First record of necrophilia in Smilisca baudinii (Anura: Hylidae) from Mexico

Necrophilia, also known as necrogamy (Bettaso et al. 2008), thanatophilia (Patel et al. 2016), and Davian behavior (Dickerman 1960), is a form of reproductive behavior in which a living specimen (usually a male) attempts to cop ate it a dead conspecific s a a female). It has been reported in all major extant groups of tetrapods (Caldeira-Costa et al. 2010). Among anurans it has been reported in at least 37 species from six families: Ascaphidae (one species), Bombinatoridae (1), Bufonidae (15), Hylidae (8), Leptodactylidae (1), and Ranidae (11). This list suggests that this behavior occurs more often in frogs with explosive reproduction (see Pintanel et al. 2021 and Costa-Campos et al. 2021 for recent reviews). Necrophilia generally does not result in successful reproduction and may represent a waste of time and energy for the males (reviewed in Marco and Lizana 2002). However, the case of Rhinella proboscidea (Spix, 1824), in which the male can promote the expulsion and fertilization of the oocytes from dead females by compressing their abdominal cavities with his arms, was hypothesized as “functional necrophilia” because it could minimize the losses of both sexes during the explosive reproduction events and favors the strongest and most persistent males (Izzo et al. 2012). ere e provide t e first report of necrop i ia in the common Mexican tree frog Smilisca baudinii (Duméril and Bibron, 1841). This hylid reaches a snout–vent length of 76 mm in males and mm in fema es as a ide and at ead indistinct from the body, and is distinguished from other species by having a row of warts along the lower part of the arm (Lee 2000, Tunstall 2021). Its wide geographic range encompasses several biogeographic provinces, ranging from the extreme southcentral United States to southeastern and southwestern Costa Rica (Lee 2000, Savage 2002, Powell et al. Received 09 June 2021