Neotropical amphibians play important roles as preys and predators in freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. The subfamily Pseudinae includes small and medium-sized frogs within three genera representing 13 valid species. Most published records of predation on Pseudinae frogs are anecdotic and scarce. Herein, we provide five new reports of predation and presenting a detailed literature review on Pseudinae predation, with 15 studies published between Pseudinae species were preyed at both day and night by a wide variety of predators, principally birds.
Adults were preyed upon more frequently than juveniles and tadpoles. In the present study, most predators were diurnal, with birds accounting for most records. A variety of invertebrates prey on anurans, but water bugs and spiders are the most common ones. However, anuran predation by invertebrates remains poorly documented. Thus, the description of new cases of predation accompanied by a review of the data available in the literature is crucial to understanding Neotropical food webs.
Anuran species are abundant and conspicuous during the breeding season when adult and newly-metamorphosed individuals are more susceptible to becoming prey items for aquatic and terrestrial predators Toledo, ; Toledo et al. Thus, predation is an important biotic process that affects the distribution and structure of amphibian communities Morin, , ; Hamer and Parris, The subfamily Pseudinae Fitzinger, includes small and medium-sized frogs within three genera and representing 13 valid species distributed in tropical and subtropical South America east of the Andes, including Trinidad southward to Uruguay, Paraguay, and northern Argentina Duellman et al.
Most published records of predation on Pseudinae frogs are anecdotic and scarce see Toledo, ; Toledo et al. Therefore, knowledge of new cases may improve our understanding of predator-prey relationships among these frogs and their role in the food web.
Moreover, there is no compilation of recent predation records of Pseudinae frogs in South America. Herein, we reported five cases of predation on two Pseudinae frog species by a crocodilian and four aquatic bird species.
