Tic, Tii and Trii calls: advertisement call descriptions for eight glass frogs from Colombia and analysis of the structure of auditory signals in Centrolenidae

ABSTRACT

In anurans, vocalisations are the main behavioural modality of communication. Hence, the description of acoustic signals in anurans is important for understanding many aspects of their biology. We describe for the first time the advertisement calls for eight glass frog species (Centrolene antioquiensis, ”Centrolene” robledoi, Nymphargus caucanus, N. chami, N. ignotus, N. rosada, N. spilotus, Sachatamia orejuela) and provide additional data on the recently described advertisement calls of Espadarana audax. In addition, we review the current knowledge of advertisement calls for all glass frog species (Centrolenidae). Based on the predominant temporal and the spectral structure, we identified three major types of calls in the family: 1) calls consisting of unpulsed short notes with amplitude modulation, similar to a ‘Tic’, 2) calls consisting of one long note (whistled) without amplitude modulation, similar to a ‘Tii’ and 3) calls consisting of pulsed or pulsatile notes, similar to a ‘Trii’. We mapped these acoustic characters in the context of the evolutionary history of Centrolenidae. Descriptions presented here offer evidence to recognise most centrolenid calls using measurable characters in the field or laboratory. As such, we hope to stimulate future studies based on bioacoustical analysis in this widespread and highly diverse Neotropical clade.

KEYWORDS:

• Allophrynidae
• anuran communication
• behavior
• Centrolenidae
• evolution
• vocalisations

Acknowledgement

We thank the staff of the NNPs Selva de Florencia, Farallones de Cali and Munchique, for the logistics and support in the project ”Amphibian conservation strategy in protected areas of Colombia”. To the Corporación Salvamontes Colombia for allowing us to document the amphibians in its reserves network. We thank P.A. Navarro-Salcedo, C. González-Acosta, A. Gómez, G. Chaves-Portilla, H. Piñeros, J. V. Rueda-Almonacid, S. J. Sánchez-Pacheco, Á. A. Veláquez-Álvarez, J. Gualdrón, K. Venegas, A. Castaño, E. Patiño, D. Botero and M. Mazo for their invaluable help during field work. We thank Jesse Delia and Giovanni Chaves Portilla for the photographs of some species. Finally, thanks to A. Mendoza, J. M. Guayasamin, S. Castroviejo-Fisher, M. Escalona and members of the Fonoteca Zoológica - Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales - for providing call recordings.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author’s contribution

MR, SDM, and FVS conceived the study, SDM, MR, EB, GGD, MRC, and FVS collected data in the field, SDM and VC reviewed scientific literature about call descriptions in centrolenids, SDM, MR, MRC and FVS analysed the data, SDM and MR analysed optimisation synapomorphy, SDM, MR, MRC and FVS wrote the manuscript.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09524622.2022.2077833

Additional information

Funding

Thanks to the Colombia’s National Natural Parks system, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Zoo Zurich for the financial and logistical support to carry out this study under the Mono Hernández Research Fund. Contributions by M. Rada were supported by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES; PEC-PG program) and PNPD programs (Proc. 2016.1.263.41.6), Conservacion Internacional-Colombia, Fundación Omacha and the fundação de amparo á pesquisa do estado de São Paulo, FAPESP (proc. 2008/50928–1).