Preliminary observation on reproductive ecology of Kaloula verrucosa

Key words: 
• zoology /
• ecology /
• Kaloula verrucosa /
• reproductive ecology /
• revival /
• hibernation

Abstract: Frogs of Kaloula verrucosa annually are revival before rainy season beginning and hibernate after rainy season ended .Their habit is especial compared with other species of anuran .In order to know the reproductive behaviour of Kaloula verrucosa , its reproductive ecology is studied by observation in field and dissection in lab . The results indicate that the reproductive period of Kaloula verrucosa is related to the beginning of rainy season , duration and interval of raining etc .They usually mate and spawn from the night to the morning of next day .The sexual ratio at pre-reproductive , reproductive and post-reproductive periods is 1∶4 and 1∶7 and 3∶2 .There is notable relation between the spawn quantity and the body length of female in reproductive periods .The females whose body length is larger than 47 mm annually spawn twice , then smaller than 47 mm only spawn once .Eggs are laid in batches and each batch only includes about 30 eggs .Spawn time can be influenced by the activities of human being .The authors consider that sexual ratio changes of Kaloula verrucosa are related to that males enter reproductive places several times during reproduction and that males hibernate earlier than females .That laying a small quantity of eggs each batch and laying eggs several times during reproduction is an adaptive behavior for avoiding death of a mass of eggs and tadpoles caused by seasonal pond drying up .Floating eggs are in favor of hatching and accelerate growth , which can avoid the menace of population survival caused by temporary pond drying up .The reproductive habits among Kaloula verrucosa , K .boreals and K .rugifera resemble .There is also dissimilarity of habits among three different species because separation of their ecological behavior and the discrepancy of the abi1ity of interference rejection , such as frogs of K .boreals aren't affected by human activity during spawn .[ Ch , 4 tab .15 ref .]