Data from: The unexpected genetic mating system of the red‐backed toadlet (Pseudophryne coriacea): a species with prolonged terrestrial breeding and cryptic reproductive behaviour

Molecular technologies have revolutionised our classification of
animal-mating systems, yet we still know very little about the
genetic-mating systems of many vertebrate groups. It is widely believed
that anuran amphibians have the highest reproductive diversity of all
vertebrates, yet genetic mating systems have been studied in less than one
percent of all described species. Here, we use SNPs to quantify the
genetic-mating system of the terrestrial breeding red-backed toadlet
Pseudophryne coriacea. In this species, breeding is prolonged
(approximately 5 months), and males construct subterranean nests in which
females deposit eggs. We predicted that females would display extreme
sequential polyandry because this mating system has been reported in a
closely-related species (P. bibronii). Parentage analysis revealed that
mating success was heavily skewed towards a subset of males (30.6% of
potential sires), and that nearly all females (92.6%) mated with one male.
In a high percentage of occupied nests (37.1%) the resident male was not
the genetic sire, and very few nests (4.3%) contained clutches with
multiple paternity. Unexpectedly, these results show that sequential
polyandry is rare. They also show that there is a high frequency of nest
takeover and extreme competition between males for nest sites, but that
males rarely sneak matings. Genetic analysis also revealed introgressive
hybridisation between P. coriacea and the red-crowned toadlet (P.
australis). Our study demonstrates a high level of mating system
complexity and it shows that closely-related anurans can vary dramatically
in their genetic-mating system.