THE JOURNAL OF Travaux du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle

Td Narionac muscum "Grigore Antipa” 68 (1): 219-223 (2025)
OF NATURAL HISTORY
doi: 10.3897/travaux.68.e132831

SHORT COMMUNICATION

First report of kleptoparasitism in
Leptodeira rhombifera (Squamata, Dipsadidae) for a
yellow toad Incilius luetkenii (Anura, Bufonidae)
in Nicaragua

Milton Salazar-Saavedra’***, Rogemif D. Fuentes? °”

1 Museo Herpetologico de la UNAN-Leon (MHUL), Departamento de Biologia, Facultad de Ciencias
y Tecnologia, Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Nicaragua-Leén (UNAN-Le6n), Leon, Nicaragua

2 IUCN Snake Specialist Group (SSG), Nicaragua

IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG), Nicaragua

Red Mesoamericana y del Caribe para la conservacion de Anfibios y Reptiles (Red MesoHerp)
Fundacion Los Naturalistas, RO. Box 0426-01459, David, Chiriqui, Panama

Universidad de Panama, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Exactas y Tecnologia, Escuela de Biologia,

ou & W

Departamento de Zoologia, Ciudad de Panama, Panama.
7 Programa de Maestria, Universidad Aut6noma de Chiriqui, David, Chiriqui, Panama

Corresponding author: Rogemif D. Fuentes (rogemifdaniel@gmail.com)

Received 22 July 2024 | Accepted 14 October 2024 | Published 30 June 2025

Citation: Salazar-Saavedra M, Fuentes RD (2025) First report of kleptoparasitism in Leptodeira rhombifera
(Squamata, Dipsadidae) for a yellow toad Incilius luetkenii (Anura, Bufonidae) in Nicaragua. Travaux du Muséum
National d’Histoire Naturelle “Grigore Antipa” 68(1): 219-223. https://doi.org/10.3897/travaux.67.e132831

Abstract

Kleptoparasitism is a widely observed feeding strategy across various animal taxa. In snakes it is well
documented in captivity, but rarely reported in the wild. This observation is the first of its kind in
Nicaragua. This behavior may be more common in wild snake populations than previously thought.

Keywords
Competence, diet, feeding, predator, prey.

A feeding strategy defined as the deliberate theft of already acquired food is called
kleptoparasitism (Broom and Ruxton 1998). Widely described in mammals, birds
and invertebrates (Vollrath 1984; Iyengar 2008; Wood et al. 2015; Cusack et al. 2016).

Copyright Salazar-Saavedra & Fuentes. This is an open access article distributed under the terms > PENSOFT,
of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

220 Salazar-Saavedra & Fuentes

It can be intraspecific (Bringsoe and Dreyer 2024) or interspecific (McConchie and
Wilkinson 2004; Platt et al. 2007).

The dipsadid genus Leptodeira is widely distributed in South and Central
America including Nicaragua (Cadle 1984, 1985). In a taxonomic revision of the
genus, L. rhombifera which will be dealt with here was recognized as a valid species
(Barrio- Amorods 2019; Costa et al. 2022). We will maintain the specific status in this
paper. These snakes, commonly known as Typical Cat-eyed Snakes (Midtgaard 2024)
or just Cat-eyed Snakes, are important predators in their ecosystems (Savage 2002).

Incilius luetkenii is a species that reproduces explosively, with males rapidly
changing from a cryptic brown color to a striking lemon yellow (Rehberg-Besler et
al. 2015). This mating event generally coincides with the first rain of the year in their
habitat (Doucet and Mennill 2010).

On July 1, 2010, between 8:10 p.m. and 10:10 p.m. during an ecological assessment
at the Canopy tours Da Flying Frog locality in the coordinates 11°16'04” N, 85°51°57”
W, 45 ma.s.l., southwestern Nicaragua (Fig. 1), MSS observed two individuals of L.

@ Leptodeira rhombifera
kleptoparasitism report

Figure 1. Map showing the location of the kleptoparasitism event in L. rhombifera

Kleptoparasitism in Leptodeira rhombifera 221

rhombifera in dispute to prey on a yellow toad Incilius luetkenii, the snakes held the
toad by its ends, head and cloaca (Fig. 2B, C). The event lasted more than two hours.

The diet of L. rhombifera is varied, but mainly consists of amphibians whereas fish
are eaten to a lesser degree (Duellman 1958; Céspedes and Abarca 2014; Solis and
Guerrero 2016). In the genus Leptodeira in general, lizards are regularly recorded in
the diet (Duellman 1958). In terms of bufonids, there are three reports of predation
on Rhinella horribilis (Duellman 1958; Zug and Zug 1979; Solorzano 2004) and one
case of necrophagy on Incilius mazatlanensis (Gamez- Duarte et al. 2024). Thus, we
consider predation relationship between this species and I. luetkenii a normal event.

Kleptoparasitism in snakes has been widely documented in captivity, but sparsely
in nature (Bringsoe and Dreyer 2024). These events can involve individuals of the
same species (Platt et al. 2018) or interactions between species, including other
conspecifics (Platt et al. 2020).

During the event, the secretion of a viscous mustard-yellow liquid was observed
around the toad’s parotid glands (Fig. 2D), which implies they were probably
bufotoxins. After two hours of observing the event, MSS left the locality wherefore
the outcome of the event remained unknown.

Platt et al. (2020) suggest that kleptoparasitism could be common in areas with
high population density, especially by large individuals (Cooper and Pérez-Mellado

Figure 2. Kleptoparasitism event in Leptodeira rhombifera: A L. rhombifera individual located 10 meters
from the event; B Lateral view of the left side of the toad; C Dorsal view; D Segregation of possible
bufotoxins from the right side of the toad. Photos: Milton Salazar-Saavedra.

229 Salazar-Saavedra & Fuentes

2003). Although rarely reported, this behavior likely occurs more frequently in the
wild than previously thought (Bringsge and Dreyer 2024), but this is the first record
of kleptoparasitism among snakes of Nicaragua.

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