Behavioral Observations on the Breeding Habitat of Chaperina fusca Mocquard, 1892 in Iligan City, the Philippines

The Chaperina fusca (saffron-bellied frog) is a common species of anurans in the Philippines. However, it still lacks a basic understanding of its natural history, particularly regarding its breeding behavior and ecology in the wild. In a herpetological fieldwork conducted in Rogongon, Iligan City, the Chaperina fusca exhibited a peculiar behavior, particularly in its parental care. Two adult individuals (male and female) of C. fusca were observed inside the water-filled hollow of the same tree fern stump, along with the tadpoles, suggesting parental care in the form of guarding their offspring both diurnally and nocturnally. This is the first observation denoting the parental care extension of the species from egg to tadpoles because the past literature only stated that they have egg guarding. Apart from this, differences in the chronobiological parenting behavior of the Chaperina fusca were also first documented in this paper. Thus, we highly recommend further assessment on this matter not just for this species but for other species as well.