BICKFORD, David; University of Miami: A New Male Parental Care Behavior in Frogs from New Guinea

Male parental care is extremely rare in nature and one of the most fascinating aspects of New Guinea�s biodiversity is the evolution of male parental care in the frog family Microhylidae. Here, I report a novel mode of parental care, male froglet transport, recently discovered in three species of microhylid frogs from the mountains of Papua New Guinea. Froglet transport is the active movement of froglets by the attending adult away from the initial clutch site. Field assistants and I quantified the parental care behaviors of several species of microhylid frogs at the Crater Mountain Biological Research Station, Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea. All microhylid frogs on New Guinea are thought to have direct development (bypassing the aquatic tadpole stage and hatching as miniature versions of the adults) and in many, if not all species, males care for developing eggs. Among the more than twenty microhylid species at this site, we discovered that in addition to guarding eggs, males of at least three species (Liophryne schlaginhaufeni, Sphenophryne cornuta, and an undescribed Cophixalus species) actively transported froglets after they had hatched and climbed onto the attending male. The behavior has potential benefits for offspring (limited competition, lower chance of mass predation, and fewer opportunities for inbreeding between sibling froglets) that may explain why this male parental care evolved. The microhylid frogs of New Guinea are the only known large group (> 150 species in � 20 genera) of terrestrial vertebrates where male care predominates. Future studies of this unique system will add to our understanding of the environmental and/or historical conditions under which male parental care evolves.