ONTOGENY OF THE DIET IN ANURANS (AMPHIBIA) COLLECTED AT LA VIEJA RIVER BASIN IN THE DEPARMENTO OF QUINDIO (COLOMBIA)

Abstract

The diet was examined for three anuran species Rhinella marina (Bufonidae), Pristimantis achatinus (Strabomantidae) and Dendropsophus columbianus (Hylidae) that inhabit agroecosystems at the Rio La Vieja Basin (Quindio, Colombia). The goal of this study was to establish if there is an ontogenetic change in the diet of all species. Gastrointestinal contents were preserved in 70% ethanol and identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level. Identified prey portions were classified into 20 types. Hymenoptera, Coleoptera and Hemiptera were the most frequent preys. Considerable dietary overlap among three different body-size classes of all species show some differences. However the ANOVA analysis showed that there was no significant difference (P=0.05) in diets at different ontogenetic sizes.