Novel predator-prey interactions of Rhinella major (Anura: Bufonidae) from an urban area in northern Brazil

Abstract

Direct field observations of predator-prey interactions improve our knowledge about species niches and the ways in which vertebrate and invertebrate assemblages are structured, as well as aiding in the conservation of species (Vitt and Caldwell 2009, van den Burg and Miguel 2020). As anurans grow, the degree of capture specialization by type and size of prey changes (Donnelly 1991, Simon and Toft 1991), but the increase in prey size with ontogeny is more than a passive effect of selection for larger prey in some species of leaf-litter frogs (Lima et al. 2000). An organism’s diet is influenced by its morphology, physiology, and behavior in response to selective pressures and phylogenetic constraints (Toft 1981, Duellman and Trueb 1994, Wells 2007, Solé et al. 2009). Anurans have been shown to be flexible predators in trophic chains (Toledo et al. 2007, Oliveira et al. 2013). Data on anuran’s diet inform us about their life history, environmental conditions, and