Diet of bromeliad-frog Phyllodytes luteolus (Anura, Hylidae) in Atlantic Forest environments: what have the frogs been eating outside sandy coastal plains?

Abstract

Knowledge about the diet of anurans in different environments is essential to understanding important aspects of their trophic ecology. The bromeliad-frog Phyllodytes luteolus inhabits tank bromeliads in sandy coastal plains and lowland forests on the mainland, as well as a continental island in southeastern Brazil. In this work, we describe and analyze the diet of P. luteolus in three environments. We obtained the consumed prey items of 92 frogs (32 from sandy coastal plain, 32 from lowland forest and 28 from the island) via a stomach-flushing procedure. We found some variations in consumed prey composition and prey volume across populations, but ants represented the most important consumed prey in all environments. Only ants had a relative importance greater than 50%, which may suggest a specialized diet that transcends the sandy coastal plain environment.

Trophic ecology of Thoropa miliaris (Anura: Cycloramphidae) in two mountain ranges of south‐eastern Brazil

“…Studies comparing the diets of anuran populations in different localities have shown that specialist species tend to maintain their preferences for a specific prey category, regardless of their habitat (e.g. Mageski et al, 2019 – for Phyllodytes luteolus ). In contrast, generalist species exhibit variations in their diet as the environment changes, which is likely due to differences in prey availability across their habitats (García‐Padrón & Quevedo, 2022; Santana et al, 2019).…”