sign in sign up
<<
Home , Boidae

Herpetology Notes, volume 14: 899-901 (2021) (published online on 24 June 2021)

Predator-prey interaction episode between constrictor Linnaeus, 1758 (Serpentes: Boidae) and Columbina talpacoti (Temminck, 1810) (Columbriformes: Columbidae)

Itamar Dutra Santos-Filho1, Marcelino Benvindo-Souza1,2, Rhayane Alves de Assis1,3, Nathan Pereira Lima Amorim1, Rinneu Elias Borges4, and Lia Raquel de Souza Santos1,*

Records of predator-prey interactions involving boas 1978; Boback et al, 2012). Like the other large Boidae, show a very diverse menu in natural environments, since Boas are known to be diet generalist, since their menu they ingest a wide variety of vertebrates (Pizzatto et al., includes amphibians (Pizzatto et al., 2009), 2009; Cabral et al., 2019). Natural history observations, (Quick et al., 2005), birds, and (Marques et especially about predation, may contribute to the al., 2001; Ferrari et al., 2004; Cisneros-Heredia et al., understanding of a given ’ biology, behaviour, 2005; Sorrell et al., 2011; Teixeira et al., 2016; Cabral intra and interspecific interactions, the flow in the et al., 2019). food chain, and even the dispersions carried out by The ruddy ground-dove (C. talpacoti) is found in the the specimens, filling in the gaps in the ecological South American Cerrado, where it can also be found in knowledge of such species (Sih and Christensen, 2001). urban environments (Amâncio et al., 2010; Wikiaves, In this context, we report a predatory event of a ruddy 2020). ground-dove (Columbina talpacoti) that was preyed by Records of boas preying on birds are common, e.g. a amarali. Pitangus sulphuratus and Turdus rufiventris (Rocha- Boa constrictor Linnaeus, 1758 is found in South Santos et al., 2014), Diopsittaca nobilis (Travaglia- America only (Nogueira et al., 2019), associated Cardoso et al., 2016) and others (Boback, 2005; Begotti to several vegetative formations, demonstrating a and Filho, 2012; Rocha-Santos et al., 2014; Cabral great plasticity regarding its geographic distribution et al., 2019). However, to our knowledge, there were (Henderson et al., 1995). Boas are known to be large no reports of C. talpacoti as a prey of B. constrictor that reach up to four meters in length (Reed and amarali so far, even though other columbiformes have Rodda, 2009). They are not venomous, nevertheless already been observed as Boas’ preys (e.g., a Columba they have bulky muscular bodies that allow them livia, see Hayes, 2002; Cabral et al., 2019). to efficiently kill their preys by using constriction On 12 April 2018, around 08:20 h, on the edge of a dirt (Ehmann, 1993; Greene, 1997; Greene and Burghardt, track in a semideciduous forest that goes towards the source of Rio do Abóbora., in Rio Verde municipality, Goiás state, (-17.4846ºN, -50.5856ºW), we

1 Laboratório de Ecotoxicologia e Sistemática , Instituto observed an episode of predation in which a C. talpacoti Federal Goiano, Rodovia Sul Goiana, Km 01, Zona Rural, was caught by a B. constrictor amarali (Fig. 1A), at the Rio Verde, 75901-970 Goiás, Brazil. time of observation, the Boa had already captured the 2 Laboratório de Mutagênese, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, bird, and was ingesting it head-first, but when the Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, 74690-900 Goiás, noticed our presence, it withdrew to the closest bushes. Brazil. The specimens were not collected. 3 Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista Boas are known to be generalists, because their diet “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” ¨C UNESP, Rua Cristóvão Colombo, 2265, Jardim Nazareth, São José do Rio Preto, São includes a series of different species of vertebrates, Paulo, CEP: 15.054-000, Brazil. such as birds (Aratinga pertinax, Columba corensis, 4 Universidade de Rio Verde, Fazenda Fontes do Saber, Rio Myarchus tyrannulus, etc), mammals (Rattus rattus, Verde, 75901-970 Goiás, Brazil. Sylvilagus floridanus, Canis familiaris) and lizards * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] (Cnemidophorus arubensis, Ameiva bifrontata, Iguana © 2021 by Herpetology Notes. Open Access by CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. iguana) (Marques et al., 2001; Ferrari et al., 2004; 900 Itamar Dutra Santos-Filho ������

Begotti, R.A., Filho, A.M. (2012): Fatal Attack on an adult Chestnut-fronted Macaw Ara severus by a Boa constrictor in the Brazilian Amazon. Cotiga 34: 172–173. Cabral, S.O., Freitas, I.S., Morlanes, V., Katzenberger, M., Calabuig, C. (2019): Potential seed dispersers: a new facet of the ecological role of Boa constrictor constrictor Linnaeus 1758. Biota Neotropica 19(4): e20180626. Cisneros-Heredia, D.F., León-Reyes, A. (2005): Boa constrictor predation on a Titi monkeys, Callicebus discolor. Neotropical Primates 13(3): 11–12. Ehmann, H. (1993): Boidae. In: Fauna of Australia- Amphibia and Reptilia, p. 2–15. Glasby, C.G., Ross, G.J.B., Beesley, P.L. Eds., Australia. AGPS Canberra. Ferrari, S.F., Pereira, W.L.A., Santos, R.R., Veiga, L.M. (2004): Fatal Attack of a Boa constrictor on a Bearded Saki (Chiropotes satanas utahicki). Folia Primatologica 75(2): 111–113. Figure 1. An individual of Boa (B. constrictor amarali) Greene, H.W. (1997): : the evolution of mystery in nature. preying on a Ruddy ground-dove (C. talpacoti) in Rio Verde, 45th Ed. California, USA, University of California Press. Goiás, Brazil. Photo by Marcelino Benvindo-Souza. Greene, H.W., Burghardt, G.M. (1978): Behavior and phylogeny: constriction in ancient and modern snakes. Science 200(4337): 74–77. Cisneros-Heredia et al., 2005; Quick et al., 2005; Hayes, F.E. (2002): Predation on birds by snakes in Trinidad and Pizzatto et al., 2009; Sorrell et al., 2011; Teixeira et Tobago. Journal of the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists’ Club 59–61. al., 2016; Cabral et al., 2019). Pizzatto et al. (2009) Henderson, R.W., Micucci, T.W.P., Puorto, G., Bourgeois, R.W. and Cabral et al. (2019) even add bats, , and (1995): Ecological correlates and patterns in the distribution amphibians. Our record is the first report of C. talpacoti of Neotropical Boines (Serpentes: Boidae): A preliminary as prey of a boa, adding another bird to the list. Reports assessment. Herpetological Natural History 3(1): 15–27. that address predation events are very necessary for Marques, O.A.V., Eterovic, A., Sazima, I. (2001): Serpentes da science, since they help to characterise the biology of a Mata Atlântica: guia ilustrado para a Serra do Mar. Brazil. certain species. Natural history events involving snakes Holos. Nogueira, C.C., Argôlo, A.J.S., Arzamendia, V., Azevedo, J.A., are difficult to witness in natural environments, as they Barbo, F.E, Bérnilis, R.S., et al. (2019). Atlas of Brazilian are discrete and generally stealthy animals (Steen, Snakes: Verified Point-Locality Maps to Mitigate the Wallacean 2010). Therefore, such reports assist in filling in gaps in Shortfall in a Megadiverse Snake Fauna. South American the scientific field, helping to understand the behaviour, Journal of Herpetology 14:1–274. ecological interactions and life history of the species. Pizzatto, L., Marques, O.A.V., Facure, K. (2009): Food habits of Brazilian boid snakes: Overview and new data with special Acknowledgments. We thank IF Goiano for the financial support reference to hortulanus. Amphibia-Reptilia 30: 533– and availability of infrastructure. We thank the Professor Hélder 544. Silva e Luna from UFMS for recommending our work for Quick, J.S. Reinert, H.K., Cuba, E.R., Odum, A. (2005): Recent submission. MBS and RAA acknowledge the Coordination for Occurrence and Dietary Habits of Boa constrictor on Aruba, the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES). MBS Dutch . Journal of Herpetology 39(2): 304–307. also acknowledges the Brazilian Fund for Biodiversity (Funbio) Reed, R.N., Rodda, G. (2009): Giant constrictors: Biological and for support in their research. management profiles and an establishment risk assessment for nine large species of pythons, , and the boa constrictor. U. S. Geological Survey. Reference Rocha-Santos, G., Barbier, E., Bordignon, M.O. (2014): Sweet Amâncio, S., Sousa, V.B., Melo, C., Pedroso, E.T. (2010): trap: Boa constrictor (Serpentes: Boidae) preying on passerines Distribuição comportamental diurna de Columbina talpacoti on Cecropia pachystachya (Urticales: Cecropiaceae) in fruiting (Columbiformes: Columbidae) em área urbana, Uberlândia period. Biota Neotropica 14(2): 1–4. (MG). Atualidade Ornitológicas On-line 154: 49–50. Sorrell, G.G., Boback, S.M., Reed, R.N., Green, S.E. (2011): Boa Boback, S.M., Hall, A.E., McCann, K.J., Hayes, A.W., Forrester, constrictor (Boa constrictor). Foraging Behavior. Herpetological J.S., Zwemer, C.F. (2012): Snake modulates constriction in Review 42(2): 281. response to prey’s heartbeat. Biology Letters 8(3): 473–476. Sih, A., Christensen, B. (2001): Optimal diet theory: when does Boback, S.M. (2005). Natural History and Conservation of Island it work, and when and why does it fail? Animal Behaviour 61: Boas (Boa constrictor) in Belize. Copeia 4: 880–885. 379–390. Predator-prey interaction between Boa constrictor and Columbina talpacoti 901

Steen, D.A. (2010): Snakes in the grass: secretive natural histories defy both conventional and progressive statistics. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 5: 183–188. Teixeira, D.S., Santos, E., Leal, S.G., Jesus, A.K., Vargas, W.P., Dutra, I., Barros, M. (2016): Fatal attack on black-tufted-ear marmosets (Callithrix penicillata) by a Boa constrictor: a simultaneous assault on two juvenile monkeys. Primates 57: 123–127. Travaglia-Cardoso, S.R., Puorto, G., Lucas, M.S.B., Suzuki, H. (2016): Boa constrictor (Reptilia, Serpentes, Boidae): opportunistic predation on Diopsittaca nobilis (Aves, Psittacidae). Natural History Note 137: 39–40. Wikiaves (2020): Rolinha-roxa. Available in: https://www.wikiaves. com.br/wiki/rolinha-roxa. Accessed on 2 February 2021.

Accepted by Rodrigo Gonzalez