Courtship, Nesting Behaviors, and Oviposition Site Selection of Malayan Flying Frog, Zhangixalus prominanus (Smith, 1924) at Sirindhorn Waterfall, Hala-Bala Wildlife Sanctuary, Narathiwat, Thailand

Abstract

The breeding habitat use, oviposition site selection, and breeding behaviors of Zhangixalus prominanus at Sirindhorn Waterfall was studied from January 2018 to June 2019. The abiotic factors including temporal factors, climatic factors, and habitat characteristics were considered. The frogs were marked and monitored by photographic identification technique. The result shows that [1] the Z. prominanus was a prolonged breeder, the adult male, gravid female, and foam nests were found throughout the study. The climatic factors effected the appearance of males, females, and clutching. The seasons, an average of air temperature, also an average of relative humidity influenced the number of males occurring. The male occurrence and the rainfall affected females occurring, then the female occurrence affected clutches appearing. [2] Although the climatic and temporal factors did not impact the probability of clutching, the breeding pool characteristics affected the probability of oviposition selection including the water depth, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), and pool characteristics. [3] Finally, the individual monitoring represented the population only use this site for breeding activities. The male arrived at the site for territorial defending and monopolize the breeding pool while female occurred for eggs laying by choosing the greater occupier male and as close to the water surface for mating. Moreover, it had two mating patterns (monandry and polyandry), with the resource defense mating system which was the defending site was the oviposition site, and unlike other arboreal anuran species that were reported. These pieces of information are helpful for protected area management and wildlife conservation, besides guiding research combining among diverse fields of biology.