Title
Diet composition and prey selection of Telmatobius macrostomus, the Junín giant frog
Date Issued
01 January 2017
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Publisher(s)
Inter-Research
Abstract
This study describes the diet composition and prey selection of the Endangered Junín giant frog Telmatobius macrostomus, endemic to the central Andes of Peru. Prey items were recovered by forced regurgitation of stomach contents through gastric lavage. Top prey taxa in all samples (n = 9) consisted of a snail (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Hygrophila: Physidae; 78% frequency of occurrence) and an amphipod (Arthropoda: Malacostraca: Amphipoda: Hyalellidae; 56% frequency of occurrence). T. macrostomus appeared to select snails (family Physidae) and mayflies (family Baetidae) from the available prey in the environment. No vertebrate species were found in the stomach contents. Only 9 adults were found during this study (survey effort = 8.9 person-hours per frog), suggesting that adults of this species are rare and/or difficult to find. Although our sample size is limited, and the results need to be interpreted with caution, these findings provide important basic ecological data that can prove useful in the conservation of this species.
Start page
117
End page
121
Volume
32
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Zoología, Ornitología, Entomología, ciencias biológicas del comportamiento
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85012273919
Source
Endangered Species Research
ISSN of the container
18635407
Sponsor(s)
We thank Shannon Behmke for initiating the High-Andean Frog Conservation through the Capacity Building program; Winy Arias Lopez, Rolando Uribe de la Cruz, Luis Castillo Roque, and numerous volunteers for their help in field sampling; George T. Merovich Jr. for helpful comments on analyses; John R. Wallace for field and laboratory materials; Diego Shoobridge for his continuous support; 3 anonymous referees and responsible editor Michael Mahony for comments that improved the manuscript; and the Denver Zoological Foundation, Department of Conservation and Research, for field training and support. This work was funded in part by a Small Project Assistance grant from USAID and Servicio Nacional de áreas Naturales Protegidas (SERNANP) por el Estado del Perú, specifically the Junín National Reserve and the Historic Sanctuary of Chacamarca.
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus