The glassfrog Hyalinobatrachium valerioi, commonly known as the Reticulated Glassfrog, is a Neotropical frog that exhibits impressive levels of parental care by fathers. After amplexus and oviposition on vegetation above water, the female leaves the oviposition site and the male remains with the clutch and cares for them by hydrating and protecting them from predators continuously until they hatch. Garrido-Priego et al. (2024) found that there is individual variation in the males’ advertisement calls and that males with longer calls also obtained a higher number of clutches over the study period. Calling and having a clutch nearby also increased the males’ likelihood of mating success on a given night. Moreover, males were often observed calling while sitting on top of their clutches, and these brooding calls differed from normal advertisement calls in several acoustic parameters. If females actually use this acoustic information when choosing a mate remains to be explored in future studies. Their findings demonstrate the prominent role of acoustic communication for female choice, but also an enticement for more studies exploring the role of male parental care in female mate choice.

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