Necrophiliac behaviour in the recently described species Scinax tsachila (Anura: Hylidae), with a review of necrophilia in amphibians

ABSTRACT

Necrophilia in amphibians is a poorly known behaviour despite its potential as a beneficial adaptation for improving reproductive success. Here, we describe the observation of a multiple amplexus involving necrophilia in the recently described Tsachila snouted treefrog, Scinax tsachila (Anura: Hylidae). We further provide an extensive review of published necrophilia in amphibians. At least 33 species of amphibians, mostly anurans, have shown a necrophiliac behaviour, with only one case of necrophilia in a caudate. Necrophilia has long been considered a maladaptive behaviour, since reproduction is usually not viable and is also associated with increased risk of death. However, necrophiliac behaviour has recently been proposed as an adaptive behaviour for some species because it may result in viable offspring.

KEYWORDS:

• Amplexus
• Davian behaviour
• necrogamy
• reproduction
• thanatophilia

Acknowledgments

We thank Freddy Almeida and Fernando Ayala for helping with fieldwork logistics and Diego Paucar for specimen preparation. We thank Sofia Salinas-Ivanenko and Phil Jervis for helping with the grammar revision, and also PJ for helping with literature. Fieldwork was carried out under permits issued by Ministerio del Ambiente of Ecuador (MAE-DNB-CM-2015-0025-M-0001).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Dirección General Académica of PUCE through research grant INV0215 IINV529010100.