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Herpetological Review 53(2), 2022
290 NATURAL HISTORY NOTES
the Mogollon Rim, Coconino County, Arizona, USA (34.46867°N,
111.33666°W; WGS 84; 2200 m elev.). Most likely due to the
concurrent drought, the creek was mostly dry except for a few
pools along the creek bottom due to recent rain. At one of these
pools, I was observing a chorus of at least 8 male H. wrightorum
when a T. elegans arrived at the pool. After arriving, the T. e.
vagrans held its head and neck above the water and oriented
itself behind a male H. wrightorum which was producing
advertisement calls. Facing away from the snake and toward the
bank of the pool, the calling H. wrightorum appeared unaware
of the snake and made no attempt to flee. After a period of
time in wait, the snake made a quick strike at the frog. Having
successfully bitten into the frog’s head, the T. e. vagrans slowly
wrestled the frog into more of its mouth while moving backwards
to a rock in the pool. Once at the rock, the snake proceeded to
swallow the male H. wrightorum (Fig. 1).
In addition to confirming a suspected predator of H.
wrightorum, this observation demonstrates the predation
risk associated with reproductive behavior in anurans. The
predated calling male H. wrightorum may have been able to
avoid predation if it had not been calling and thus unaware or
unresponsive to the approaching T. e. vagrans. Studies have
suggested the formation of anuran choruses may be in part to
dilute predation risk during this vulnerable moment in their life
cycle (Ryan et al. 1981. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 8:273–278). The
vulnerability of calling male anurans (and the females attracted
to their choruses) may be important to consider in conservation
of anuran populations.
E. GRIFFIN NICHOLSON, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program,
Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA; e-mail: gnichol-
son@tamu.edu.
HYPOPACHUS VARIOLOSUS (Sheep Frog). ARBOREAL BE-
HAVIOR. Hypopachus variolosus is a small sized frog distributed
from sea level to moderate elevations (1610 m elev.) from south-
ern Texas, USA and Sonora, Mexico to Costa Rica (Lee 1996. The
Amphibians and Reptiles of the Yucatán Peninsula. Cornell Uni-
versity Press, Ithaca, New York. 500 pp.; Köhler 2011. Amphib-
ians of Central America. Herpeton, Verlag Elke Köhler, Offen-
bach, Germany. 376 pp.). This terrestrial anuran has strong legs
specialized for digging and is mostly fossorial or semifossorial
(Vitt and Cadwell 2013. Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of
Amphibians and Reptiles. Fourth edition. Elsevier Ltd, Oxford,
England. 757 pp.). Hypopachus variolosus commonly uses tem-
porary, ground-level water bodies for breeding, such as marshes
and flooded grasslands (Lee 1996, op. cit.). However, McDiarmid
and Foster (1975. J. Herpetol. 9:264–265) reported an unusual
case of a H. variolosus tadpole they found in a tree cavity almost
entirely filled with water (87 cm above the ground). They could
not explain the presence of the tadpole because the species is
considered terrestrial. Herein, we report an unusual case of
scansorial behavior of H. variolosus.
Fig. 1. Thamnophis elegans vagrans predating a male Hyla wrighto-
rum in Coconino County, Arizona.
Fig. 1. A). Adult Hypopachus variolosus found inside a dry branch of
an Enterolobium cyclocarpum at Rancho Santa Lupita, Municipality
of Bacalar, Quintana Roo, México, ca. 2.5 m height; B) view of the
E. cyclocarpum showing the branch (arrow) where the H. variolosus
was found.
PHOTOS BY PABLO M. BEUTELSPACHERGARCÍA
Herpetological Review 53(2), 2022
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 291
At 1530 h on 7 August 2021 at Rancho Santa Lupita, located
between Bacalar and Reforma, Municipality of Bacalar, Quintana
Roo, México (18.76116°N, 88.52602°W; WGS 84; 27 m elev.), one
of us (PMBG) found an adult H. variolosus inside a dry branch
(Fig. 1A) of an Earpod Tree (Enterolobium cyclocarpum) ca. 2.5
m above the ground. The tree was surrounded by secondary
vegetation (Fig. 1B) in a seasonally flooded zone. The trunk was
hollow, thus the frog likely climbed inside from the ground up to
the tree branch searching for shelter. To our knowledge, this is the
first record of scansorial behavior for H. variolosus. This finding
may explain the presence of the tadpole observed by McDiarmid
and Foster (1975, op. cit.), suggesting that this species not only
uses water bodies at ground level to reproduce, but may also
search for water bodies in elevated situations to deposit eggs. In
addition, this observation of an elevated shelter site suggests a
possibly broader ecological niche for the genus Hypopachus.
JOSÉ ROGELIO CEDEÑO-VÁZQUEZ, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur,
Departamento de Sistemática y Ecología Acuática, Av. Centenario Km 5.5,
C.P. 77014, Chetumal, Quintana Roo, México (e-mail: rcedenov@ecosur.
mx); PABLO M. BEUTELSPACHER-GARCÍA, 16-A esquina con 31, Colonia
Nueva Generación, Bacalar, Quintana Roo, México (e-mail: beutelspacher-
pacher@gmail.com); LUIS FRANCISCO NIETO-TOSCANO, El Colegio de
la Frontera Sur, Av. Centenario Km 5.5, C.P. 77014, Chetumal, Quintana Roo,
México (e-mail: luisnietotoscano913@gmail.com).
LEPTODACTYLUS LATRANS (Butter Frog) and PHYSALAEMUS
CROMBIEI (Crombie’s Dwarf Frog). ANTIPREDATOR MECHA-
NISMS. Anurans are exposed to constant predatory pressure and
have evolved several anti-predator mechanisms in order to sur-
vive (Toledo et al. 2007. J. Zool. 271:170–177; Mailho-Fontana et
al. 2014. J. Exp. Zool. A. 321:65–77). Leptodactylus latrans is dis-
tributed throughout the Brazilian coastal zone from Pernambuco
to the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, while Physalaemus
crombiei occurs in the states of Espírito Santo and Bahia (Frost
2021. Amphibian Species of the World 6.1, an Online Reference.
https://amphibiansoftheworld.amnh.org; 20 Aug 2021). Both
are leptodactylids associated with wetlands and humid environ-
ments, however P. crombiei mostly occurs in forest environments
with dense leaf litter and L. latrans demonstrates a tolerance to
anthropogenic environments (Peixoto and Pimenta 2004. The
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2004:e.T57248A11608727;
1 June 2022; Solé et al. 2009. Herpetol. Notes 2:9–15; Pupin et al.
2010. Herpetol. J., 20:147–156).
On 16 July 2020 at 1460 h, we observed two juvenile L. latrans
on the wet ground in Cariacica, Espírito Santo, Brazil (20.31528°S,
40.37639°W; WGS 84; 32 m elev.). When captured, the individuals
released slippery secretions from their skin and exhibited death
feigning. When released onto the substrate, one individual
jumped and hid immediately, while the other intertwined the
hind limbs, a behavior known as limbs interweave (Fig. 1). The
release of slippery secretions and death feigning have been
reported for L. latrans as defense mechanisms (Toledo et al.
2010. J. Nat. Hist. 44:1979–1988), but limbs interweave has
not been reported. On 9 July 2021 at 1847 h, we observed a P.
crombiei jumping over the leaf litter in Nova Almeida, Espírito
Santo, Brazil (20.04772°S, 40.21306°W; WGS 84; 8 m elev.). Upon
noticing us, the P. crombiei stopped and remained immobile. We
tried to capture it, but it jumped away and displayed the limbs
interweave defense mechanism (Fig. 2). The limbs interweave
defense mechanism has been reported for L. chaquensis (Ferreira
et al. 2019. Ecol. Sociobiol. 73:1–21), however, this is the first
record of the limbs interweave defense mechanism for both L.
latrans and P. crombiei.
RAFAEL SCHERRER MATHIELO (e-mail: rsmathielo@gmail.com),
JÚLIA SACRAMENTO BARBOSA (e-mail: juliabarbosa790@gmail.com),
MATEUS SANDRINI (e-mail: sandrinimateus@gmail.com), and BRYAN
DA CUNHA MARTINS, Programa de pós-graduação em Zoologia, Institu-
to de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, 68067-005,
Manaus, Brasil (e-mail: bryancmartins@hotmail.com).
LEPTODACTYLUS MACROSTERNUM (Miranda’s White-lipped
Frog). HABITAT USE. Leptodactylus macrosternum is a lepto-
dactylid widely distributed in the Neotropical region, occurring
predominantly across the open diagonal formations in South
America (Cerrado, Chaco, Pantanal, Caatinga) and parts of the
Amazonian and Atlantic Rainforests (Magalhães et al. 2020.
Herpetol. Monogr. 34:131–177). It is a medium-sized species
(males: 48.7–98.9 mm SVL; females: 55.9–90.8 mm SVL; Magal-
hães et al. 2020, op. cit.) and is considered a generalist in terms
of habitat use, occurring from forest edges and open areas to an-
thropized regions (Costa et al. 2016. Rev. Verde Agroecol. Sust.
Dev. 11:123–128; Chaves et al. 2017. Zoologia 34:e20782). Their
diet consists predominantly of small terrestrial arthropods, such
Fig. 1. Leptodactylus latrans from Cariacica, Espírito Santo state, Bra-
zil, displaying limbs interweave defense mechanism.
PHOTO BY BRYAN MARTINS
Fig. 2. Physalaemus crombiei displaying limbs interweave defense
mechanism.
PHOTO BY RAFAEL MATHIELO