Predation on Leptodactylus griseigularis (Henle 1981) (Anura: Leptodactylidae) by Ancylometes sp. (Bertkau 1880) (Araneae: Ctenidae) in a community-conserved forest in Peru
Frogs are important components of many food webs in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, in which they are prey of many invertebrates and vertebrates (Duellman and Trueb 1994; Cortéz-Gómez et al. 2015; Moreno-Rueda and Comas 2023). Recent research has shown that frogs in all stages of life often are the most common vertebrate prey of some arthropods (e.g., Valdez 2020; Moreno-Rueda and Comas 2023), with spiders in particular preying on frogs in Central America (e.g., Cotoras and Vallejos 2021; Cubas-Rodríguez et al. 2023), South America (Menin et al. 2005; Maffei et al. 2010; Salas et al. 2019; Prémel and Torres 2021; see also Table 1), Africa (e.g., Babangenge et al. 2019), and Asia (e.g., Jithin et al. 2021). Large ctenid spiders are among the most frequently reported predators of frogs (e.g., de Oliveira Meneses et al. 2021). We herein report predation of a juvenile Leptodactylus griseigularis by a juvenile female ctenid spider in the genus Ancylometes in a Mauritia palm swamp (aguajal) in the San Martin region of Peru that was observed during an inventory of reptiles and amphibians conducted in the Conservation Concession “Áreas Inundables del Bajo Huallaga”- El Porvenir-Pelejo, San Martín, Peru. This com-munity-managed area (see Shanee et al. 2015, 2020 for over-views) conserves an undisturbed primary forest, which comprises forests and fragile ecosystems of aguajal palm swamps (MINAGRI 2019) (Fig. 1). At 2237 h on 9 November 2022, we observed a juvenile female Ancylometes sp. preying on a juvenile L. griseigularis (SVL = 2.05 cm; mass = 0.5 ± 0.1 g) (Fig. 2) in leaf litter, approximately two meters from a pond in the aguajal (-6.14945, -75.81369; elev. 144 m asl).
The spider had gripped the right hindlimb of the frog with its chelicerae and, after approximately one minute, the frog was completely paralyzed and we observed notable swelling in the bitten limb (Fig. 3). We captured both the spider and the frog. To identify the frog, we relied on descriptions in Heyer (1994) and de Sá et al. (2014). The spider was identified by Diana Silva Dávila following Höfer and Brescovit (2000) and Silva-Dávila (2003). Both specimens were deposited in the Museum of Natural History of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru (Leptodactylus griseigularis: MUSM 41465; Ancylometes sp.: MUSM-ENT 0518271). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first documented report of Ancylometes sp. predation on L. griseigularis, and the first report of spider predation on a frog in San Martin, Peru.
Aliaga Maldonado, Lucia, Christine Burgos, Sydney F. Hope, Grecia Torres Cusi, Ernesto Castillo-Urbina, Diego Olivera, Oscar Machuca Meneses, et al. 2024. “Predation on Leptodactylus Griseigularis (Henle 1981) (Anura: Leptodactylidae) by Ancylometes Sp. (Bertkau 1880) (Araneae: Ctenidae) in a Community-Conserved Forest in Peru”. Reptiles & Amphibians 31 (1): e22230. https://doi.org/10.17161/randa.v31i1.22230.
