Entomologica Romanica Vol. 17 / 2012

2012

E. viridis foraging territory is wider than that of P syriacus. Therefore, E. viridis came into contact with a greater number of terrestrial isopods species, including some related to anthropogenic areas. Furthermore, some differences between the feeding and foraging territory of these two species were previously recorded (Covaciu-Marcov et al. 2010c). Even though, unlike the situation from Ceamurlia de Jos, prevously at Histria, P syriacus had a wider foraging territory, preferring more natural areas in comparison to E. viridis (see in: Covaciu-Marcov et al. 2010c). Thus, the diet of both amphibian species from Ceamurlia de Jos, as well as from Histria, differs greatly, despite the short distance between these two localities. At Histria, in the diet of P syriacus, has been recorded a higher diversity and a large number of prey taxa (Covaciu-Marcov et al. 2010c), while at Ceamurlia de Jos the situation is reversed. The differences indicate the importance of habitats diversity for amphibians' feeding which populates them, as it was documented before (see in: Covaciu- Marcov et al. 2010c, Kovács et al. 2010). In spite of the differences between each species diet compared with a previous study (Covaciu- Marcov et al. 2010c), large differences are recorded in food composition of both species in comparison with Histria (Covaciu-Marcov et al. 2010c). Thereby, at Histria in both species' diet nematoceras were dominant (Covaciu-Marcov et al. 2010c). In contrast, at Ceamurlia de Jos the same prey taxa registered very low percentage, having also a low frequency at P syriacus. The feeding of the both species from Ceamurlia de Jos confirms the fact that the situation from Histria was only a particular case, determined by the very high abundance of nematocera at the moment of the study (see in: Covaciu-Marcov et al. 2010c). Although, the two amphibian species forage in the same territory with evenly aspect, there are however slight differences between their feeding, even if those differences are not statistically significant. Therefore, large-sized taxa were generally consumed with almost the same frequency by both amphibian species, while small-sized taxa were consumed more frequently by E. viridis, which fed for example on a large number of ants. Similar behaviour of this species has been observed in other cases too (e.g. Ferenti et al. 2009, Covaciu-Marcov et al. 2010c), and it seems that this species have a special affinity for ants. On the contrary, P syriacus consumed more frequently large­sized preys not only at Ceamurlia de Jos but also at Histria (Covaciu-Marcov et al. 2010c). Probably, the differences in isopod consumption between species as well as between the two localities are also a consequence of the fact that P syriacus consumed large preys. Moreover, at Ceamurlia de Jos P syriacus has consumed many fast and large-sized preys, such as carabides, its trophic needs being satisfied without consuming isopods. By contrast, E. viridis while hunting many ants had come more frequently into contact with isopods, being a species which hunt more at the ground level (Covaciu-Marcov et al. 2010c). This trophic behaviour may explain also the differences on consumption of inorganic elements by both species. Thereby, consuming more ants and terrestrial isopods, E. viridis has ingested more frequently inorganic elements. At the same time, P. syriacus consuming preys related to vegetation such as curculionides, ingested more frequently than E. viridis vegetal remains. References Bogdan H.V., Covaciu-Marcov S.-D., Cupsa D., Cicort- Lucaciu A.-S. and Sas, I. (2012) Food Composition of a Pelophylax ridibundus (Amphibia) Population From a Thermal Habitat in Banat Region (Southwestern Romania). Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 64(3): 253-262. Caldart V.M., lop S., Nunes Bertaso T.R. and Zanini Cechin S. (2012) Feeding ecology of Cros so dactylus schmidti (Anura: Hylodidae) in Southern Brazil. Zoological Studies 51 (4): 484-493. Cicort-Lucaciu A.-Ș., Cupsa D., Ilies D., Ilies A., Baias S. and Sas I. (2011a) Feeding of two amphibian specieis (Bombina variegata and Pelophylax ridibundus) from artificial habitats from Padurea Craiului Mountains (Romania). North-Western Journal of Zoology 7 (2): 297-303. Cicort-Lucaciu A.-Ș., Sas I., Roxin M., Badar L. and Goilean C. (2011b) The feeding study of a Rana dalmatina population from Carei Plain. South Western Journal of Horticulture, Biology and Environment 2 (1): 35-46. Cogălniceanu D., Aioanei F. and Bogdan M. (2000) Amfibienii din România, Determinator. [Amphibians from Romania. Determinator] Ed. Ars Docendi, Bucharest, (in Romanian). Covaciu-Marcov S.-D., Ghira I., Cicort-Lucaciu A.­­ Șt., Sas L, Strugariu A. and Bogdan H.V. (2006) Contributions to knowledge regarding the geographical distribution of the herpetofauna of Dobrudja, Romania. North-Western Journal of Zoology 2 (2): 88-125. Covaciu-Marcov S.-D., Cicort-Lucaciu A.-Ș., Mitrea L, Sas L, Căuș A.V. and Cupșa D. (2010a) Feeding of three syntopic newt species (Triturus cristatus. Mesotriton alpestris and Lissotriton vulgaris) from Western Romania. North-Western Journal of Zoology 6(1): 95-108. Covaciu-Marcov S.-D., Cicort-Lucaciu A.-Ș., Sas L, Cupșa D., Kovács É.-H. and Ferenți S. (2010b) Food composition of some low altitude Lissotriton montandoni (Amphibia, Caudata) populations from north-western Romania. Archives of Biological Sciences (Belgrade) 62 (2): 479-488. Covaciu-Marcov S.-D., Cupșa D., Ferenți S., David A. and Dimancea N. (2010c) Human Influence or Natural Differentiation in Food Composition of four Amphibian Species from Histria Fortress, Romania? Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 62(3): 307-313. Qqek K. (2011) Food composition of Uludag frog, Rana macronemis Boulenger, 1885 in Uludag (Bursa, Turkey). Acta Herpetologica 6 (1): 87-99. Dobre E, Bucur D.M., Mihuț R., Birceanu M. and Gale 9

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