Cannibalism and kin discrimination in tadpoles of the amazonian poison frog, Dendrobates ventrimaculatus, in the field

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of kinship on a ggression and cannibalism in the Amazonian poison frog, Dendrobates ventrim aculatus, in eastern Ecuador. Firstly, we placed pairs of kin and pairs of non-kin tadpoles in plastic cups, allowed them to interact over a food item and videotaped their behaviour. The videotapes were analysed for aggressiv e and associative behaviour. Secondly, we placed pairs of tadpoles in manip ulated natural pools in the field, and left them together for one month. Th e results of the videotaped behavioural experiments did not indicate strong ly preferential treatment of kin, although biting was rare in the kin treat ments but common in some non-kin treatments. The field experiments indicate d that both kin and cion-kin tadpoles are likely to be cannibalized if they coexist with larger tadpoles in Heliconia pools for a substantial period o f time. Ultimately, the study was inconclusive with respect to the occurren ce of kin discrimination. However, the study provides important information relevant to the study of kin discrimination by dendrobatid tadpoles in the field.