Acoustic species recognition in anurans depends on spectral and temporal characteristics of the advertisement call. The recognition space of a species is shaped by the likelihood of heterospecific acoustic interference. The dendrobatid frogs Allobates talamancae (Cope, 1875) and Silverstoneia flotator (Dunn, 1931) occur syntopically in south-west Costa Rica. A previous study showed that these two species avoid acoustic interference by spectral stratification. In this study, the role of the temporal call structure in the advertisement call of A. talamancae was analyzed, in particular the internote-interval duration in providing species specific temporal cues. In playback trials, artificial advertisement calls with internote-intervals deviating up to ± 90 % from the population mean internote-interval were broadcast to vocally active territorial males. The phonotactic reactions of the males indicated that, unlike in closely related species, internote-interval duration is not a call property essential for species recognition in A. talamancae. However, temporal call structure may be used for species recognition when the likelihood of heterospecific interference is high. Also, the close-encounter courtship call of male A. talamancae is described.
Keywords: Allobates talamancae; Amphibia: Anura: Dendrobatidae: Aromobatinae; Costa Rica; Silverstoneia flotator; acoustic communication; behavior; internote-interval; phonotaxis; playback experiment; species recognition; temporal call structure.