Visual communication and aggressive behaviour in a giant mute torrent-frog, Megaelosia apuana (Anura; Hylodidae): Supplementary Material

Advertisement call is the
most common signal used by anurans for intraspecific communication. However,
some species have lost the ability to emit these vocalizations and are denoted
as mute. Alternatively, these species may communicate by visual, tactile and
chemical signals. The lack of advertisement call could be explained by the high
background noise of breeding microhabitats. A model group to study alternative
communication tactics is the genus Megaelosia,
which is composed by seven mute species that inhabit noisy streams, and for
which no information on intraspecific communication is available. We monitored
a population of M. apuana and
described its visual signalling during aggressive interactions between males.
This interaction included visual signalling, physical combat, and the retreat
of the smaller individual. No audible sound was detected during the whole
aggressive interaction, reinforcing the genus muteness. This is the first report of any communication
behaviour for the genus Megaelosia.

广告叫声是青蛙类群间通讯中最常见的信号。然而，某些物种已丧失发出此类叫声的能力，被称为哑蛙。或者，这些物种可能通过视觉、触觉和化学信号进行沟通。广告叫声的缺失可能归因于繁殖微生境中的高背景噪音。研究替代沟通策略的一个模型群体是 Megaelosia 属，该属由栖息于嘈杂溪流中的七个哑蛙物种组成，关于其种内通讯的信息尚不明确。我们对 M. apuana 的一个种群进行了监测，并描述了雄性间在攻击性互动过程中的视觉信号。这种互动包括视觉信号、身体冲突以及体型较小的个体的撤退。在整个攻击性互动过程中未检测到任何可听声音，这进一步强化了该属的哑蛙特性。这是关于 Megaelosia 属的首次任何通讯行为的报道。