Breeding site attendance and breeding success in Phyllomedusa trinitatis (Anura: Phyllomedusidae)

Abstract

Using a natural marker, we documented breeding site attendance patterns by males and females of the Trinidad Leaf Frog, Phyllomedusa trinitatis. We followed attendance at a cluster of three isolated ponds over 53 and 56 consecutive nights in 2016 and 2019 respectively. Most females attended only once, but for those that attended more than once we calculated an inter-nesting interval (mean 27.6 days, N = 7). Males showed high pond fidelity, but some did attend at two of the ponds, always with a strong preference for one of them. Males showed three attendance patterns. A few attended on multiple consecutive nights (maximum, 19 nights); more were sporadic (one attended seven times over 46 nights with gaps of 15 and 19 days in the sequence); some attended only once (2016: 12, 2019: 15), but most were found to be present on multiple nights (2016: 38, 2019: 32). Our analysis suggested that these latter frogs were either newly recruited individuals or had been predated during the study. Our data show that rainfall has some influence on attendance. We found no relationship between male body condition and attendance pattern. In addition, there was no evidence that a particular male attendance pattern was optimal for breeding success.

Climate drives anuran breeding phenology in a continental perspective as revealed by citizen‐collected data

“…Phyllomedusa species breed during the night, similar to most other members of the order (Wells, 2010). However, unlike other nocturnal taxa, species of this genus seem to reproduce later in the night (Boyle et al, 2021), with the calling activity sometimes peaking after midnight (Bezerra et al, 2021). Similar to the phenological pattern, phylogeny does not seem to explain the hourly distribution of breeding activity at a broad scale.…”