RHINELLA POMBALI (Pombal’s Toad). PREDATION. The capture of animals by drift fences with pitfall and funnel traps can be a source of artificial aggregation of individuals and thus may attract potential predators. Spiders have been recorded preying on lizards of the genus Enyalius inside traps (Gomides et al. 2010, Herpetol. Rev. 41:221–222). Rhinella pombali is distributed throughout the Atlantic Rainforest and its transitional areas with the cerrado, in the State of Minas Gerais and part of State of Rio de Janeiro (Baldissera et al. 2004. Arq. Mus. Nac. Rio J. 62[3]:255–282; Silveira et al. 2009 Biotemas 22[4]:231–235). In this note we report the predation of R. pombali by army ants, Labidus sp. (Ecitoninae), within a funnel trap installed in the Reserva Biológica Municipal Santa Cândida (21.754917°S, 43.396833°W, WGS 84; 783 m elev.), an Atlantic Rainforest patch in the municipality of Juiz de Fora, State of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. The predation was observed by SCG and CHVR on 21 Jan 2009, at about 1600 h, who saw the column of ants (about 10 m long and 3 m wide) walk across the leaf litter and on vegetation along the drift fence. In one of the funnel traps a R. pombali was eaten by ants. When first observed, the individual was already dead, and consumption was complete in less than one hour. In Lajinha Municipal Park in the municipality of Juiz de Fora (21.792417°S, 43.380889°W; WGS84, 893 m elev.) on 28 Jan 2009, there was also a colony of Labidus observed to walk along the drift fences, but these ants encountered no amphibians or reptiles. We thank W. L. Ouverney Jr. for field assistance and T. M. Machado for suggestions on the manuscript. We thank Cordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for financial support and IBAMA for the authorization for animal capture.
SAMUEL CAMPOS GOMIDES; CELSO HENRIQUE VARELLA RIOS; BERNADETE MARIA DE SOUSA
Herpetological Review 42(2), 2011
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