The consumption of conspecific young by adult individuals is a common phenomenon across various animal taxa. Possible adaptive benefits of such behaviour include the acquisition of nutrients, decreased competition for one’s own offspring, and/or increased mating opportunities. Clutch cannibalism has occasionally been observed in several species of Neotropical poison frogs, but the circumstances under which this behaviour occurs has rarely been investigated experimentally. Recent experiments with the poison frog Allobates femoralis have shown that males indiscriminately transport all clutches located inside their own territory to bodies of water, but become highly cannibalistic when taking over a new territory. Females are able to indirectly discriminate between their own and foreign clutches by location and take over transport duties of their own clutches only in the absence of the father. Cannibalism by A. femoralis females has not been previously observed. We thus asked if, and under which circumstances, cannibalism of unrelated clutches by female A. femoralis would occur, by manipulating the presence of the clutch’s father, the female’s own reproductive state, and the female’s familiarity with the environment. Females clearly cannibalize foreign clutches. Cannibalism was most pronounced when the female had not recently produced her own clutch and the father of the foreign clutch was absent. The female’s familiarity with the area had no significant influence on the likelihood of cannibalism to occur. Our data indicate that both previous oviposition and the father’s presence reduce cannibalistic behaviour in A. femoralis females. Cannibalistic females may gain nutritional benefits or enhanced inclusive fitness by preying on other females’ offspring. The finding that the father’s presence at the clutch site/territory was sufficient to reduce cannibalism by females suggests a prominent role of male territoriality for the evolution of male parental care.

中文翻译：

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产卵和父亲的存在减少了雌性毒蛙的同类相食行为


成年个体消耗同种幼体是各种动物类群的常见现象。这种行为可能带来的适应性好处包括获取营养、减少对自己后代的竞争和/或增加交配机会。在几种新热带毒蛙中偶尔会观察到同类相食的现象，但很少对这种行为发生的情况进行实验研究。最近对毒蛙Allobates femoralis进行的实验表明，雄性毒蛙会不加区别地将自己领地内的所有幼崽转移到水体中，但在占领新领地时会变得高度同类相食。雌性能够通过位置间接区分自己的巢和外国的巢，并且只有在父亲不在的情况下才接管自己巢的运输职责。此前尚未观察到雌性股蝽同类相食的现象。因此，我们询问是否以及在什么情况下，通过操纵巢的父亲的存在、雌性自身的生殖状态以及雌性对环境的熟悉程度，雌性股蝽会同类相食不相关的巢。雌性显然会蚕食外国的魔掌。当雌性最近没有产下自己的一窝并且外来一窝的父亲不在场时，同类相食现象最为明显。雌性对该地区的熟悉程度对同类相食发生的可能性没有显着影响。我们的数据表明，先前的产卵和父亲的存在都会减少雌性股蛱蝶的同类相食行为。同类相食的雌性可以通过捕食其他雌性的后代来获得营养益处或增强包容性健康。 研究发现，父亲在产卵地点/领地的存在足以减少雌性同类相食的现象，这表明雄性领地意识在雄性养育子女进化过程中发挥着重要作用。