Reproductive ecology of the glass frog Espadarana prosoblepon (Anura: Centrolenidae) in an urban forest of the Central Andes of Colombia

ABSTRACT

Population and reproductive behaviour aspects of the glass frog Espadarana prosoblepon are well known for populations from Central America, but similar information is lacking for populations from South America. We recorded the reproductive ecology of a population of the glass frog E. prosoblepon in the city of Armenia, Central Andes of Colombia. With weekly surveys with mark-recapture between December 2013 and November 2015, we monitored activity patterns and evaluated if the probability of males mating is associated to their body size or to chorus tenure (i.e. the number of nights a same individual is calling for attracting a mate). In addition, upon observing an amplexus, we recorded the behaviour of the individuals until oviposition and noted characteristics of egg clutch. We recorded 47 males and 32 females, nine amplexus events, eight ovipositions, and 21 egg clutches (35.4 ± 4.79 eggs per clutch, N = 29). Activity of males and females and the number of egg clutches were positively correlated to rainfall. Mating success of males was not associated to their body size, but it was positively associated to longer chorus tenure; clutches from large females had a higher number of eggs than clutches from small females. Oviposition occurred on average 3.76 ± 1.74 hours after we first observed the amplexus, occurring 93.1% of the time in fronds of Selaginella geniculata at an average height of 1.58 ± 0.44 m. After the oviposition, the male left the site, while the female remained between 30 and 45 min, partially covering the eggs. The reproductive behaviour of E. prosoblepon did not vary widely between a population in Costa Rica and our population in time to oviposition, and mating success of males associated to chorus tenure; however, in our study population we recorded a larger clutch size and the preference for S. geniculata fronds as oviposition substrate.

KEYWORDS:

• Anurans
• mating pattern
• reproductive behaviour
• geographic variation

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Paul D.A. Gutiérrez-Cárdenas for comments that enriched this manuscript. Likewise, we thank all the members of the Herpetology Group at Universidad del Quindío (GHUQ), especially Carlos Gómez, Carlos A. Londoño and Ana Ospina-L for their help in obtaining data. Gratitude is also expressed to Baladev Sánchez, Sebastián Vera, Natalia Belduque, Juliana González, Andrés Grisales, Elder Lenis, Laura Cabrera, Julian Ríos, Oscar Grajales, Santiago Casas, Juan D. Carvajal, Alejandra Bedoya, Javier Ramírez, Anny Pulido, Francisco A. Rivera, Juan E. Alonso, and Caroline Guevara for their accompaniment during the samplings. We thank Yennifer Ramos and Larry Álvarez for their help in the taxonomic identification of the vegetation in the study area. Gratitude also goes to the Research Center on Biodiversity and Biotechnology at Universidad del Quindío (CIBUQ), to Gerardo Ramos and Santiago Fernández for facilitating ingress to the study area; finally, to the Biology Program at Universidad del Quindío – especially to Professor Germán Dario Gómez for his support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.