06. Diet of the recently introduced white-lipped frog Leptodactylus fragilis from a suburban ecosystem in western Cuba

Abstract

ABSTRACT - Diet and trophic interactions are essential for understanding aspects of the natural history of a species and evaluating its role within the ecosystem. A successful coloniser often has the ability to exploit a wide variety of prey during its establishment and may generate negative impacts due to competition with the local fauna. During both the dry and rainy seasons of 2019, in a suburban ecosystem in western Cuba, we analysed the diet of the recently introduced white-lipped frog Leptodactylus fragilis. Captured frogs were measured and stomach-flushed and released 24 h after analysis at the site of capture. Ninety-one L. fragilis were captured, 73 of them (80.2 %) had prey in the stomach. The most consumed prey were beetles, followed by spiders, and crickets. No difference was observed in prey consumption between seasons. This frog may change its foraging strategy according to the habitat it occupies. In this study, we observed high values of food niche breadth, which may imply a greater competition of L. fragilis for food resources with the native syntopic anurans in Cuba. Studies on temporal and spatial dynamics are needed to understand the possible competitive interaction with native amphibians in this area.