Morphometry and feeding notes of an endemic frog Amolops spinapectoralis (Amphibia: Ranidae) from Hue City, central Vietnam
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.10064.17.12.28011-28025Keywords:
Cylindrical spines, diet composition, feeding ecology, morphological feature, ranid frog, prey diversity, prey moss, sexual variationAbstract
This study presents the first record of the endemic ranid frog Amolops spinapectoralis in Hue City, Vietnam. Notably, the specimens collected exhibit cylindrical spines, a distinct morphological feature differing from the conical spines originally described, highlighting the species’ local morphological diversity. Given the limited ecological data on this species, we analyzed its morphological characteristics and investigated the correlation between body size and feeding ecology, as well as sexual variation in diet composition and prey diversity. We identified 507 prey items across 19 prey categories. The dominant prey taxa included Orthoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, Formicidae, Isoptera, insect larvae, and Hymenoptera, which collectively accounted for 71.16% of the frequency of occurrence, 68.24% of the total prey number, and 66.89% of the total volume, with a relative importance index of 68.77%. Furthermore, prey mass was positively correlated with temperature and relative humidity, independent of rainfall.
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