Abstract
Abstract We investigated food patterns in the diet composition of 452 specimens of Crotalus durissus from Central Brazil. Thirty-three items were recorded corresponding to four categories: rodents (75.76%), marsupials (6.06%), unidentified mammals (9.09%) and reptiles (9.09%). Adults of both sexes and some juveniles feed mostly on mammals, specifically rodents, it is the most active and abundant prey throughout the year mainly in areas from Cerrado. In addition, we observed that in C. durissus there is a trend in the diet of females could be more diverse, maybe this can be associated to sexual differences involving different strategies of the feeding biology of this rattlesnake.
Highlights
The rattlesnakes of the genus Crotalus evolved in North America and subsequently spread across Central and South America (Echevarrigaray et al 2000; Quijada-Mascareñas et al 2007)
A divergence in the diet composition was detected in two populations of C. lepidus at Big Bend National Park, Texas (Beaupre 1995)
We describe the feeding ecology of Crotalus durissus in the central region of Brazil and discus some strategies involved in the feeding of this rattlesnake
Summary
The rattlesnakes of the genus Crotalus evolved in North America and subsequently spread across Central and South America (Echevarrigaray et al 2000; Quijada-Mascareñas et al 2007). 41 species of Crotalus are recognized, with greater a diversity in Mexico and the United States In many species of Crotalus there is ontogenetic variation in diet, with juveniles feeding primarily on ectothermic prey whereas adults prefer endothermic animals as food. Adult Crotalus horridus from several regions of the United States (Clark 2002) as well as C. viridis in southeast Idaho (Diller & Wallace 1996) feed mainly on birds and small mammals. Crotalus vegandris from Venezuela (Pífano & Rodriguez-Acosta 1996), C. pricei, and C. lepidus from some areas in Mexico and the United States (Holycross et al 2002; Prival et al 2002), feed on centipedes, lizards, and snakes. The diet of C. viridis oreganus from California is more diverse when compared to C. viridis from British Columbia, mainly because of the greater importance of ectothermic prey (Macartney 1989)
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