Composição da dieta de Lithobates catesbeianus (SHAW,1802) em ambientes naturais no Paraná e Santa Catarina

Abstract

The bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus) poses a threat to anuran species, with potential to impact native species through predation and competition, including species of anurans. Therefore, this study evaluated the bullfrog diet in natural environments in the western region of Paraná and Santa Catarina, seeking to understand what are the main items of the diet of this species and represents a risk to native species by predation. The study used the parallelepipedal formula to calculate the stomach contents, also with the observation and analysis of the components found in the stomach of the animal. The volume of each item found was also calculated, finally the importance of each item found in the stomach of the animal was analyzed, based on the Relative Importance Index (IIR). Our study demonstrated that the bullfrog diet in the studied region was composed mainly by insects and anurans had low importance in the diet.