Differences in diet among frogs and lizards coexisting in subtropical forests of Australia

Abstract

This study investigates predator size and prey type as potential proximal causes of differences among diets of three lizard species (family Scincidae) and three frog species (subfamily Limnodynastinae) that coexist in wet subtropical forest in eastern Australia. Frogs eat smaller prey than lizards having the same gape size and there were significant differences in the types of arthropods eaten by frogs and lizards. Differences among species within frogs and lizards were small and not statistically significant. Frogs ate more amphipods, mites, and ants than the lizards, and lizards ate more termites, millipedes, isopods, and orthopterans than the frogs. Other categories were eaten in similar quantities by both frogs and lizards.