The conservation breeding of Two Foot-flagging Frog species from Borneo, Staurois parvus and Staurois guttatus .

摘要

The Bornean frogs of the genus Staurois live exclusively along fast-flowing, clear waterrainforest streams, and are famous for displaying a variety of visual signals, including foot flagging.Their extraordinary behavior, and the continued loss of their natural habitat due to deforestation andsubsequent pollution, make them a group of target species for captive breeding, as well as behavioralresearch. The Vienna Zoo has pioneered in the development of a research and conservationproject for S. parvus and S. guttatus. We implemented two breeding and research arenas, offeringan artificial waterfall and different options for egg deposition in a bio-secure container facility.Two months after introducing the frogs, we observed amplectant pairs and the first tadpoles of S.parvus and S. guttatus. The Vienna Zoo is the first zoo worldwide that has succeeded in breedingfoot-flagging frog species and meanwhile has recorded over 900 tadpoles and at least 470 juveniles.One of the most striking observations has been the use of foot-flagging signals in recentlymetamorphosed S. parvus. This corroborates our assumption that “foot flagging” is employed asintraspecific spacing mechanism. The breeding success of two Staurois species at the Vienna Zoocan help in species conservation as it increases our knowledge on conditions necessary to breedtropical stream-dwelling anuran species found to be particularly threatened in nature. Furthermore,the captive colony provides research conditions to better understand the role of “foot flagging” asa visual signal component in anuran communication.