Current state of the art in anuran dietary studies in Brazil

Amphibians are key players in ecosystem dynamics, and their diets offer critical insights into trophic interactions, community structure, and ecological functioning. However, there is a lack of understanding the role of anurans in the trophic ecosystem dynamics. Here, we gathered available information from the literature to outline current knowledge of the diet of Brazilian post-metamorphic anurans. We retrieved 221 studies spanning from 1971 to June 2025, resulting in dietary data for 233 species, around 19% of Brazilian frog species. Most studies focused on the family Hylidae (84 spp.; 36.1%), followed by Leptodactylidae (55 spp.; 26.6%), Bufonidae (23 spp.; 9.9%), and Microhylidae (15 spp.; 6.4%). Only 12 (1.05%) species classified as threatened to some degree had their diet described. Among Brazilian ecoregions, the Atlantic Forest had the highest number of dietary studies published (110; 49.8%), followed by Amazon (47; 21.3%), Cerrado (32; 14.5%), Caatinga (23; 10.4%), Pampa (10; 4.5%) and Pantanal (8; 3.6%). Despite the increase in diet studies in recent decades, more than 80% of Brazilian anuran species lack dietary data, a trend potentially stemming from the current undervaluation of natural history studies. This scenario is concerning, since anurans are the most threatened vertebrates globally, and information about the natural history of species is fundamental in all phases of research (e.g. development of hypotheses, interpretation, and discussion of data). Our findings underscore a significant information gap in the trophic ecology of Brazilian anurans.