Abstract
Species have developed several defensive strategies for survival in response to predation pressures, including chemical, acoustic, visual, and behavioral mechanisms. Anurans serve as prey for numerous species, leading to the evolution of a diverse array of antipredator strategies. Among these strategies, acoustic emission defenses are categorized into distress calls, alarm calls, and warning calls. Although distress calls in frogs have been recognized to occur within the audible spectrum, the occurrence of ultrasound calls has been suggested for one species, but not yet confirmed. Based on our observations, we confirmed the presence of ultrasound distress calls emitted by an adult Haddadus binotatus. The distress call exhibited a high-pitched tone with decreasing frequency modulation and ultrasonic harmonics extending up to approximately 44 kHz. The presence of ultrasound frequencies in distress calls may confer advantages in deterring a broader range of predators. The use of broad-band screams synchronously with other behaviors, as raising the front of the body while arching the back and extreme mouth-gaping, intensified the defensive display, likely being more efficient in deterring predation. We observed similar behavioral repertoire for an adult Ischnocnema cf. henselii. Therefore, it could be widespread across individuals of other Brachycephaloidea genera as well.
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Data availability
All media files were deposited at the Audio-visual Collection (Fonoteca Neotropical Jacques Vielliard (FNJV) and Video Collection (ZUEC-VID)) of the Museu de Diversidade Biológica (MDBio), Unicamp. The Haddadus binotatus distress call (ZUEC 60376), H. binotatus video of defensive behavior (ZUEC-VID 1315), and Ischnocnema video of the defensive behavior (ZUEC-VID 1317).
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Acknowledgements
We thank Henrique Nogueira for providing the H. binotatus photography. We thank Lucas Rosado Mendonça for the figure illustration; Fernanda Paiva, Natália A. Azevedo and João Pedro Bovolon for assistance during the fieldwork; Simone Dena for depositing the data at Audio-visual Collection (Fonoteca Neotropical Jacques Vielliard (FNJV) and Video Collection (ZUEC-VID)) of the Museu de Diversidade Biológica (MDBio), Unicamp. The observations were made under approval by the Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (SISBio #17242-5) and registered at the Sistema Nacional de Gestão do Patrimônio Genético e do Conhecimento Tradicional Associado (SISGen #ABDEBD1).
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Grants and fellowships were provided by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP #2016/25358-3; #2019/03170-0; #2020/00099-0; #2022/10081-7; #2022/11096-8) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq #302834/2020-6).
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Ubiratã F. Souza: writing and reviewing the article. Guilherme Augusto-Alves: writing and reviewing the article. Mariana R. Pontes: field sampling, writing and reviewing the article. Lucas M. Botelho: field sampling and reviewing the article. Edélcio Muscat: field sampling and reviewing the article. L. Felipe Toledo: field sampling and reviewing the article.
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Supplementary file1: Adult Haddadus binotatus held by one of its hind limbs and displaying defensive behaviors: stretching out both arms, raising the front of the body, arching the back, mouth-gapping, and then, while closing the mouth, emitting ultrassound distress calls (ZUEC-VID 1315). (AVI 1598 KB)
Supplementary file2: Adult Haddadus binotatus displaying front body-raising while arching the back and extreme mouth-gaping.(AVI 7639 KB)
Supplementary file3: Adult Ischnocnema cf. henselii displaying front body-raising, while arching the back, extreme mouth-gaping and distress call (ZUEC-VID 1317).(AVI 1723 KB)
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Souza, U.F., Augusto-Alves, G., Pontes, M.R. et al. Ultrasonic distress calls and associated defensive behaviors in Neotropical frogs. acta ethol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-023-00435-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-023-00435-3