IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•22(3):95–97•SEP2015

Predation on the Rosario Red-legged Frog, Eleutherodactylus zugi (Eleutherodactylidae),

by the Cuban Mosquitofish, Gambusia punctata (Poeciliidae) in western Cuba

Tomás M. Rodríguez-Cabrera1 and Rodet Rodríguez Silva2

1JardínBotánicodeCienfuegos,PepitoTey,Cienfuegos,CP59290,Cuba(tomasmichel.rodriguez@gmail.com)2DivisióndeZoologíadeVertebrados,InstitutodeEcologíaySistemática,LaHabana,CP10800,Cuba(rodet@ecologia.cuandrodetrodriguezsilva@gmail.com)

Photographsbytheseniorauthor.

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IRCF REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS • VOL15, NO 4 • DEC 2008 189TABLE OF CONTENTS

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

F E A T U R E A R T I C L E S

Chasing Bullsnakes (Pituophis catenifer sayi) in Wisconsin: On the Road to Understanding the Ecology and Conservation of the Midwest’s Giant Serpent ...................... Joshua M. Kapfer 190

The Shared History of Treeboas (Corallus grenadensis) and Humans on Grenada: A Hypothetical Excursion ............................................................................................................................Robert W. Henderson 198

R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E S

The Texas Horned Lizard in Central and Western Texas ....................... Emily Henry, Jason Brewer, Krista Mougey, and Gad Perry 204 The Knight Anole (Anolis equestris) in Florida

.............................................Brian J. Camposano, Kenneth L. Krysko, Kevin M. Enge, Ellen M. Donlan, and Michael Granatosky 212

C O N S E R V A T I O N A L E R T

World’s Mammals in Crisis ............................................................................................................................................................. 220 More Than Mammals ...................................................................................................................................................................... 223 The “Dow Jones Index” of Biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 225

H U S B A N D R Y

Captive Care of the Central Netted Dragon ....................................................................................................... Shannon Plummer 226

P R O F I L E

Kraig Adler: A Lifetime Promoting Herpetology ................................................................................................ Michael L. Treglia 234

C O M M E N T A R Y

The Turtles Have Been Watching Me ........................................................................................................................ Eric Gangloff 238

B O O K R E V I E W

Threatened Amphibians of the World edited by S.N. Stuart, M. Hoffmann, J.S. Chanson, N.A. Cox, R. Berridge, P. Ramani, and B.E. Young .............................................................................................................. Robert Powell 243

CONSERVATION RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Conservation Research Reports ................................. 245 NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH REPORTS: Summaries of Published Reports on Natural History ................................. 247 NEWBRIEFS ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 248 EDITORIAL INFORMATION ..................................................................................................................................................... 251 FOCUS ON CONSERVATION: A Project You Can Support ............................................................................................... 252

Front Cover. Shannon Plummer.Totat et velleseque audant mo estibus inveliquo velique rerchil erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum fugiatis maionsequat eumque moditia erere nonsedis ma sectiatur ma derrovitae voluptam, as quos accullabo.

Back Cover. Michael KernTotat et velleseque audant mo

estibus inveliquo velique rerchil erspienimus, quos accullabo. Ilibus

aut dolor apicto invere pe dolum fugiatis maionsequat eumque

moditia erere nonsedis ma sectia-tur ma derrovitae voluptam, as

IRC

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REPTILES & AMPHIBIANSC O N S E R V AT I O N A N D N AT U R A L H I S T O R Y

Copyright©2015.TomásM.Rodríguez-Cabrera.Allrightsreserved.

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TheCubanArchipelagoharborsamongthegreatestdiver-sityandendemisminthefroggenusEleutherodactylus

(Eleutherodactylidae) in theWest Indies, with 59 spe-cies,98.3%ofwhichareendemic(Estrada2012;Rivaltaetal.2014;DíazandHedges2015).ThisisexceededonlybyHispaniola,with65nativespecies,allofwhichareendemic(HendersonandPowell2009;Powell2012; Incháusteguietal.2015).SeveralpredatorshavebeenreportedforadultsandeggsofthesefrogsintheinsularCaribbean,includinginsects(Megaselia, Paratrechina, Linepithema, Amphiacusta),arachnids(Avicularia, Ctenus, Mastigoproctus, Ohvida, Olios, Phrynus, Stasina, Tityus,andctenizidandcorinnidspiders),centipedes(Scolopendra),millipedes(Liomus),snails(Caracolus, Polydontes, Subulina),frogs(Eleutherodactylus, Osteopilus),liz-ards(Ameiva, Anolis, Sphaerodactylus, Thecadactylus),snakes(Alsophis, Arrhyton, Borikenophis, Caraiba, Chilabothrus, Chironius, Corallus, Cubophis, Erythrolamprus, Hypsirhynchus, Ialtris, Magliophis, Mastigodryas, Tropidophis),birds(Bubulcus, Buteo, Margarops, Melanerpes, Megascops, Coccyzus, Turdus),andmammals(Felis, Rattus, Urva;seeHendersonandPowell2009forareview).Nonetheless,thesepredatorshavebeenreportedforonly23speciesofEleutherodactylus(forareviewseeHendersonandPowell2009;Alfonsoetal.2013;Díazetal.2015),whichrepresentalowproportion(14%)withrespecttotheapproximately165speciesoccurringintheWestIndies.However,nativefisheshavenotbeenreportedpreyingeitheron EleutherodactylusoranyotherfrogsintheWestIndies. InCuba,predatorshavebeenconfirmedonly for sixspecies of Eleutherodactylus (10%):E. atkinsi, E. cuneatus, E. dimidiatus, E. iberia, E. cf. thomasi, and E. zugi (forareviewseeHendersonandPowell2009,butalsoAlfonsoetal.2013;Díazetal.2015).TheRosarioRed-leggedFrog,Eleutherodactylus zugi (Fig. 1), is a small (20mm), rela-

tivelycommonendemicdistributed intheGuaniguanicoMountain Range, Artemisa and Pinar del Río Provinces in westernCuba(DíazandCádiz2009;Rivaltaetal.2014).Itisalwaysassociatedwithforestedareas,whereitinhabitsleaflitter,occursunderrocksandfallenlogs,andoccupieslime-stoneholes(DíazandCádiz2009).ThisspeciesisconsideredEndangeredontheIUCNRedList(HedgesandDíaz2004,2011).Consequently,anawarenessofallpotentialthreats,bothnaturalandanthropogenic,isofmajorimportanceforthedevelopmentandimplementationofeffectivemanage-mentplans.Theonlypredatorsknownforthisfrogarethectenid spider Ohvida vernalis (formerlyreferredasCtenus vernalis;Novoetal.1985)andawhipspiderinthegenusPhrynus (AlonsoandRodríguez2003).HereinwereportthefirstinstanceofpredationbytheCubanMosquitofish,Gambusia punctata(Poeciliidae),onE. zugi.ThisconstitutesboththefirstrecordoffishespreyingonEleutherodactylus

Fig. 1. LiveRosarioRed-leggedFrog(Eleutherodatylus zugi)fromthesamelocalityandexhibitingthesamecolorpatternastheindividualobservedbeingpredatedbyCubanMosquitofish (Gambusia punctata) on theCajálbanaPlateau,PinardelRíoProvince.

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frogsandthefirstrecordoffrogsaspreyofthemosquitofishgenus Gambusia intheWestIndies. At 1124 h on 26 April 2015, we observed anEleutherodactylus zugi (18mmsnout-ventlength)beingpre-datedbyCubanMosquitofish(G. punctata)inashallowpool(approximately4mlong,2mwide,and35cmmaximumdepth)ofastreamonthesouthernslopeoftheCajálbanaPlateau(22°46’50”N,-83°26’21”W;150masl;datum:WGS84),450mNEofthebiologicalstationattheCajálbanaFloristicReserve,PinardelRíoProvince,Cuba(Figs.2and3).Whenfound,anadultfemalemosquitofish(64mmtotallength,55mmstandardlength)(Figs.4and5)hadgrabbedandentirelyswallowedthelefthindlimbofthefrog,whichwasaliveandtryingtoescape.Afewminuteslater,thefishreleasedthefrogandothersmallerGambusia commenced to attackitinafeeding-frenzy(Fig.3).Whencollected,thefroghaddiedandlostsomefleshfromthelefthindlimbandtherightforelimb(Fig.5).Inordertoidentifythefrog,wecol-lectedit,presumingthatthemosquitofishwouldotherwiseconsumeitentirely.Boththefrogandthelargestfemalemos-quitofisharedepositedintheIchthyologicalCollectionoftheZoological Collections, Instituto de Ecología y Sistemática, LaHabana,Cuba(voucher:CZACC-9.63). InCuba,themosquitofishgenusGambusia comprises three currently recognized species (Ponce de León andRodríguez2010).Gambusia punctata (Fig.4) is an endemic freshwaterspecieswidelydistributedonthemainislandandonIsladelaJuventud,whereitinhabitsbothloticandlenticecosystemsinlowlandandmontanezones(PoncedeLeónandRodríguez2010).Itisarelativelylargespeciesinthefam-ilyPoeciliidae,withfemalesattainingtotallengthsapproach-ing100mm(Poey1854;PoncedeLeónandRodríguez2010).It isahighlyvoraciousandopportunisticsurface-

swimmerthatfeedsoninsectsandtheirlarvae,arachnids,myriapods,mollusks,crustaceans,protozoans,andvegetablematter(Vergara1992;Fongetal.1996;PoncedeLeónandRodríguez2013).However,untilnow,novertebrateshadbeenreportedaspreyofthisspecies. Thestreamwhereweobservedthepredationeventisoneofthenearly40streambasinsaroundtheCajálbanaPlateauthatfragmentintopoolsorevendryupcompletelyduringthedryseason.Theareaischaracterizedbyredfossilferriticsoilsandcoveredmostlybypinewoodsandxeromorphicevergreenscrubwoods(Borhidi1991).FrogsinthegenusEleutherodactylusdevelopintheegganddonotrequirewatertoreproduce.Probablyduetotheharshconditionsimposedbythedryseason,enhancedbythecharacteristicsofthesoiland vegetation, non-riparian frogs of several species, including E. zugi,concentratearoundthehumidmicrohabitatsassoci-atedwithremainingpoolsinstreambedsinremnantpatchesofgalleryforest(TMRC,pers.obs.).Wepresumethatthiscaseofpredationoccurredwhenthefrogaccidentallyjumpedintothewaterwhilemosquitofishwereactivelyforaging.

IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•22(3):95–97•SEP2015RODRÍGUEZ-CABRERA1ANDRODRÍGUEZSILVA

Fig. 2. StreampoolontheCajálbanaPlateau,PinardelRíoProvince,whereweobservedpredationbytheCubanMosquitofish(Gambusia punc-tata)onaRosarioRed-leggedFrog(Eleutherodatylus zugi).

Fig. 3. Close-upviewofthepoolshowingsmallerCubanMosquitofish(Gambusia punctata)attackingaRosarioRed-leggedFrog(Eleutherodatylus zugi)(arrow)afterthelargestfemale(whitecircle)hadreleasedit.

Fig. 4. LiveCubanMosquitofish(Gambusia punctata)(largestfemale)observedpredatingaRosarioRed-leggedFrog(Eleutherodatylus zugi)ontheCajálbanaPlateau,PinardelRíoProvince.

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RODRÍGUEZ-CABRERA1ANDRODRÍGUEZSILVA IRCFREPTILES&AMPHIBIANS•22(3):95–97•SEP2015

AcknowledgementsWethankSheilaRodríguez,AnselFong,JavierTorres,andRuben Marrero for providing literature and/or useful com-mentsonthemanuscript.WealsothankSheylaYongforhelpingusupdatethenamesofinsectpredatorsreportedforEleutherodactylus.WealsothanktheadministrationoftheMilCumbresProtectedArea,particularlycustodiansandthestafffromtheCajálbanaFloristicReserve,fortheirhospitalityduringtheexpedition.ThisworkwasundertakenwiththesupportofTheMohamedbinZayedSpeciesConservationFund(projectno.14059847)forthejuniorauthorandTheRuffordFoundation(ID:15393–1)fortheseniorauthor.

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Fig. 5. CollectedspecimensoftheCubanMosquitofish(Gambusia punctata)(largestfemale)andtheRosarioRed-leggedFrog(Eleutherodatylus zugi)fromtheCajálbanaPlateau,PinardelRíoProvince.