Biparental care in the tadpole-feeding Amazonian treefrog Osteocephalus oophagus

Abstract

The Central Amazonian treefrog Osteocephalus oophagus breeds in water-filled bromeliad or palm tree leaf axils or in treeholes. The larvae feed on eggs provided by their parents; larvae not provided with eggs die. Survival of the larvae is ensured by the fact that the pair always spawns at the same site. They return at intervals of 5 to 7 days. Pair bonding is the rule in areas with low frog densities. The first eggs develop into tadpoles and later clutches of fertilized eggs serve as food. There is no apparent communication system between larvae and mother. After metamorphosis of the larvae the pair continues to lay eggs into the same leaf axils and these eggs also develop into tadpoles. This behavior is compared to that of other frogs that feed their tadpoles on eggs. It seems to be the least advanced mode of parental care involving tadpole feeding and demonstrates one of the initial steps that has led to more complex parental care behaviors in frogs.

Supplemental Material for 'Phylogenetic systematics of dart-poison frogs and their relatives (Amphibia, Athesphatanura, Dendrobatidae). (Bulletin of the AMNH ; no. 299)'

“…Even in these cases of biparental care, oocytes are not fertilized and are deposited directly into the water (and not on the dry surfaces above water), which indicates that they are deposited solely for larval consumption and not merely as a biproduct of repeated mating. This reproductive mode therefore differs from larval oophagy in Osteocephalus (Hylidae), in which parents mate repeatedly at the same sites and freshly laid eggs are either consumed by older siblings or survive through competition to metamorphosis (Jungfer and Weygoldt, 1999; see also Haddad et al, 2005, in regard to Aplastodiscus perviridis). However, the oophagy resembles that of the foam-nest breeder Leptodactylus fallax, in which maternal provisioning of nutritive oocytes is unaccompanied by the male (Gibson and Buley, 2004).…”

The Adaptive Significance of Egg Attendance in a South‐East Asian Tree Frog

“…Of Wilson's four prime movers, predation pressure has been shown to have a stronger impact on parental care in some terrestrial breeding species (Bickford 2004), while harshness of environment appears to be the most important prime mover for arboreal breeding species (McDiarmid 1978;Bickford 2004). In other cases, limited food supply for tadpoles has been associated with trophic feeding, in which adults purposefully deposit unfertilized eggs as food source to sustain tadpole survival (Kam et al 1996;Jungfer & Weygoldt 1999;Poelman & Dicke 2007).…”

Reproductive biology of a bromeligenous frog endemic to the Atlantic Forest: Aparasphenodon arapapa Pimenta, Napoli and Haddad, 2009 (Anura: Hylidae)

“…However, information on egg size from other Aparasphenodon species is not available. When compared to Osteocephalus oophagus (Jungfer and Weygoldt 1999), another bromeligenous species with biparental care that provides eggs for their tadpoles, A. arapapa presents a smaller egg size. Summers et al (2007) revealed a non-significant relationship REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY OF Aparasphenodon arapapa between egg size and phytotelmata breeding, however they used a small sample size, since there is little comparative data of phytotelm anuran breeders, especially tropical ones.…”

“…Summers et al (2007) revealed a non-significant relationship REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY OF Aparasphenodon arapapa between egg size and phytotelmata breeding, however they used a small sample size, since there is little comparative data of phytotelm anuran breeders, especially tropical ones. Concerning development rate, the Amazonian species Osteocephalus oophagus presents parental care and provides fertilized eggs (Jungfer and Weygoldt 1999) to tadpoles that become metamorphs between 27 to 50 days. Kurixalus eiffingeri exhibits parental care with unfertilized eggs provided by the female, completing their development 40 to 78 days after hatching .…”