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Predaceous Diving Beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) May Affect the Success of Amphibian Conservation Efforts

This version is not peer-reviewed.

Submitted:

27 March 2019

Posted:

27 March 2019

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Abstract
During weekly monitoring of a compensatory habitat reintroduction for an endangered frog species, a group of a dozen adult diving beetles (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) were encountered attacking and quickly dismembering and consuming a tadpole. A single adult diving beetle was also discovered burrowing its head deep inside and consuming a tadpole approximately three to four times its size. Although Dytiscidae are known to occasionally consume vertebrates such as tadpoles, adults are typically considered scavengers, and this communal predatory behavior and feeding method have not been previously documented. Besides these interesting novel behaviors, these observations may have implications for amphibian conservation since management efforts are not typically concerned with naturally occurring ubiquitous threats such as those from small invertebrate predators, as it is rarely been observed in nature. However, this may be perhaps due their ability to consume prey rapidly, especially if working in packs. Although amphibian conservation plans always expect some losses from natural predation, diving beetles may seriously affect conservation efforts such as captive breeding and reintroductions with populations already on the threshold of extinction and where every individual critical to success.
Keywords: 
compensatory habitat, frog, invertebrate, predation, reintroduction, tadpoles
Subject: 
Biology and Life Sciences  -   Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.

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