Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus (Anura: Brachycephalidae)

Marcos R. Bornschein; Luiz Fernando Ribeiro; Mario M. Rollo Jr.; André E. Confetti; Marcio R. Pie

doi:10.7287/peerj.preprints.3461v2

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus (Anura: Brachycephalidae)

Marcos R. Bornschein ^1,2, Luiz Fernando Ribeiro^2,3, Mario M. Rollo Jr.¹, André E. Confetti⁴, Marcio R. Pie^2,5

1 Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, São Vicente, São Paulo, Brazil

2 Mater Natura - Instituto de Estudos Ambientais, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

3 Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Escola de Ciências da Vida, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

4 Universidade Federal do Paraná, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Zoologia, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

5 Universidade Federal do Paraná, Departamento de Zoologia, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.3461v2

Published: 2018-03-05
Accepted: 2018-03-05

Subject Areas: Zoology
Keywords: bioacoustics, note-centered approach, Brachycephalus tridactylus, variation inter species groups, call function

Copyright: © 2018 Bornschein et al.
Licence: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.

Cite this article: Bornschein MR, Ribeiro LF, Rollo Jr. MM, Confetti AE, Pie MR. 2018. Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus (Anura: Brachycephalidae) PeerJ Preprints 6:e3461v2 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.3461v2

Abstract

Background. Brachycephalus are among the smallest terrestrial vertebrates in the world. The genus encompasses 34 species endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest, occurring mostly in montane forests, with many species showing microendemic distributions to single mountaintops. It includes diurnal species living in the leaf litter and calling during the day, mainly during the warmer months of the year. The natural history of the vast majority of the species is unknown, such as their advertisement call, which has been described only for seven species of the genus. In the present study, we describe the advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus, a recently described microendemic species from Santa Catarina, southern Brazil.

Methods. We analyzed 34 advertisement calls from 20 individuals of B. albolineatus, recorded between 5–6 February 2016 in the type locality of the species, Morro Boa Vista, on the border between the municipalities of Jaraguá do Sul and Massaranduba, Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. We collected five individuals as vouchers (they are from the type series of the species). We used the note-centered approach sensu Köhler et al. (2017) to describe the advertisement calls of the species.

Results. Brachycephalus albolineatus have a long advertisement call of 40–191 s (mean of 88 s) composed of 7–26 notes (mean of 14 notes) emitted at a rate of 6–13 notes per minute (mean of 9 notes per minute) and at a note dominant frequency of 5–7 kHz (mean of 6 kHz). Advertisement calls are composed of isolated notes and note groups (two notes involved in each particular note group); the former is composed by one to three pulses (mean of 2.0) and the note groups by two or three pulses in each note (mean of 2.7). Most advertisement calls present both isolated notes and note groups, with a few cases showing only the former. Note groups are emitted invariably in the last third of the advertisement call. Most isolated notes escalate their number of pulses along the advertisement call (1 to 2, 1 to 3 or 2 to 3). Note duration of isolated notes varies from 0.002–0.037 s (mean of 0.020 s) and duration of note group vary from 0.360–0.578 s (mean of 0.465 s).

Discussion. Individuals increase the complexity of their calls as is proceeds, incorporating note groups and pulses per note. Intra-individual variation analysis also demonstrated that less structured advertisement calls (i.e. with notes with fewer pulses) are not stereotyped. It is possible that isolated notes and note groups could have distinct function, perhaps territorial defense and mating, respectively. We believe that using a note-centered approach facilitates comparisons with calls of congeners, as well as underscores the considerable differences in call structure between species in a single group and among species groups.

Author Comment

The major changes in this version of the manuscript include the following points.

1) A substantial reduction of the introduction, to make it more linked to the object of the study.

2) A better account of how we measured the dominant frequency.

3) A new version of the figure in which we schematize how we measure the vocal features.

4) The addition of measurements of highest and lowest frequencies.

5) A merging of different tables that presented results of the vocal features into a single table.

6) Suppression of the specific figure of the dominant frequency results.

7) Inclusion of a figure of an entire advertisement call on top of the figure with examples of notes.

8) Inclusion of a synthetic table with data of all vocal features previously measured in other Brachycephalus studies.

9) Inclusion of a discussion paragraph on the advantages of using the “note-centered approach”.

10) Suppression of the discussion about possible implication of individual arousal in the observed call variations.

11) Reduction of the approach in the results and discussion on intra-individual variation.

12) A deeper comparison between the call of B. albolineatus with those of other Brachycephalus.

Supplemental Information

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus. Number 003.

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus (Anura: Brachycephalidae)

Supplemental Information

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus

Advertisement call of Brachycephalus albolineatus. LFR

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