Tadpoles respond to background colour under threat

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 4085 - 8
• Main Authors: Eterovick, Paula Cabral, Mendes, Izabela Santos, Kloh, Jéssica Stephanie, Pinheiro, Luan Tavares, Václav, Amadeus Bicalho Horta Portela, Santos, Thiago, Gontijo, Ana Sofia Buza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 06-03-2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/158/856; 631/601/18; Camouflage; Color; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Oecetis machadoi; Predation; Predators; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Threats
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-22315-8

The ability to respond to background colour is an important feature of species that might benefit from background matching camouflage. Tadpole colour patterns vary and could be associated with several functions, including defense. Because tadpoles are exposed to a wide array of visually oriented predators, they represent good models to study defensive colouration and associated behaviours. We tested whether a potentially disruptively camouflaged tadpole with a dark body crossed by yellow bars (
Ololygon machadoi
) is able to respond differently to matching light and dark natural background colours and an artificial blue contrasting background. We used a syntopic contrasting black tadpole (
Bokermannohyla martinsi
) as a control, expecting it not to respond to background colour in search for camouflage.
Ololygon machadoi
tadpoles chose light over blue backgrounds under threat, as expected, however they did not show preferential use of dark vs. blue backgrounds.
Bokermannohyla martinsi
did not respond to any combination of background colours. Our results suggest that
O
.
machadoi
tadpoles are able to respond to background colour, and may favor matching backgrounds under some circumstances. The potentially disruptive colouration of
O
.
machadoi
tadpoles may increase their repertoire of escape strategies, background matching being one of the options to escape predation.