Little Grass Frog Feeding Ecology 



Table 2. Stomach contents of 10 juvenile and 10 adult P. ocularis collected 

 5 June 1993, Grady County, Georgia; "i" represents immature instars; 

 * indicates two species represented. Numbers for higher taxa also include 

 unidentified food items. 





r 



Juveniles 





Adults 



Food Item 



i % 



n % 



Collembola 



9 



27.3 



10 



45.5 



Isotomidae 



4 



12.1 



9 



40.9 



Sminthuridae 



4 



12.1 



1 



4.5 



Coleoptera 



2 



6.1 



2 



9.1 



Carabidae 



1 



3.0 







0.0 



Cleridae 



1 



3.0 







0.0 



Staphylinidae 







0.0 



2* 



9.1 



Diptera (larvae) 



1 



3.0 



1 



4.5 



Homoptera 



3 



9.1 



5 



22.7 



Delphacidae (i) 



2 



6.1 



5 



22.7 



Hymenoptera 



5 



15.2 



1 



4.5 



Formicidae 







0.0 



1 



4.5 



Scelionidae 



4 



12.1 







0.0 



Orthoptera 







0.0 



2 



9.1 



Acrididae (1) 







2 



9.1 



Siphonaptera 



1 



3.0 







0.0 



Thysanoptera 



1 



3.0 







0.0 



Phlaeothripidae 



1 



3.0 







Acarina 



9 



27.3 







0.0 



Meostigmata 



1 



3.0 







Oribatei 



8* 



24.2 







Araneida 



1 



3.0 



1 



4.5 



Anyphaenidae 







0.0 



1 



4.5 



Palpigradi 



1 



3.0 







0.0 



feed more on larger prey when available. Our data would, in part, 

 appear to confirm this hypothesis. For instance, relatively large im- 

 mature delphacids made up < 7% of total food items. However, in the 

 5 June, Grady County sample of adults (Table 2), delphacids made up 

 23%, indicating these food items were probably more available at 

 that time, although we do not have independent confirmation of prey 

 abundance. 



Newly metamorphosed P. ocularis ate more individual food 

 items and a greater diversity of prey species than did adult males. 

 Two factors may explain these results. First, there may be an ontogenetic 

 shift in foraging strategy during post-metamorphic growth of P. ocularis. 

 Such a shift has been inferred in P. triseriata (Christian 1982) where 



