Dieta De Myrmecophaga Tridactyla (Pilosa: Myrmecophagidae) En Pastizales Y Bosques Del Noreste De Santiago Del Estero Y Su Relación Con Las Hormigas

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Dieta De Myrmecophaga Tridactyla (Pilosa: Myrmecophagidae) En Pastizales Y Bosques Del Noreste De Santiago Del Estero Y Su Relación Con Las Hormigas Acta zoológica lilloana 62 (1): 1–9, 30 de junio 2018 Dieta de Myrmecophaga tridactyla (Pilosa: Myrmecophagidae) en pastizales y bosques del noreste de Santiago del Estero y su relación con las hormigas Diet of Myrmecophaga tridactyla (Pilosa: Myrmecophagidae) in pastures and forests of the northeast of Santiago del Estero and its relationship with ants D.O.I.: https://doi.org/10.30550/j.azl/2018.62.1/1 Andrea Fuster, Liliana Diodato, Jorge Homero Contreras Instituto de Protección Vegetal (INPROVE), Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Nacional de Santiago Del Estero. Av. Belgrano 1912, (4200) Santiago del Estero, Argentina. [email protected] ä Resumen — El oso hormiguero gigante, Myrmecophaga tridactyla, se encuentra en es- tado de conservación vulnerable a causa de alteraciones en su hábitat. Conocer sus fuentes de alimentos, es decir, las especies de hormigas que son el componente más abundante de su dieta en las áreas semiáridas del Chaco, ayudará a generar estrategias para su conservación. Los objetivos de este estudio fueron verificar la presencia de M. trydactila en el noreste de Santiago del Estero, determinar la oferta alimenticia de hormigas en ambientes de pastizal y bosque e identificar la composición y abundancia de hormigas que conforman su dieta. Para comprobar la presencia del oso hormiguero gigante se recorrieron 22,4 km de transectas en ambos ambientes y se recolectaron evidencias de su presencia y heces. Para determinar la riqueza y abundancia de hormigas se efectuaron muestreos mediante trampas de caída. El análisis de heces indicó que la dieta comprendió diez géneros de hormigas, que corresponde al 50% de la riqueza de formícidos de la zona de estudio. Del total de hormigas identificadas en las heces el 95% correspondió a Ectatomma sp. y Camponotus sp. Según los valores de riqueza, abundancia y similitud, la oferta de hormigas para la alimentación de M. tridactyla es similar en ambos ambientes. Esto sugiere que tanto el bosque como el pastizal constituyen ambientes propicios para la conservación de la especie en el noreste de Santiago del Estero. En general, las medidas de protección de hábitat para la conservación de la especie en la región deberían considerar la importancia de ambos ambientes. Palabras clave: oso hormiguero gigante, distribución geográfica de mamíferos, hormigas, conservación biológica, biología alimentaria. ä Abstract — The giant anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla is in a vulnerable state of conservation due to alterations occurred in its habitat. Knowing its food sources, namely the ant species which are the most abundant component of its diet in the Chaco semiarid areas will help generate strategies for its conservation. This study aimed to prove the presence of the M. tridactyla in the north-west part of Santiago del Estero, determine food offer of ant in ä Ref. bibliográfica: Fuster, A., Diodato, L., Contreras, J. H. (2018). Dieta de Myrmecophaga tridactyla (Pilosa: Myrmecophagidae) en pastizales y bosques del noreste de Santiago del Estero y su relación con las hormigas. Acta zoológica lilloana 62 (1): 1–9. ä Recibido: 28/11/17 – Aceptado: 09/05/18 ä URL de la revista: http://actazoologica.lillo.org.ar ä Algunos derechos reservados. Esta obra está bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución – No Comercial – Sin Obra Derivada 4.0 Internacional. A. Fuster et al.: Dieta de Myrmecophaga tridactyla y su relación con las hormigas grassland and forest environments in addition to identify composition and abundance of the ants making up its diet. To attest the presence of the giant anteater, 22.4 km of transects were traversed in both environments by collecting evidences and feces. To determine ant rich- ness and abundance, samplings were done using pitfall tramps. Feces analysis showed that the diet comprised ten ant genres that equals 50% of the formicide richness in the area under study. From the total of the ants identified in feces, 95% belonged to Ectatomma sp. and Camponotus sp. According to the values of richness, abundance and similarity obtained, the ant offer for the M. tridactyla´s diet is similar in both environments. All the above suggests that both the forest and the grasslands in the northest of Santiago del Estero are propitious for conserving the species. In general, the importance of these two environments should be considered by the policies protecting the conservation of the specie in this area. Keywords: giant anteater, mammals geographical distribution, ants, biological conservation, food biology. INTRODUCCIÓN seca y Aguiar, 004; Pérez Jimeno y Amaya, El oso hormiguero gigante, Myrmecopha- 009). Varios autores citan la presencia de ga tridactyla Linnaeus, 758, por su tamaño, M. trydactila en Santiago del Estero (Chébez, 994; Díaz y Bárquez, 00; Parera, 00; es uno de los mamíferos más representati- Fonseca y Aguiar, 004; Vizcaíno, Abba, Gar- vos de la fauna de América del Sur (Rodrí- cía Esponda, 006; Pautasso, 007; Jimeno y guez-Mahecha, Alberico, Trujillo, Jorgenson, Amaya, 009), con registros en los departa- 006). La vulnerabilidad de la especie ante mentos Copo, Pellegrini, Taboada, Jiménez, presiones antrópicas originó su extinción Avellaneda y Belgrano, en un rango latitu- en distintas regiones de América (Superina, dinal de 5º50’S a 8º5’S y longitudinal de Miranda, Abba, 00). Actualmente, M. tri- 6º46’W a 64º6’W (Pérez Jimeno y Amaya, dactyla se encuentra en el listado de especies 009). amenazadas de la Unión Internacional para Myrmecophaga tridactyla se alimenta ex- la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN) clusivamente de hormigas y termitas (Mont- (Miranda, Bertassoni, Abba, 04). La com- gomery y Lubin, 977; Montgomery, 985). binación de características biológicas de la Sin embargo, en ambientes semiáridos del especie, tales como la baja tasa reproductiva, Chaco, donde las hormigas son más abundan- la alta especialización de dieta, la baja capa- tes que las termitas (Diodato, 005), el oso cidad de fuga, y los periodos de cuidados de hormiguero gigante se alimenta casi exclusi- cría prolongados, junto con la degradación vamente de ellas (Gallo et al., 07). Existen del hábitat, incendios naturales y ocasionales varios estudios sobre la especialización de la atropellamientos por automóviles inciden en dieta de M. tridactyla (Medri, Mourão, Ha- su supervivencia (Fonseca y Aguiar, 004). rada, 003; Braga, 00; Sandoval-Gomez, La distribución geográfica del oso hor- Ramírez-Chaves, Marín, 012; Braga, Souza, miguero gigante comprende desde Belice y Batista, Dos Santos Lima, 04; Gallo et al., Guatemala (Emmons y Feer, 997) hasta el 07). En estos trabajos se identificó que la norte de Argentina (Parera, 00). En Ar- dieta del oso está compuesta principalmente gentina su área de distribución actual com- por las hormigas de los géneros: Camponotus prende las provincias de Misiones, Formosa, Mayr, Solenopsis Westwood, Odontomachus centro y norte de Chaco, este de Salta y nor- Latreille, Labidus Jurine, Linepithema Mayr, te de Santiago del Estero (Fonseca y Aguiar, Acromyrmex Mayr, Atta Fabricius, Gnampto- 004). Antiguamente su distribución llega- genys Roger y Ectatomma Smith, F. El hábi- ba hasta los 3°S de latitud (Parera, 00; tat del oso hormiguero gigante es amplio y Superina et al., 00), sin embargo, debido diverso. Está presente en bosques tropicales a las intensas modificaciones en su hábitat, lluviosos y secos, y áreas de sabanas y pas- los paralelos 9°S y 7° S se mencionan ac- tizales abiertos (Rodríguez-Mahecha et al., tualmente como límites más australes (Fon- 006). A su vez, Formicidae es un grupo de Acta zoológica lilloana 62 (1): 1–9, 30 de junio 2018 3 insectos estrechamente vinculado a la fisono- el área de estudio se distinguen dos fisono- mía vegetal, y su biodiversidad varía según mías vegetales: () bosque alto de Schinopsis el tipo de ambiente (Basset, 00; Gotelli lorentzii (Griseb.) Engl y Aspidosperma que- y Ellison, 00; Basset, Hammond, Barrios, bracho-blanco Schltr. y las especies secun- Holloway, Miller, 003; Ribas, Schoereder, darias Prosopis nigra Griseb, Acacia praecox Pic, Soares, 003; Vasconcelos, Leite, Vilhe- Griseb., Ziziphus mistol Griseb. y Geoffroea na, Lima, Magnusson, 008; Fuster, 03). decorticans (Gill. ex Hook. & Arn.) Burkart; En consecuencia, se espera que la compo- () pastizal, con pies arbóreos aislados de sición de la dieta de M. trydactila varíe y S. lorentzii, acompañados de un estrato ve- dependa de la disponibilidad de hormigas getativo compuesto de arbustos y diversas (Medri et al., 003). herbáceas. En la provincia de Santiago del Estero, en Para determinar la presencia del oso hor- las últimas décadas, los paisajes naturales se miguero gigante en el bosque y el pastizal, modificaron, alterándose la composición, el se realizaron cuatro transectos lineales de área de cobertura y otros parámetros ecoló- 00 m por ambiente, separados por 500 m gicos de las comunidades vegetales (Boletta, como mínimo. En cada transecto se observa- Ravelo, Planchuelo, Grilli, 006; Boletta y ron signos de la presencia de M. trydactila, Ravelo, 009). Para el desarrollo de estra- tales como: huellas, excavaciones en nidos tegias de conservación de las poblaciones de hormigas, heces y observación directa. del oso hormiguero gigante a largo plazo, Como registro secundario se consideraron se requiere integrar el conocimiento sobre las informaciones de moradores locales sobre comportamiento, requerimientos alimenticos la presencia del oso hormiguero gigante. Los y hábitats con información local y específica datos se recopilaron semanalmente durante (Rojano, Miranda, Ávila, 05). Los objetivos siete meses, de junio a diciembre de 0. de este estudio fueron verificar la presencia Las heces recolectadas de M. trydactila se de M. trydactila en el noreste de Santiago del analizaron en el laboratorio. Se separaron Estero, determinar la oferta alimenticia de los restos de hormigas, especialmente la cáp- hormigas en ambientes de pastizal y bosque; sula cefálica, que es la parte del exoesquele- e identificar la composición y abundancia de to más conservado y de fácil reconocimiento; hormigas que conforman su dieta. y fueron identificadas a nivel de género.
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