additionally, we test whether the aggressive responses of males of a 4-note reference population (Reserva Ducke -RFAD, in Manaus, States of Amazonas) is diff erential towards the 6-note calls of males recorded in Altamira (Pará State), and towards 4-note calls recorded in one location at the Tapajós-Xingu interfl uve (Belterra, Pará State), and in RFAD. Playback experiments were conducted between 2011-2012, and used standardized stimuli produced from natural call recordings. A total of 30 independent experiments were conducted, 10 for each stimuli class. We measured the phonotaxis of focal males in relation to the loudspeaker, considering the time to orientation and the time to approach the loudspeaker. We found that not all A. femoralis males at RFAD promptly recognize calls from males recorded in Altamira. However, when considering only males who approached the loudspeaker, diff erences in aggressive reactions were not seen between stimuli classes. Our fi ndings show that the ability to recognize calls from Altamira as belonging to co-specifi c males is not universal among males at RFAD. The new A. femoralis phenotype occurs in areas potentially impacted by the Belo Monte hydroelectric complex and complementary studies indicate that no gene fl ow exists between this group and A. femoralis from adjacent regions. Hence, developments in Altamira may put this incipient speciation process at risk.