Vol. 21 No. 1 (2026)
Articles

Dinner time in the Atlantic Forest: Trophic niche partitioning of two sympatric Boana species in the Southern Bahia State, Brazil

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  • Amanda S. Martins,
  • Kássio C. Araújo,
  • Heitor Z. Fischer,
  • Mirco Solé,
  • Danilo S. Ruas,
  • Caio V. de Mira-Mendes,
  • Iuri R. Dias
Amanda S. Martins
Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus - UESC, Campus Soane Nazaré de Andrade, Rod. Jorge Amado, Km 16 - Salobrinho, CEP 45662-900, Ilhéus, Brasil
Kássio C. Araújo
Universidade Estadual do Maranhão - UEMA, Cidade Universitária Paulo VI, Av. Lourenço Vieira da Silva, n° 1000, Bairro: Jardim São Cristóvão, CEP 65055-310, São Luís, Brasil
Heitor Z. Fischer
Universidade de Sorocaba - UNISO, Av. Independência, 210 - Éden, CEP 18087-101, Sorocaba, Brasil
Mirco Solé
Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz - UESC, Campus Soane Nazaré de Andrade, Rod. Jorge Amado, Km 16 - Salobrinho, CEP 45662-900, Ilhéus, Brasil
Danilo S. Ruas
Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia - UESB, Estrada do Bem Querer, km 4, CEP 45083-900, Vitória da Conquista, Brasil
Caio V. de Mira-Mendes
Universidade Estadual do Maranhão - UEMA, Cidade Universitária Paulo VI, Av. Lourenço Vieira da Silva, n° 1000, Bairro: Jardim São Cristóvão, CEP 65055-310, São Luís, Brasil
Iuri R. Dias
Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz - UESC, Campus Soane Nazaré de Andrade, Rod. Jorge Amado, Km 16 - Salobrinho, CEP 45662-900, Ilhéus, Brasil
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/a_h-18506

Published 2026-02-09

Keywords

  • Amphibian,
  • Diet composition,
  • Feeding habit,
  • Hylidae

How to Cite

Martins, A. S., Araújo, K. C., Fischer, H. Z., Solé, M., Ruas, D. S., de Mira-Mendes, C. V., & Dias, I. R. (2026). Dinner time in the Atlantic Forest: Trophic niche partitioning of two sympatric Boana species in the Southern Bahia State, Brazil. Acta Herpetologica, 21(1), 73–80. https://doi.org/10.36253/a_h-18506

Copyright (c) 2026 Amanda S. Martins, Kássio C. Araújo, Heitor Z. Fischer, Mirco Solé, Danilo S. Ruas, Caio V. de Mira-Mendes, Iuri R. Dias

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Abstract

Understanding the ecological traits of species, such as dietary habits, is important for elucidating their natural history and ecological interactions. Thus, we investigated the trophic ecology and niche partitioning of two treefrog species (Boana atlantica and B. semilineata) in an Atlantic Forest fragment in southern Bahia, northeastern Brazil. In this study, we obtained the diet of 39 B. atlantica and 25 B. semilineata through stomach flushing. We recorded 72 prey items in these two hylids organized into 11 categories. The most consumed prey were plant material and Araneae. Although the niche breadth of B. atlantica was higher than that of B. semilineata, these hylids had a substantial trophic niche overlap (Pianka’s niche overlap index = 0.89). Our findings provide novel insights into the feeding ecology of these endemic Atlantic Forest treefrogs, enhancing our understanding of their ecological roles and trophic resource partitioning in this biodiversity hotspot.

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