Supernumerary presence of the oribatid mite Archegozetes sp. Grandjean, 1931 in stomach contents of the túngara frog Engystomops pustulosus (Cope, 1864) encourages validation of interaction pathways: phoretic, parasitic, or prey?

ABSTRACT

The trhypochthoniid mite Archegozetes sp. was identified at high abundances (N = 126 and 46) in the stomach contents of the túngara frog Engystomops pustulosus. This is the second report of the genus Archegozetes for Colombia. This species has been reported in Central and South America attached to the skin of some anurans, and these observations were assumed as either phoretic or parasitic interactions between both groups. However, based on our data and the fact that Archegozetes forms large aggregations, we hypothesize that 1) E. pustulosus exploits this ecological behaviour through a predator-prey interaction, and that 2) external presence previously reported in the frogs may have been accidental while the frog fed on these large groups of oribatid mites.

KEYWORDS:

• Anuran-acari interaction
• feeding habits
• Neotropical region
• oribatid mite
• stomach content

Author contributions

P.A.L.B. conceived the ideas and designed methodology; P.A.L.B. and P.D.A.G.C. collected the data; P.A.L.B. and A.A.S.F. analysed the data; A.A.S.F. led the writing of the manuscript. All authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais Přírodovědecká Fakulta, Univerzita Karlova [1907882]; Universidad de Caldas. P.A.L.B was supported by a master’s scholarship from Minas Gerais State Agency for Research and Development (FAPEMIG). A.A.S.F was supported by the STARS Grant/Award Number: [1907882] Přírodovědecká Fakulta, Univerzita Karlova. Universidad de Caldas at Manizales provided funding for fieldwork.