The advertisement calls of Epipedobates anthonyi (Noble, 1921) and Epipedobates tricolor (Boulenger, 1899) (Anura: Dendrobatidae: Colostethinae): intra- and interspecific comparisons

摘要

Vocal communication is the main mechanism to exchange infor mation in many groups of animals, and anu- rans represent an impressive example of complex acoustic communication signals. To date several calls with different and par tly multiple meanings have been described for numerous species. Anuran calls were found to be species-specif- ic, providing impor tant taxonomic information, and advertisement calls are frequently used for systematic assignments. The closely related poison dart frogs Epipedobates anthonyi and Epipedobates tricolor inhabit geographically disjunct areas in Ecuador and Peru. Both species are very similar in appearance and have frequently been confused. Consequent- ly, multiple scientif ic publications on E. tricolor refer to E. anthonyi instead and vice versa. This is also true for the de- scriptions of the species' adver tisement call. So far, no comparative study on the species' calls exists. Here we analyze and compare the calls of E. anthonyi and E. tricolor. We found the advertisement calls of both species to be ver y simi- lar in general but to differ in pulse frequency and interval. Thus, they can be distinguished with certainty. However, a comparison of characteristic call patterns between populations revealed intraspecific variation to be higher than interspe- cif ic variation, which questions the usefulness of calls for species delimitation of frogs for the genus Epipedobates.