The high species richness within Brazilian biomes and accelerated fragmentation of natural reserves are a critical factors facilitating successful invasion. Despite the Brazilian laws forbid to import most animals, illegal trade is frequently observed and propagules are found in the wild. Reports of invasive snakes’ populations are nonexistent, but the illegal pet trade might change this scenario. Brazil has been spared, generically, of several destructive invasive species. Invasive species are one among many threats to biodiversity. Our findings thus provide a resolution to the paradox that this generalist predator is specialized (i.e., venom immunity) to feed on rattlesnakes, a rare prey type. Rattlesnakes, amounting to only 7% of overall diet and 16% of total biomass and energy value, are available throughout the active season and provide higher payoff per item than other diet types. Prey-predator mass ratios averaged 0.24 ± 0.19 (range 0.01-0.73 n = 43) a positive relationship exists between prey mass and snake mass, but larger snakes also consumed small prey items. Overall frequencies were similar for rodents and snakes, yet snakes accounted for 45% of prey biomass among snakes, rattlesnakes comprised 24% by frequency and 37% of snake prey biomass and energy. Kingsnakes from arid bioregions consumed more snakes, fewer rodents, and fewer lizards than did those from non-arid bioregions. Predation on mammals, birds, and lizards, but not snakes, was seasonally restricted. Rodents, lizards, and birds were eaten more frequently by larger individuals snakes were eaten with similar frequency independent of predator size. We detected no differences in diet based on kingsnake sex or color pattern, nor evidence of individual specialization. Twenty-nine percent of 447 diet items were mammals, 29% were snakes, 25% were lizards, 11% were birds, 4% were squamate eggs, 1% were unidentified squamates, and 1% were amphibians.
These snakes typically are diurnal, wide-foraging generalists and ingest prey headfirst. We studied the feeding ecology of California Kingsnakes (Lampropeltis californiae) based on stomach contents of 2,662 museum specimens, 90 published records, and 92 unpublished observations. The prey items belonged to the following four classes of animals: Reptiles (56%), Amphibians (16%), Mammals (19%), and Osteichtyes (9%). We discovered four categories of prey items, whole body, body parts, shell, and hair.
Twenty-nine percent of the specimens contained prey items. We also conducted a through investigation of prey content for each species using preserved stomach contents. Of the species on collection, Morelia viridis is the only protected species on Papua, while Lycodon aulicus is the only alien species. Clearly much more collecting effort needs to be focused on Papua, as less than 50% of the known species have voucher specimens in a museum. We recorded 30 species of snakes from LZU (36.1%), and 43 species from MZB (51.8%), of the 83 species reported by Allison (2007). In addition, these data are compared with specimens from the Muzeum Zoologicum Bogoriense (MZB) at Cibinong, West Java. This study provides a basic overview of the snake’s specimens deposited in the Laboratorium Zoology UNIPA (LZU) at Manokwari, West Papua Province during at last 15 years. Was greater at higher latitudes after accounting for snake size.Ī complete list of snake species found in Papua is essential for the conservation and management of these species in the future. Diet varied geographically, and the proportion of endothermic prey
Although males were longer than females, there was no sexual sizeĭimorphism in mass, and there were no differences in diet between sexes. Juvenilesįed more frequently on lizards, but adults fed mainly on mammals. Prey type also was related to snake size. Prey increased with increasing snake size, and adult snakes continued to feed on small prey. Ontogenetic shifts in diet were documented. Prey, whereas reptile eggs, snakes, and birds were consumed infrequently. Skinks made up a large portion of the total diet. Predator and feeds primarily on lizards and mammals. Prey items were recorded from the literature, for 180 prey items in total from 175 individual snakes. Identifiable prey items were found in 139 specimens, and 41 additional Ontogenetic shifts, sexual divergence, and geographic variation in diet.
We examined the diet of the Milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum) in the western United States and evaluated predictions about
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