Diet and morphological aspects of a population of Pseudopaludicola pocoto (Anura: Leptodactylidae) from Northeast Brazil

Authors

  • Charles de Sousa Silva Programa de Pós-Graduação em Bioprospecção Molecular, Departamento de Química Biológica, Universidade Regional do Cariri (URCA), Rua Cel. Antônio Luiz Pimenta 1161, Campus do Pimenta, CEP 63105-000, Crato, Ceará, Brazil. and Laboratório de Herpetologia, Universidade Regional do Cariri (URCA), Rua Cel. Antônio Luiz Pimenta 1161, Campus do Pimenta, CEP 63105-000, Crato, Ceará, Brazil.
  • José Guilherme Gonçalves Sousa Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Campus Universitário do Pici, CEP 60021970, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
  • Yanne Feitosa Lima Laboratório de Herpetologia, Universidade Regional do Cariri (URCA), Rua Cel. Antônio Luiz Pimenta 1161, Campus do Pimenta, CEP 63105-000, Crato, Ceará, Brazil.
  • Robson Waldemar Ávila Programa de Pós-Graduação em Bioprospecção Molecular, Departamento de Química Biológica, Universidade Regional do Cariri (URCA), Rua Cel. Antônio Luiz Pimenta 1161, Campus do Pimenta, CEP 63105-000, Crato, Ceará, Brazil. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Campus Universitário do Pici, CEP 60021970, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. Laboratório de Herpetologia, Universidade Regional do Cariri (URCA), Rua Cel. Antônio Luiz Pimenta 1161, Campus do Pimenta, CEP 63105-000, Crato, Ceará, Brazil.
  • Drausio Honorio Morais Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia (UFRA), PA 275, km 13, zona Rural. CEP 68515-000, Parauapebas, Pará, Brazil.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4013/nbc.2018.134.05

Abstract

Food resources represent an important part of the trophic niche, being an important determinant in the structuring of communities in any phylogenetic group. Thus, we aim to contribute with ecological information about diet composition, trophic niche width and body size of Pseudopaludicola pocoto in a Caatinga area from the Brazilian northeast. The collections were made during the dry season (September 2015) and rainy season (February 2016), where 120 specimens of P. pocoto were collected and analyzed. We recorded the diet of the dry period, composed of thirteen categories of prey, Coleoptera and Hemiptera being the categories of major relative importance. The trophic niche width (Bsta = 0.18) indicates P. pocoto as a specialist consumer. All individuals collected during the rainy season had no stomach contents. In addition, no significant differences were observed between male and female body sizes. Future works addressing the reproduction of this species are stimulated, therefore, they can contribute to the understanding of phenomena such as the absence of stomach contents during the reproductive period and, finally, to prove or not the hypothesis of stochastic in this species.

Keywords: amphibians, seasonality, neotropical, body size, diet.

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Published

2018-12-30

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 4 (2018): October/December

Section

Articles

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