at or below the water line in the well. The tadpole that resides in the well will then consume the trophic eggs. It is believed that maternal care is not obligatory, depending more on circumstance and environment than natural behavior. Territory defense as paternal care Male territorial defense is also considered a form of paternal care. The presence of a male climbing mantella in a well dissuades other species of frogs (esp. Plethodontohyla notostica and Anodonthyla boulengeri) from laying their eggs there. It is also possible that male frogs discourage land crabs, which have been observed from eating climbing mantella eggs, from entering wells. Males also engage in parental care considered to be reproductive parasitism. If a male possesses a desirable well containing one of his offspring, he will always benefit: a male’s reproductive success increases with each reproductive event, because it either produces another one of his offspring or results in the creation of a new egg that will feed his existing offspring. Thus, males will often take females to wells that already contain their developing eggs or tadpoles. Reproductive parasitism Both male and female frogs contribute to the tadpole’s sole diet of conspecific eggs. Female frogs will lay unfertilized eggs into wells that contain their offspring. Male frogs exhibit a form of reproductive parasitism by luring female frogs to wells that often contain offspring only belonging to the male. Any fertilized egg resulting from the courtship subsequently serves as food for tadpoles that are only related to the male. Female frogs develop mechanisms to defend themselves against parasitism and avoid laying their eggs in wells containing other tadpoles. In response, tadpoles evolve ways to evade detection by females. Defense The evolution of chemical defense in members of the genus Mantella (including the climbing mantella) is an exceptional example of convergent evolution. Dendrobatidae and Mantella have developed similar behavioral and physiological adaptations, despite being relatively unrelated. Poisonous lipophilic alkaloids stored in skin glands are the effective defensive chemicals. 41 different potent alkaloids have been found in climbing mantellas' skin. Captive frogs lose their toxicity over time, indicating that the climbing mantella’s wild diet of arthropods contains the chemicals needed to construct the alkaloids. Alkaloids are retained in frogs for long periods of time, and thus the link between seasonality and alkaloid composition is still unclear. While some researchers have found that seasonality plays a significant role in the absence