Food and Feeding Habits

Turbot (1942, 250) indicated that L. hochstetteri feeds nocturnally away from the stream beds. He discovered in the stomach of one frog “the shell of a small, flat-spired gasteropod and portion of an arthropod appendage, probably of the terrestrial genus Parorchestia… both food organisms inhabiting leaf-mould bordering on the stream bed.”

In 1946, the authors discovered in the stomach of a stream-dwelling L. hochstetteri a small but entire fresh-water crayfish, suggesting that L. hochstetteri may also catch part of its food in the water. The stomach contents of the few other frogs examined have included small dragon-flies, shells of Sphaerium, an unidentified beetle larva, and various adult beetles.

From the undigested parts of beetles found in the gut of a specimen of L. archeyi, Dr. E. B. Britton, of the British Museum of Natural History, was able to identify a Dascillid of the genus Cyphanus, probably Cyphanus medius Broun.

The stones and logs under which Leiopelma shelters harbour a rich invertebrate fauna including beetles, ants, millipedes, earthworms and spiders. From the few specimens of Leiopelma of which it has been possible to examine the gut contents, it seems that beetles of various types predominate as food, but that the frogs are capable of enjoying a mixed diet. This probably explains why so little difficulty was experienced in feeding vivarium specimens.

E. M. Stephenson found that both L. archeyi and L. hochstetteri remained extremely healthy on a diet of house-flies or blow-flies, but that they were not very adept at catching quick-flying insects and required to be more or less hand-fed. The technique employed was to place a number of flies in a jar covered with muslin and to moisten the covering pad with ether. The moment the flies had succumbed they were transferred to a flat stone in the frog cage. There, as they began to show signs of movement, they were quickly seized by the frogs. Even specimens of Leiopelma about 33 mm in body length could on occasions eat four or five house-flies in one day but were by no means always hungry enough to do so. They fed most readily in a dim light. It was found that the frogs would eat fly larvae if sufficiently hungry, but appeared to find difficulty in swallowing them.

During the capture of food and its subsequent swallowing, the tongue, which appears to be attached relatively further back than in Rana and is oval or rounded in shape, seems less efficient than in the latter genus. Added importance appears to be given by Leiopelma to body movements, especially those of the head and shoulders.