Advertisement and courtship calls of Dendropsophus nanus (Boulenger, 1889) (Anura: Hylidae) from its type locality (Resistencia, Argentina)

Abstract

Dendropsophus nanus was described from Resistencia, Argentina. The species distribution is widespread in South America east of the Andes. Despite its wide distribution, little information about its advertisement call is available in the literature. Call descriptions from type localities are especially important for the resolution of taxonomic issues, as well as for intraspecific comparisons. Herein we describe the advertisement and the male courtship calls of D. nanus from its type locality. The advertisement call of D. nanus is composed of two types of pulsed notes, herein referred to as “note A” (long note) and “note B” (short note), both with similar dominant frequencies, but different durations. The courtship call is formed by notes that are similar to notes A of the advertisement call, but emitted at lower amplitude. Previous studies demonstrated that the complex call of Eleutherodactylus coqui and Geocrinia victoriana convey separated messages to male and female. Although several previous experiments have been conducted to assess the acoustic interactions of some species of Dendropsophus, more studies are necessary to understand the functions of the two notes of the advertisement call of D. nanus and the calls of other species of the D. microcephalus group.

Five Independent Lineages Revealed by Integrative Taxonomy in the Dendropsophus nanus–Dendropsophus walfordi Species Complex

“…The measurements presented here for the advertisement call of D. nanus are in accordance with those described by Martins and Jim [60] for a population from the Municipality of Botucatu, state of São Paulo, Brazil, and by Teixeira et al [16] for topotypical specimens. Basso et al [85] examined calls from Argentinian specimens, and Márquez et al [86] performed an analysis of specimens from Bolivia and did not recognize the two different types of notes in the call of D. nanus.…”

“…Introductory notes may also be important for attracting females. Males of D. ebraccatus emit these notes in response to the approach of non-calling specimens [90] and males of D. nanus emit notes similar to the A notes of the advertisement call in the courtship call [16]. Secondary notes can also influence interactions between males [87][88][89] and may be important for attracting females.…”