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1 August 2014 Field Observations of Predatory Behavior by Juvenile Rice Frogs (Fejervarya kawamurai) on Japanese Tree Frogs (Hyla japonica)
Toshio Doi
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

I observed nine episodes of predation by juvenile Fejervarya kawamurai (20–24 mm snout-vent length [svl]) on Hyla japonica juveniles (14–17 mm svl) and froglets (18–34 mm total length) in a rice field in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. In one case, a predatory F. kawamurai (23 mm svl) fully consumed a juvenile H. japonica (ca. 14 mm svl). In other eight cases, the predator partially swallowed but eventually released the prey. In some of the latter cases, prey was larger than the predator. Released prey exhibited various injuries from repetitive biting and pushing with forelimbs by the predators in an attempt to swallow the former completely. Fejervarya kawamurai has recently been expanding beyond its historical range, and effects of their voracious predation on other frog species in newly invaded areas would be of a substantial conservation concern.

2014 © 2014 by The Herpetological Society of Japan
Toshio Doi "Field Observations of Predatory Behavior by Juvenile Rice Frogs (Fejervarya kawamurai) on Japanese Tree Frogs (Hyla japonica)," Current Herpetology 33(2), 129-134, (1 August 2014). https://doi.org/10.5358/hsj.33.129
Accepted: 1 June 2014; Published: 1 August 2014
KEYWORDS
Fejervarya kawamurai
food
Hyla japonica
juvenile
predatory behavior
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