Oviposition site preference and reproductive ecology of Teratohyla midas (Anura: Centrolenidae) in the Colombian Amazon

The family Centrolenidae (Glass frogs) includes 157 species of anurans with a Neotropical distribution. Although glass frogs have been the subject of several studies encompassing various aspects of their biology, natural history data on their reproductive ecology is still scarce. One of the important aspects of reproductive ecology is the oviposition site since it can impact the reproductive success of a species. Herein, we provide detailed information on the reproductive ecology of a population of Teratohyla midas from the Colombian Amazon foothills and test whether this species shows a preference on substrate and height of oviposition site. We monitored a population using capture-mark-recapture of individuals identified by a photograph of their unique pattern of dorsal yellow spots. Wild-ID Software was used to corroborate if the dorsal pattern was different between individuals. Additionally, we monitored the presence of egg clutches, amplexus and oviposition behaviour. We observed 110 males and 5 females of T. midas, seen at an average height of 3.1 m ? 2.9 (0?17.8 m) from the ground. Likewise, we recorded the amplexus behaviour of two pairs for approximately 150 min. Once the oviposition happened, the male retreated, and the female covered the egg clutches for approximately 60 min. We observed 25 egg clutches with 60% being deposited in leaves of Selaginella sp and found at an average height of 2.9 ? 1.7 m (1.1?7.0 m). Thus, the selection of oviposition site was not random but mostly specific to one type of substrate. Furthermore, there was an overlap of the re-sampled median height distributions of active individuals and clutches, which suggests that oviposition does not occur at a preferred height within the vertical distribution of individuals. The information presented here is the first detailed record of reproductive ecology for this species and we hope to provide a basis to improve our knowledge on the biology of this species and other glass frogs.