By Corallus Hortulana (Squamata: Boidae) in the Southern Brazilian Amazon

Herpetology Notes, volume 14: 745-747 (2021) (published online on 22 April 2021)

Predation of Proechimys sp. (Rodentia: Echimyidae) by Corallus hortulana (Squamata: Boidae) in the southern Brazilian Amazon

Raul Afonso Pommer Barbosa1, 3,*, Welington da Silva Paula do Nascimento2, 3, Geovanna Santos da Silva2, Mizael Andrade Pedersoli2, 4, Claudia Christian Bezerra de Souza2, and André Luiz da Cruz Prestes2

The Amazon Tree Boa snake, Corallus hortulana both active hunting and ambush strategies (Costa-Silva (Linnaeus, 1758), belongs to the family Boidae and until and Henderson, 2014). Through these prey detection recently was called Corallus hortulanus (Frétey 2019). mechanisms, C. hortulana substantially increases The species is arboreal and has twilight and nocturnal the probability to obtain a wider spectrum of food in habits (Martins and Oliveira, 1998), and uses active and addition to nocturnal prey (Costa-Silva and Henderson, sit-and-wait tactics when foraging (Martins and Oliveira, 2014). 1998; Costa-Silva and Henderson, 2012, 2013, 2014). Being an arboreal snake, C. hortulana is unlikely to These tactics are successful due to chemical (Burghardt, hunt on the ground, although this can occur on some 1970), visual (Czaplicki and Porter, 1974) and thermal occasions (Oliveira and Martins, 1998). Laboratory (Cock Buning, 1983) stimuli. studies reporting on feeding habits have described C. hortulana has labial pits that detect the body feeding behaviour in stages: location, approach, bite, temperature of endothermic animals such as mammals constriction, inspection, and ingestion (Scartozzoni and and birds. Additionally, the species has a developed Molina, 2004). sense of smell, and uses constriction to kill their We conducted field observations at the Military prey (Lillywhite and Henderson, 1993; Stafford and Police Jungle Base in the municipality of Porto Velho, Henderson, 1996; Scartozzoni and Molina, 2004). state of Rondônia, Brazil, in the southwest of the C. hortulana´s diet is the broadest among the genus Brazilian Amazon. During a herpetofaunal survey, a (Pizzatto et al., 2009; Henderson and Pauers, 2012), and predation event on a Proechimys sp. by C. hortulana it includes frogs, lizards, birds (Silva et al., 2019) and was observed (-9.0923°S, -64.0433°W), at 22:21 h on mammals like marsupials, rodents, and bats (Carvalho 12 December 2020. It is difficult to confirm the exact et al., 2018). The reason for its diverse feeding is likely species of Spiny Rat (Proechimys sp.) as this genus due to two reasons: C. hortulana occurs in habitats contains the highest species diversity within the family that support great biodiversity, and the species uses Echimiydae, with approximately 22 species (Eler et al., 2020). Due to phenotypic similarity among its species and considerable intraspecific variation, this genus is taxonomically complex in both morphological and 1 Clube de Astronomia e Ciências de Rondônia, Avenida cytogenetic terms (Eler et al., 2020), making species- Presidente Dutra, 2965, Centro, Porto Velho, 76801-059 level identification even more difficult. For the state of Rondônia, Brazil. Rondônia four possible species are registered (IUCN, 2 São Lucas Educacional, UniSl, Rua Alexandre Guimarães, 2020). Proechimys sp. are terrestrial, and inhabit dry 1927 - Areal, Porto Velho, 76805-846 Rondônia, Brazil. land forests throughout the Amazon region. They are 3 Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Rondônia, Plataforma Técnica often sighted at night foraging over the leaf litter, and RPT11G de Bioensaios de Malária e Leishmaniose, R. da Beira, 7671 - Lagoa, Porto Velho, 76812-245 Rondônia, there are no records of arboreal or semi-arboreal habits Brazil. for the genus (Bonvicino et al., 2008; Reis et al., 2011). 4 Laboratório de Mastozoologia & Vertebrados Terrestres, The predation site is close to a transect inside a primary Universidade Federal de Rondônia. BR 364, km 9,5. Porto forest. The predation video can be viewed in this link Velho, 78.900-500 Rondônia, Brazil. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wVw4X9F374. * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] Through the distress call of Proechimys sp. it was © 2021 by Herpetology Notes. Open Access by CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. possible to locate and document the event. C. hortulana 746 Raul Afonso Pommer Barbosa �t al.

Figure 1. Proechimys sp. captured by Corallus hortulana. (A) Corallus hortulana using its tail to hold Proechimys sp. (B) Complete ingestion. Photos by Raul Afonso Pommer Barbosa.

predated Proechimys sp. at a height of only 20 cm Muñoz et al., 2016) and Proechimys sp. predation, there from the ground, this being an important event since C. are also records of two other species of terrestrial rodents hortulana rarely hunt near the ground, but it has been predated by C. hortulana, (Nectomys squamipes and observed sunbathing in low branches during the day Oligoryzomys nigripes), as well as two species of lizards (Marques et al., 2016). Noteworthy, C. hortulana used (Ameiva ameiva and Tropdurus sp.), both of terrestrial only the tail to hold its prey until it died (Fig. 1A). This habits (Pizzatto et al., 2009). The predation records behaviour is interesting because it shows that arboreal of terrestrial animals by C. hortulana are indicative snakes, which have strong tails for climbing trees, also that the habit of near-ground hunting is a behaviour use it to hold and kill their prey. The ingestion started frequently used by the species, despite a predominance from the head of Proechimys sp. and lasted 33 min and of capturing prey with arboreal habits. 18 sec. Ingestion was completed at 23:19 h, thus the Several factors can influence such behaviour in C. entire event (predation to ingestion) took approximately hotulana, such as low availability of food resources in the 58 minutes (Fig. 1B). After this, the snake rose to a higher forest canopy and high intraspecific competition height of approximately 4.5 m in a nearby tree. for prey. These points may be related to the fact that the Despite few reports, the predation of a terrestrial forest area where the event was observed was a reserve rodent by Corallus sp. is not an isolated event. Yánez- with high deforestation in its surroundings, therefore Muñoz et al. (2016) reported a specimen of Hylaeamys functioning as a refuge area for individuals who have perenensis in the stomach of C. hortulana at Yasuní lost their habitats. National Park, Ecuador. The species in question, equal Studies on the feeding habits of C. hortulana are to Proechimys, have terrestrial habits (Bonvicino et al., important to better understand its natural history and 2008; Reis et al., 2011). to appreciate its contribution to the ecosystem balance. The fact that the snake chose to seek its prey so close Reports of this nature help to understand the feeding to the ground is interesting, because it reinforces the habits of C. hortulana in the wild. idea of Yánez-Muñoz et al. (2016) that C. hotulana´s diet tends to vary for mammals as the animal grows in Acknowledgments. We thank the military police of Rondônia body length and that they are active and ambush hunters, State, Brazil, and the Batalhão de Operações Especiais for seeking their prey at ground level. logistical support and for authorising the research (CODE Besides the record of Hylaeamys perenensis (Yánez- 0011882179 and CRC F6DFCD02). We thank the Conselho Predation of Proechimys sp. by Corallus hortulana, southern Brazilian Amazon 747

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Accepted by Michael Jowers