Endoparasites influence on vocalization and mating success of Physalaemus cuvieri Fitzinger, 1826

Anurans vocalize in different social contexts, in which the advertisement call is the most disseminated. Different endoparasites usually parasitize these animals, but how these endoparasite infections affect anuran vocalizations remains unclear. Therefore, we investigate how endoparasite infections influence the advertisement call and mating success of Physalaemus cuvieri. For that, we searched and recorded the advertisement call of this anuran at a Caatinga area, during the rainy season from March to April 2021 and February to April 2022, totaling 63 sampling days. After recording the advertisement call, we monitored their success in starting amplexus with females. In the lab, we necropsied all collected individuals to see if some endoparasites infected them. We found a significant effect of the parasite load only on call intervals-more parasitized individuals exhibited higher call intervals. In addition, we observed that the less-weight individuals tended to be more parasitized. Lastly, only the male snout-vent lengths affected the matting success in the studied population of Physalaemus cuvieri. The present study is an essential contribution to understanding how anuran health influences communication and sexual selection.