Diet of small mammals in semi‐deciduous forest fragments in Central Brazil

Abstract

AbstractMarsupials and rodents are two of the most specious mammalian group, displaying a variety of diet and feeding habits. However, the knowledge about diet for several small mammal species is scant in the scientific literature, and most species are classified as insectivore–omnivore (marsupials), or frugivore–graminivore (rodents). In this study, we described diet composition based on digestive tract contents of 12 species of small mammals (7‐rodents and 5‐marsupials), in semi‐deciduous forest fragments of Central Brazil. We analysed 47 digestive tract contents belong to Calomys tener (10), Oecomys bicolor (10), Gracilinanus agilis (6), Marmosa murina (5), Rhipidomys macrurus (5), Calomys expulsus (2), Cryptonanus chacoensis (2), Monodelphis kunsi (2), Oecomys catherinae (2), Caluromys philander (1), Oligoryzomys mattogrossae (1) and Necromys lasiurus (1). We found parts of arthropods and fruits in the digestive tract of all species, with the exception of N. lasiurus, which contained only arthropods. The most representative arthropod taxa were Hymenoptera (present in 11 species), Coleoptera (9 spp.), Arachnida (7 spp.) and Isoptera (6 spp.). The seeds of Piperaceae (present in 3 small mammal species), Myrtaceae (2 spp.) and Poaceae (1 sp.) were also identified. This study reports the first records of diet composition for the marsupials C. chacoensis and M. murina, and rodents C. expulsus, C. tener, O. bicolor, O. catherinae and R. macrurus. Our findings contribute to understanding the diet composition and natural history of the Brazilian Savanna small mammals.