Székely Diana, Gaona Fernando P, Székely Paul, Cogălniceanu Dan
Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Ovidius University Constanța, Constanța, Romania.
Laboratory of Fish and Amphibian Ethology, Behavioural Biology Unit, FOCUS, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
PeerJ. 2019 Feb 21;7:e6406. doi: 10.7717/peerj.6406. eCollection 2019.
We describe for the first time the feeding ecology of the Pacific horned frog (), as inferred through gastrointestinal tract content analysis and behavioural observations in its natural habitat. Ingested prey in adults ranged from mites and various insects to frogs and snakes. Prey items predominantly consisted of gastropods, non-formicid hymenopterans, and centipedes. We found no relationship between the size of the predator and the prey ingested, in terms of prey size, volume or number of items ingested. Additional direct observations indicate that all post-metamorphic stages are voracious, preying on vertebrates and engaging in anurophagy, cannibalism, and even necrophagy. Our study sheds light on the feeding habits of one of the least known species of horned frog.
我们首次描述了太平洋角蛙的食性生态，这是通过对其在自然栖息地的胃肠道内容物分析和行为观察推断得出的。成年太平洋角蛙摄入的猎物范围从螨虫和各种昆虫到青蛙和蛇。猎物主要包括腹足纲动物、非蚁科膜翅目昆虫和蜈蚣。就摄入猎物的大小、体积或数量而言，我们发现捕食者的大小与所摄入的猎物之间没有关系。额外的直接观察表明，所有变态后的阶段都很贪吃，捕食脊椎动物，并且会出现食蛙、同类相食甚至食尸行为。我们的研究揭示了这种鲜为人知的角蛙物种之一的饮食习惯。
