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| Figure 1. Crested Quetzal (Pharomachrus antisianus) perched in a tree at level of the understory whit a Glassfrog (Hyalinobatrachium pallidum) in its bill, before to delivering prey to the female
(photograph by M. Quiroga-Carmona, taken at February 18 of 2014).
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ABSTRACT
We report the predation of a glassfrog (Hyalinobatrachium pallidum) by a Crested Quetzal (Pharomachrus antisianus). The record was made in a locality in the Sierra de Perijá, near to the northern part of the border between Colombia and Venezuela, and consisted in observinga male P. antisianus vocalizing with a glassfrog in its bill. The vocalizations were answered by a female,
which approached the male, took the frog with its bill and carried it into a cavity built on a landslide. Subsequent to this, the male remained near to the cavity until the female left it and together they abandoned this place. Based on the behavior observed in the couple of quetzals, and what has previously been described that this group of birds gives their young a diet rich in animal protein comprised of arthropods and small vertebrates, we believe that the couple was raising a brood at the time when the observation was carried out.
KEY-WORDS: Anurophagy, diet, Hyalinobatrachium, Trogonidae, Trogoniformes.
Marcial Quiroga-Carmona and Adrián Naveda-Rodríguez. 2014. Crested Quetzal (Pharomachrus antisianus) preying on a Glassfrog (Anura, Centrolenidae) in Sierra de Perijá, northwestern Venezuela. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia. 22(4), 419-421.
