Visual and acoustic signaling in three species of Brazilian nocturnal tree frogs (Anura, Hylidae)

Abstract

Visual and acoustic signaling in three species of Brazilian nocturnal tree frogs (Anura, Hylidae). Visual communication seems to be widespread among nocturnal anurans, however, reports of these behaviors in many Neotropical species are lacking. Therefore, we gathered information collected during several sporadic field expeditions in central and southern Brazil with three nocturnal tree frogs: Aplastodiscus perviridis, Hypsiboas albopunctatus and H. bischoffi. These species displayed various aggressive behaviors, both visual and acoustic, towards other males. For A. perviridis we described arm lifting and leg kicking; for H. albopunctatus we described the advertisement and territorial calls, visual signalizations, including a previously unreported behavior (short leg kicking), and male-male combat; and for H. bischoffi we described the advertisement and fighting calls, toes and fingers trembling, leg lifting, and leg kicking. We speculate about the evolution of some behaviors and concluded that the use of visual signals among Neotropical anurans may be much more common than suggested by the current knowledge.

The use of bioacoustics in anuran taxonomy: theory, terminology, methods and recommendations for best practice

“…Evidence for reproductive isolation can be found through a variety of approaches, including postzygotic hybrid inviability, divergent morphological structure of genitals, or differences in behavioral characters mediating mate recognition. In amphibians, mechanisms of mate recognition and mate choice involve pheromones in salamanders and frogs (Malacarne & Giacoma 1986;Pearl et al 2000;Toyoda et al 2004;Kikuyama et al 2005;Byrne & Keogh 2007;Belanger & Corkum 2009;Poth et al 2012;Starnberger et al 2013;Treer et al 2013), visual signaling such as foot-waving (Hödl & Amézquita 2001;Toledo et al 2007;Boeckle et al 2009), elaborated nuptial displays in newts (Halliday 1977) or inflation of, sometimes colorful, vocal sacs (e.g., Rosenthal et al 2004;Hirschmann & Hödl 2006), water surface waves (Walkowiak & Münz 1985), surface vibrations (Narins 1990;Cardoso & Heyer 1995;Lewis et al 2001;Caldwell et al 2010), acoustic signals (most Sampling rate (R) Number of amplitude measurements taken per second when digitizing a sound wave (e.g., 44.1 kHz sampling rate results in 44,100 samples of amplitude measurement for every second).…”

Visual communication in Hypsiboas curupi (Anura: Hylidae) at Parque Estadual do Turvo, southern Brazil

“…Most recently, visual displays have been documented even for nocturnal species (Bertoluci 2002, Hartmann et al 2005, Giasson and Haddad 2006, Toledo et al 2007, Barros and Feio 2011, suggesting that nocturnal anurans have visual acuity for visual stimulus, possibly dependent on the optimum ambient illumination of the species (Hartmann et al 2005). Thus, data on the repertoire of visual signals of different species, including information on the behaviors and the social context in which they are performed, constitute a primary source of information to understand the evolution of visual communication in anurans (Amézquita and Hödl 2004).…”

Sinalização visual e Biologia Reprodutiva de Dendropsophus werneri (Anura: Hylidae) em área de Mata Atlântica no Estado do Paraná, Brasil

“…Atualmente na Mata Atlântica a sinalização visual é conhecida para doze espécies (e.g. Pombal Jr. et al, 1994;Lingnau, 2003;Hartmann et al, 2005;Abrunhosa & Wogel, 2004;Toledo et al, 2007).…”