Diet of Brachycephalus brunneus (Anura: Brachycephalidae): in the Atlantic Rainforest of Paraná, southern Brazil

Two new species of the Brachycephaluspernix group (Anura: Brachycephalidae) from the state of Paraná, southern Brazil

“…13 ). Other species of Brachycephalus , such as B. brunneus ( Fontoura, Ribeiro & Pie, 2011 ), are known to consume isopods in addition to other small leaf litter arthropods.…”

Seven new microendemic species ofBrachycephalus(Anura: Brachycephalidae) from southern Brazil

“…Several Brachycephalus species display conspicuous (aposematic) coloration patterns that are associated with the presence of tetrodotoxin and its analogues, which are highly potent neurotoxins that are particularly concentrated in their integument ( Pires et al, 2002 ). Little is known about the natural history of Brachycephalus , and most of what is known about them is included in their original descriptions (but see Pombal, Sazima & Haddad, 1994 ; Van Sluys et al, 2007 ; Verdade et al, 2008 ; Almeida-Santos et al, 2011 ; Fontoura, Ribeiro & Pie, 2011 ; Dorigo et al, 2012 ; Rocha et al, 2013 ; Siqueira et al, 2014 .…”

Ecological aspects of the pumpkin toadlet,Brachycephalus garbeanusMiranda-Ribeiro, 1920 (Anura: Neobatrachia: Brachycephalidae), in a highland forest of southeastern Brazil

“…In a study on the ecology of the smaller congener B. didactylus (SVL up to 10.7 mm) in two Atlantic Rainforest areas in Rio de Janeiro state, the frogs consumed 21 types of prey items, but the diet of the species was composed mainly of Acari and Collembola (Almeida- Santos et al 2011). Another smaller congener, B. brunneus (SVL up to 12 mm), had a diet composed of 15 types of invertebrates at two Atlantic Rainforest areas in Paraná state, though Acari represented over 60% of the consumed prey (Fontoura et al 2011). Other reports based on more limited data have documented only Acari, Collembola and Araneae as prey for members of this genus (B. didactylus, Izecksohn 1971;B.…”

“…alipioi, Pombal and Gasparini 2006). Mites were among the most important items in the diet of B. garbeanus and are among the commonest leaf litter arthropods in tropical forests around the world (Simon and Toft 1991), including different areas within the Atlantic Rainforest biome (Santos et al 1998;Dietl et al 2009;Fontoura et al 2011). Nevertheless, mites are usually not important prey in the diets of other terraranan frogs (Simon and Toft 1991;Lima and Magnusson 1998), including brachycephalids of the genus Ischnocnema (Marra et al 2004;Dietl et al 2009;Martins et al 2010), which are usually larger (SVL > 20 mm) than those in the genus Brachycephalus.…”

“…Information regarding the ecology of species of the genus Brachycephalus is restricted to reproductive behaviour of B. ephippium (Pombal et al 1994;Pombal 1999), to vocalization activity of Brachycephalus hermogenesi (Verdade et al 2008), to food habits of Brachycephalus brunneus (Fontoura et al 2011), and to estimated density, diet and some reproductive aspects of Brachycephalus didactylus (Almeida- Santos et al 2011). The present study provides information about some ecological aspects of B. garbeanus, specifically sexual dimorphism in body size, habitat use and feeding habits in an Atlantic Rainforest area of southeastern Brazil.…”