Natural History Notes

V. Jr. (Eds.). São Paulo: Ed. Sarvier. AMPHIESMA STOLATUM (Striped keelback): Hartmann, P .A. & Marques, O. A. V. (2005). Diet PREDATION ON POLYPEDATES and habitat use of two sympatric species of MEGACEPHALUS (Java treefrog) . Snakes Philodryas (Colubridae), in South Brazil. have solved the problem of nourishing a heavy Amphibia-Reptilia 26, 25 –31. body, with a relatively small mouth, b y Lema, T. Araújo, & M. L. Azevedo, A. C. P. (1983). infrequently consuming large prey items (Greene, Contribuição ao conhecimento da alimentação e 1997); made possible by the mobility of the jaw do modo alimentar de serpentes do Brasil. Com. and mouth skeleton (Ernst & Zug, 1996). But Mus. Ci. Tecnol. PUC-RS. Zool. Serie . 26, 64-65. preying on large prey comes at a cost. Snakes are not always capable of subduing such prey, and Lillywhite, H. B. (1982). Cannibalistic carrion even when they do, risk losing it due to other ingestion by the rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis . J. predators, as well as being subjected to the risk of Herpetol . 16, 95. predation themselves. Another problem is that Marques, O. A. V., Eterovic, A., Sazima, I. (2001). consuming a large prey item might result in injury Serpentes da Mata Atlântica: Guia Iilustrado Para or death to the snake due to the ingesting process Serra do Mar . Ribeirão Preto. Ed. Holos. or compromised mobility. It is thus crucial to note Perroni, L. P. G. (2004). Análise da morfometria e which prey items are consumed by which snake da dieta de Philodryas olfersii e Philodryas species, as well as the size of the prey in relation patagoniensis (Serpentes: Colubridae) da grande to the predator. Since the ability of snakes to São Paulo. Monografia de conclusão de curso. – swallow relatively large prey items is not equal Universidade Metodista de São Paulo. São Paulo. throughout the snake kingdom (Mattison, 1995), it Peters, J. A. & Orejas-Miranda, B. (1986). is important to note the prey/predator weight-ratio, Catalogue of the Neotropical Squamata : part I, and types of prey consumed by individuals of the snakes . Revised edition (originally published same species to develop a better understanding of 1970), addenda and corrigenda by P. E. Vanzolini. the energy budgets and foraging behaviour of the Washington: Smithsonian Institution. 347 pp. species in question. Shine, R. (1986). Ecology of a low-energy Here we report predation by a Striped keelback specialist: food habits and reproductive biology of (Amphiesma stolatum ) on a Java treefrog th the arafura filesnake (Acrochordidae). Copeia (Polypedates megacephalus ). At 11:52 h on 19 [S.l.] 2, 424 –437. May 2006, a male A. stolatum (430 mm SVL, 7.72 mm HW, 18 mm HL, 144 mm tail length, 13.2 g) Shine, R. (1991). Australian Snakes: A Natural was observed moving along the fence on the inside History . Ithaca: Cornell University Press. of a 6m x 6m enclosure, constructed of 3 mm Thomas, R. A. (1976). A revision of the American plastic mesh, erected in a Betelnut palm ( Areca colubrid snake genus Philodryas Wagler, 1830. catechu ) plantation in Santzepu, Sheishan District, Texas: Graduate College of Texas A and M Chiayi County, Taiwan (23º28’23”N, University. Unpublished thesis (Ph.D.). 338 pp. 120º29’15”E). The vegetation on the inside of the enclosure was very dense and consisted of A. LUIS PAULO GODA PERRONI 1 and SILVIA catechu , Bidens pilosa var. radiata , Ipomoea REGINA TRAVAGLIA-CARDOSO 2 cairica , Mikania micrantha , and Panicum maximum . The A. stolatum was captured and it 1 Museu Biológico, Instituto Butantan, Av. Vital was noted that the mid-body was greatly enlarged. Brazil, 1500, CEP 05503-900, São Paulo, SP, After gentle palpation of the enlarged area of the Brazil. mid-body, the snake regurgitated an anuran, along E-mail: [email protected] with a large number of eggs. The prey item was 2 Laboratório de Herpetologia, Instituto Butantan, identified as a female P. megacephalus (ca. 55 mm Av. Vital Brazil, 1500, CEP 05503- 900, São SVL, 2.5 g). Since it was regurgitated head and Paulo, SP, Brazil . fore limbs first, and the hind limbs folded forward, E-mail: [email protected] combined by the fact that the vent area and parts of

Number 101 - Herpetological Bulletin [2007] 39 Natural History Notes the hind limbs were already partly digested, it is snakes, but also the ecosystem and food-chains believed it had been ingested vent first. they are part of. To our knowledge this appears to Colubrids prey commonly on creatures about be the first description from Taiwan of A. stolatum 20% of their own mass (Greene, 1997), and in this predation on P. megacephalus . case, although the prey item was already partly digested, the prey/predator weight-ratio was REFERENCES 18.93%. Based on the mass/SVL (0.119; n = 9) Arnold, S. J. (1993). Foraging theory and prey- index of live P. megacephalus encountered in the size – predator-size relations in snakes. In: study area, it was estimated that the prey item had Snakes: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, pp an approximate mass of 6g, i.e. an estimated 87–115. Seigel, R. A., Collins, J. T. & Novak, S. prey/predator weight-ratio was 46%. With an approximate prey/predator weight-ratio of ca. 1:2, S. (Eds.). New York, USA: McGraw-Hill. the prey size is out of the ordinary for a colubrid. Das, I. (2002). A Photographic Guide to Snakes However, it may not be unusual for this species. and Other Reptiles of India . London: New Norval et al . (2005) recorded a prey/predator Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd. weight-ratio of 39.5% for a specimen of A. Ernst, C. H. & Zug, G. R. (1996). Snakes in stolatum , and on the 22 nd October 2006, another Question: the Smithsonian Answer Book . male that preyed on a Rana limnocharis was Washington: Smithsonian Institute Press. collected in the same study area. The prey/predator Greene, H. W. (1997). Snakes: the Evolution of weight-ratio of this latter prey item was 26.6%. In Mystery in Nature . California: University of addition, since A. stolatum is primarily a diurnal California Press. terrestrial species, whereas P. megacephalus is Lee, W. J. & Lue, K. Y. (1996). The preliminary nocturnal and arboreal, it is interesting to note that study on the food habits of snakes in Taiwan. this snake species would prey on this anuran Biol . Bull . NTNU . 31, 119 –121. (In Chinese) species. This was also not an isolated case; on the Lue, K. Y., Tu, M. C. and Shang, G. S. (2002). The 11 th of August 2006, at ca. 09:45 h, a female A. Transition World — Guidebook of Amphibians stolatum (458 mm SVL, 148 mm tail length, and Reptiles of Taiwan . Taipei: SWAN. (In 42.5g) was collected from inside another Chinese) enclosure (23º28’39”N, 120º29’23”E), with a Mattison, C. 1995. The encyclopedia of snakes . similar habitat to the one described above. It too New York: Checkmark Books. had the remains of a P. megacephalus in its Norval, G., Mao, J. J., & Chu, H .P. (2005). stomach, but since the digestive process was fairly Amphiesma stolatum (striped keelback). Prey advanced, no further descriptions can be made. size. Herpetol . Rev . 36, 187. The following other prey types have been reported for A. stolatum : insects (Acrididae), GERRUT NORVAL 1, SHAO-CHANG HUANG 2 tadpoles, toads, frogs, fish (Lee & Lue, 1996), and JEAN-JAY MAO 3 earthworms, geckos (Lue et al ., 2002), lizards and 1 scorpions (Das, 2002). To date, however, the only Applied Behavioural Ecology & Ecosystem other recorded prey of this species of snake in our Research Unit, Department of Nature study area are: Bufo melanostictus (n = 3), Conservation, UNISA, Private Bag X6, Florida, Microhyla ornata (n = 1), Microhyletta heymonsi 1710, Republic of South Africa. (n = 2), and Rana limnocharis (n = 2). Because it E-mail: [email protected] has been shown that snakes of the same species, 2 Department of Life Science, Tunghai University. but from different localities, can have different No. 181, Sec. 3, Taichung-Kan Road, Taichung, prey preferences (Arnold, 1993), we would like to Taiwan, R.O.C. encourage authors to describe prey items and collection localities in greater detail. This would 3 Department of Natural Resources, National I-Lan not only greatly contribute to the understanding of University, No. 1, Shen-Lung Rd., Sec. 1, I-Lan the foraging behaviour and energy budgets of City 260, Taiwan, Republic of China.

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