The diurnal aggregation behavior in phasmahyla cochranae tadpoles (Anura: Phyllomedusidae)

Abstract

We investigated schooling behavior of Phasmahyla cochranae including its periodicity based on periodic regression models. The school structure and differences between day and night were discussed. We found that tadpoles formed aggregative schools, which were significantly more frequent during the day than at night. During the day, from 06:30 to 18:00 h, tadpoles formed one or two polarized schools at the water surface. Based on these results and on observations of specific behaviors, we suggest that daylight may be a significant environmental factor related to schooling behavior in P. cochranae, although this hypothesis needs to be further investigated.