An overview of parental care in the foam-nesting frogs of the genus Leptodactylus (Anura: Leptodactylidae): current knowledge and future directions

Abstract Amphibians exhibit diverse parental care behaviours, which may be performed by the female, male or both parents. In Neotropical family Leptodactylidae, frogs in genus Leptodactylus different parenting behaviours. The repertoire of behaviours includes egg/nest attendance, nest chamber sealing, tadpole feeding with trophic eggs, and attendance associated complex such as pumping behaviour channel digging. Based on available information, we found that 23.8% species are known to post-fertilization care. Future studies should focus mechanisms involved parent-offspring communication, including acoustic chemical signals. Moreover, provisioning eggs not well understood deserves further investigation. Because these schooling, relative easy observation, represent excellent models for interested communication evolution