Two remarkable prey items for a chicken: Leptodactylus fallax Müller, 1926 predation upon the theraphosid spider Cyrtopholis femoralis Pocock, 1903 and the colubrid snake Liophis juliae (Cope, 1879)

Abstract

Published records of amphibians preying on either large spiders or snakes in the wild are rare; this note documents predation by individuals of one amphibian species on both large spiders and snakes. Mountain chicken frogs (Leptodactylus fallax), which are amongst the largest frogs in the world, were observed successfully consuming the theraphosid spider Cyrtopholis femoralis on two occasions and attempting to consume another one on a further occasion on Montserrat. They were also found to have consumed the colubrid snake Liophis juliae on Dominica. This is the first theraphosid and the fourth snake species identified in the diet of L. fallax, and this frog is the first confirmed predator of C. femoralis. © 2012 Istituto per lo Studio degli Ecosistemi of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Firenze.