ABSTRACT
A one month (August, 2023) study was conducted in Okomu Oil Palm plantation (an altered rainforest habitat) located in Ovia South-West L.G.A., Edo state Nigeria in order to investigate the dietary and feeding habit of the ground dwelling anurans in the study area. The paucity in available information on the food and feeding habit of ground dwelling anurans from the rainforest ecological zone necessitated this study. The specimens were collected at night using the visual and acoustic sampling technique. They were euthanized by exposure to chloroform in a killing jar, injected and fixed with 10% formalin to arrest digestion and preserve stomach content. The gut contents were introduced into properly labeled vials and their prey items fixed in 70% alcohol for microscopic examination and identification. The dietary composition of 28 ground dwelling anurans belonging to 3 families (Bufonidae, Pipidae and Ranidae), 4 genera (Sclerophrys, Silurana, Ptychadena and Hoplobatrachus) and 5 species were recorded. The species encountered included: Sclerophrys maculata, Silurana tropicalis, Hoplobatrachus occipitalis, Ptychadena bibroni and Ptychadena longirostris. A total of 325 prey items belonging to 8 Orders, were recovered from their stomach of which Hymenoptera had the highest abundance of 92.9%, was the most dominant prey item recorded while the least prey item recorded were Dermaptera, Orthoptera and Geophilomorpha which had the lowest abundance of 0.31% each.
All prey items recovered have been previously reported except Earwig insect which belongs to the order Dermaptera.
Common dietary content recovered from both the male and female anurans were Hemiptera and Hymenoptera, while Coleoptera, Polydesmida, Geophilomorpha, Diptera and Orthoptera were recovered only from the male anurans. However Dermaptera was only found in the female anuran. This study concluded that Anurans diet was influenced by the availability of prey items in the habitat and thus they are generalist feeders.
