A tree frog Scinax perereca predated by a wandering spider Phoneutria keyserlingi in Brazil

Abstract

A are an important component of food chains in natural ecosystems (Wells, 2007; Haddad et al., 2008). They are preyed upon by a large variety of taxa both vertebrates and invertebrates such as ants, beetles, crabs and spiders (Duellman & Trueb, 1994; Toledo, 2005; Toledo et al., 2007). Spiders of several families have been recorded as anuran predators (Menin et al., 2005) and we present here the first report of the spider Phoneutria keyserlingi Perty, 1833 (Aranae, Ctenidae) preying upon the tree frog Scinax perereca Pombal, Haddad & Kasahara, 1995 (Anura, Hylidae). Scinax perereca ranges from São Paulo to Rio Grande do Sul states in Brazil, north-eastern Misiones Province in Argentina to southern Paraguay (Frost, 2020; Aquino et al., 2004). It inhabits forests and forest edges between 0 to 1,000 m asl, where it reproduces in temporary or permanent pools and is also commonly observed sheltered in human habitations (Aquino et al., 2004; Pombal et al., 1995). Phoneutria keyserlingi is a wandering spider from the Atlantic Forest distributed on the coastal regions of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná and Santa Catarina states in Brazil (Martins & Bertani, 2007). Our field observations were made on 25th July 2011 at 18:50 h, at Ponta-do-Araçá Environmental Protected Area, municipality of Porto Belo, Santa Catarina state, southern Brazil (27° 07’21.10” S; 48° 30’53.30” W; 70 m asl). We observed a spider (P. keyserlingi) that had grasped a tree frog (S. perereca) dorsally with its chelicerae in a bromeliad on a tree (Fig. 1), a few meters from a small lake surrounded by secondary growth tropical moist forest. The observation lasted a few minutes, but neither the spider nor the tree frog were collected. Leaf litter anurans can be a potential prey to grounddwelling spiders, especially from the families Ctenidae and Pisauridae (Menin et al., 2005). There are at least five published reports of anuran predation by ctenid spiders of the genus Phoneutria relating to Phoneutria nigriventer, for example Folly et al. (2017). Since the current predation event occurred in a bromeliad at approximately 2 m above the ground, it must be the case that tree frogs such as S. perereca are part of the diet of wandering spiders when they are foraging above the forest floor. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS