Dinner time in the Atlantic Forest: Trophic niche partitioning of two sympatric Boana species in the Southern Bahia State, Brazil

Understanding the ecological traits of species, such as dietary habits, is important for elucidating their natural history and ecological interactions. Thus, we investigated the trophic ecology and niche partitioning of two treefrog species (Boana atlantica and B. semilineata) in an Atlantic Forest fragment in southern Bahia, northeastern Brazil. In this study, we obtained the diet of 39 B. atlantica and 25 B. semilineata through stomach flushing. We recorded 72 prey items in these two hylids organized into 11 categories. The most consumed prey were plant material and Araneae. Although the niche breadth of B. atlantica was higher than that of B. semilineata, these hylids had a substantial trophic niche overlap (Pianka’s niche overlap index = 0.89). Our findings provide novel insights into the feeding ecology of these endemic Atlantic Forest treefrogs, enhancing our understanding of their ecological roles and trophic resource partitioning in this biodiversity hotspot.