Herpetology Notes, volume 12: 815-817 (2019) (published online on 04 August 2019)

First record of predation on Greater sac-winged bat, Saccopteryx bilineata (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae), by the Colombian rainbow boa, Epicrates maurus (Serpentes: Boidae)

Carlos A. Aya-Cuero1,2,*, Carlos H. Cáceres-Martínez3, and Diego A. Esquivel1,4

Predator-prey interactions have been well documented The Colombian rainbow boa, Epicrates maurus, is a in many animals, including well-known relationships in medium-sized Neotropical boid snake reaching up to which bats are the predators. These flying mammals, 1.5 m of snout-vent length (SVL) (Lourdais et al., 2006). in turn, are preyed upon by a wide variety of animals, It inhabits Neotropical savannahs and dry forests in ranging from giant spiders, centipedes, fishes, southern Central and northern South Americas (Passos amphibians, reptiles, and birds, to other mammals and Fernández, 2008). There is virtually no available (Molinari, 2005; Lima and O’Keefe, 2013; Nyffeler data on the feeding behaviour of E. maurus (Pizzatto et and Knörnschild, 2013). According to Schätti (1984), al., 2009); nevertheless, snakes of the genus Epicrates chiropterophagy is presumably a globally common are reported to be dietary generalists, preying on both phenomenon in some populations of giant snakes and endothermic and ectothermic animals, particularly large climbing colubrid species. In the Neotropical lizards, birds, and small- to medium-sized mammals region, 40 cases of predation on bats by snakes were (Henderson et al., 1987). reported between the years 1951 and 2005, involving On November 12th, 2018 we observed a predatory 20 species of snakes and 18 identified bat species event during fieldwork in the Caribbean forest at Finca (Esbérard and Vrcibradic, 2007), among which only La Playa located on the right margin of the Tapias river in two cases were recorded in Colombia. The first northern Colombia (11.1397°N, 73.0439°W; elevation: involves Boa constrictor and Artibeus jamaicensis from 161 m). This private property is predominantly covered Providencia Island (Thomas, 1974), while the second by a mosaic of tropical forest, crops, and pastures, and relates to Epicrates cenchria and Carollia perspicillata is part of the Vereda El Naranjal in the municipality from the department of Huila (Lemke, 1978). Herein, of Riohacha, department of La Guajira. At 7:49 A.M., we describe a new case of predator-prey interaction while directly observing a colony of greater sac-winged between the Colombian rainbow boa, Epicrates maurus bats (Fig. 1A), we noticed an adult Colombian rainbow Gray, 1849, and the greater sac-winged bat, Saccopteryx boa of about one meter long (identified by its brownish bilineata (Temminck, 1838), from Colombia. uniform dorsal ground colour, indistinct lateral ocelli, and the presence of a lateral stripe) slowly approaching a group of three bat individuals that were roosting in a hollow of an Anacardium tree at approximately three meters above the ground (Fig. 1B; 1C). During the 1 Fundación Kurupira, Diagonal 16B No. 106-65 Int. 5 Apt. 102, time we were observing, the snake was able to ambush, Bogotá D.C., Colombia. capture, constrict, and ingest one of the bats (Fig. 1D). 2 Fundación Omacha, Calle 84 No. 21-64, Bogotá D.C., To the best of our knowledge, this observation Colombia. represents the first published record of a predator- 3 Grupo de Investigación en Ecología y Conservación de Fauna prey interaction involving either Epicrates maurus or Silvestre. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, sede Medellín. Saccopteryx bilineata, as well as the third case of snake Calle 59ª No. 63-20, Medellín, Colombia. predation on bats in Colombia. Moreover, it is important 4 Bird and Mammal Evolution, Systematics and Ecology Lab, Bioscience Institute, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande to emphasize the fact that, although many documented do Sul. Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500 – Campus do Vale, Porto instances of bat predation refer to Epicrates snakes Alegre-RS, Brazil. in the Neotropical region (Esbérard and Vrcibradic, * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] 2007), all the available published records involving 816 Carlos A. Aya-Cuero et al.

Figure 1. Predation on a greater sac-winged bat, Saccopteryx bilineata, by a Colombian rainbow boa, Epicrates maurus. (A) Prey (Saccopteryx bilineata); (B) predator (Epicrates maurus); (C) predator approaching the prey; (D) predator successfully capturing the prey and constricting it. Photographs by Carlos A. Aya-Cuero.

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Accepted by Idriss Bouam