Frogs, lizards, snakes, and a wide diversity of arthropods including, but not restricted to insects, spiders, mites, centipedes, millipedes, isopods, amblypygids, scorpions, and pseudoscorpions, will be surveyed at three remote sites in the Amazon region of western Brazil. Exact localities for individual specimens will be determined using a global positioning system. Field protocol will involve sampling the herpetofauna and using the stomach contents of lizards and frogs as samples of the invertebrate fauna. Lizards and formsg engulf their prey whole, and the large majority of these arthropods (85-90%) are in perfect or near-perfect condition. Tissues will be taken form all species of the herpetofauna. Herpetological specimens will be deposited in collections of the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History (OMNH) in the United States and the Museu Paraense Emilo Goeldi (MPEG) in Belem, Para, Brazil, and all invertebrates will be initially deposited in the collections at the MPEG. For herpetological specimens, field research, identifications, descriptions of new taxa, and production of an Internet accessible database will be a collaborative effort between the PIs and Brazilian scientists. Tissue samples will be deposited in the tissue collection of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and will be available to all qualified investigators. A database, accessible via Internet, will be designed to provide accurate and continually updated species lists, localities, and references to ecological data including lists of arthropod taxa removed from stomachs.
