Stomach contents of some poorly known Brazilian birds with focus on species from the Caatinga biome

Nelson Buainain,Giovanna Forcato

doi:10.1007/bf03544341

Abstract

Studies on feeding biology comprise one of the most basic knowledge about natural history of birds. Here, we report detailed descriptions of the stomach contents of 12 species ( Eupsittula cactorum, Neomorphus geoffroyi, Picumnus pygmaeus, Synallaxis hellmayri, Megaxenops parnaguae, Myrmorchilus strigilatus, Hylopezus ochroleucus, Herpsilochmus sellowi, Formicivora serrana, Scytalopus speluncae, Arremon franciscanus and Lanio pileatus ). Most species are from the Caatinga biome and many have none or vague information about their diet. We report consumption of soil from termite nest by E. cactorum , almost exclusively arachnids including large spiders for N. g. dulcis , a diverse composition of arthropods for S. speluncae , and the unrecorded importance of Isoptera for F. serrana . Finally, we briefly discuss the importance of some items such as Isoptera, Formicidae, Coleoptera and Lepidoptera larvae in the diet of most birds from the Caatinga biome.

Highlights

“It is still little the number of works that report stomach contents of Brazilian birds” (Schubart et al 1965)
Kupriyanov et al (2012) investigated the diets of Amazonian woodcreepers, Aguiar & Coltro-Júnior (2008) focused on Thamnophilidae, Grallariidae and Formicariidae, while other authors approached one or few species and their ecology (e.g. Gomes et al 2001, Vasconcelos et al 2007, Buainain et al 2015). Most of those studies focused on Atlantic Forest species and/or were based on regurgitation or fecal samples collected in the field
Whereas many specimens are housed in Brazilian anatomical collections, there is still several bird species whose diets are completely or poorly known, especially the ones from Caatinga and Cerrado biomes

Summary

Introduction

“It is still little the number of works that report stomach contents of Brazilian birds” (Schubart et al 1965). Lepidoptera (larvae) Coleoptera Formicidae Isoptera Orthoptera Vegetal material Hemiptera Araneae Coleoptera (larvae) Chilopoda Opiliones Others It consists mostly of Formicidae (not army ants, Ecyton sp.), Coleoptera, Orthoptera (Acrididae), and Isoptera, Lepidoptera larvae (caterpillars), Hemiptera (Heteroptera, true bugs), and Chilopoda.

Results

Conclusion