PREDATION ON SCINAX FUSCOVARIUS (ANURA, HYLIDAE) BY SCOLOPENDRA SP. (CHILOPODA: SCHOLOPENDRIDAE) IN THE STATE OF TOCANTINS, CENTRAL BRAZIL. DEPREDACIÓN DE SCINAX FUSCOVARIUS (ANURA: HYLIDAE) POR SCOLOPENDRA SP. (CHILOPODA: SCHOLOPENDRIDAE) EN EL ESTADO DE TOCANTINS, BRASIL

Henrique Folly1,2, Rafaela Thaler1, Guilherme Bard Adams3 and Elvis Almeida Pereira1,4* 1Mapinguari Laboratório de Biogeografia e Sistemática de Anfíbios e Repteis, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, 79002-970, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil. 2Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, Museu de Zoologia João Moojen, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, 36570-900, Viçosa, MG, Brazil. 3Biota Soluções Ambientais Ltda, Rua Lindolfo Collor, 439, sala 301, Centro, CEP 93010-080, São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil. 4Programa de Pós-graduação em Biologia Animal, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, 23890-000, Seropédica, RJ, Brazil. *Correspondent: elvisaps@hotmail.com

Anurans have a key role in many food chains, acting as either important predators or significant prey, since they are prey for many organisms, such as invertebrates, fishes, other amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals (Toledo, 2003, Toledo et al., 2007 and link terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (Wilbur, 1997;Duellman & Trueb, 1994;Whiles et al., 2006).
Invertebrates are an important component of the food web, serving as prey for many vertebrate groups (McCormick & Polis, 1982;Johnson et al., 2004;Menin et al., 2005;Figueiredo-de-Andrade et al., 2010). However, some arthropods groups also produce substantial mortality in some vertebrate populations (McCormick & Polis, 1982;Toledo et al., 2007) and have complex ecological interspecific interactions with vertebrates (Menin et al., 2005). Amphibians are preyed by invertebrates at all life stages, however no invertebrate species is recognized as specialist predator of this group. Most species are generalist predators that feed opportunistically on available food items (Wells, 2007).
The Chilopoda class is found on every continent except The record was observed on November 9, 2017 at approximately 22:00h, it the Municipality of Gurupi, State of Tocantins. The predation by Scolopendra sp event occurred in a temporary pond (11.47334444°S, 48.8144°W, 275 m a.s.l WGS 84) while the male of Scinax fuscovarius was vocalizing. During the reported event, other individuals of the same species were also vocalizing. The observation was recorded in video and photography and is maintained in the media files at the Coleção Zoológica da Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul. The treefrog species was collected and is housed in the Coleção Zoológica da Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Municipality of Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul state, Brazil (ZUFMS-AMP09776; Fig. 1). It was not possible to deposit the chilopodan in the collection, because it escaped soon after the recording.
Vertebrates may be particularly rewarding prey for centipedes because of their nutritional composition, and because the quantity of nutrients per individual prey exceeds that provided by invertebrates (Molinari et al., 2005). However, owing to their comparatively large body size, vertebrates could be dangerous prey for centipedes. Large centipedes do not necessarily avoid potentially combative prey, such as toads and snakes (Carpenter & Gillingham, 1984;Mirza & Ahmed, 2009). Predation on vertebrates is thought to be an occasional behavior among large scolopendrid centipedes.
Ours and previous reports imply that the choice of vertebrates as prey by large centipedes, though opportunistic, might be a relatively frequent behavior. This short communication improves the knowledge on the trophic interactions between arthropods and anurans in Brazil, reporting for the first time S. fuscovarius as a prey of a chilopodan.
Acknowledgements.-We thank the Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade for collection permits, Biota Soluções Ambientais Ltda. for support during the fieldwork and EAP acknowledges support scholarship from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).