Food Habits of the Endemic Long Legged Wood Frog, Rana pseudodalmatina (Amphibia, Ranidae), in Northern Iran

Najibzadeh, M., Gharzi, A., Rastegar-Pouyani, N., Rastegar-Pouyani, S.,
Pesarakloo, A.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/vzoo-2016-0042

Abstract

Iranian long legged wood frog, Rana pseudodalmatina Eiselt & Schmidtler, 1971 is a brown frog species endemic to the Hyrcanian forest. The objective of the present study is to collect detailed information on the feeding habits of 44 specimens of this species (24 M, 20 F) by analyzing the stomach contents of individuals from 10 populations inhabiting range. The food habit of R. pseudodalmatina generally varies by the availability of surrounding prey items, and it is a foraging predator, the food of which consists largely of Coleoptera (mainly Carabidae, Dytiscidae and Haliplidae), Diptera (Muscidae) and Hymenoptera (Formicidae), and no difference was found between females and males in the stomach content.

PDF