Predation of Phyllopezus Pollicaris by the Common Marmoset Callithrix Jacchus in the Caatinga Scrub of Northeastern Brazil

Herpetology Notes, volume 7: 547-549 (2014) (published online on 3 October 2014)

Predation of Phyllopezus pollicaris by the common marmoset Callithrix jacchus in the Caatinga scrub of northeastern Brazil

Tacyana Duarte Amora1,2*, Adilson de Oliveira Silva1, Breno Moura da Conceição1, Valter Levino Hirakuri1, Daniel Oliveira Santana2 and Stephen Francis Ferrari3

The Brazilian gecko, Phyllopezus pollicaris (Spix, In the present study, we report the predation of 1825), is one of the largest phyllodactylid species, and Phyllopezus pollicaris by a common marmoset at the typical of the northeastern region, where it is associated Grota do Angico Natural Monument, GANM (-9.683º,- with crevices in large rocky outcrops (Vanzolini et al., 38.516º; DATUM = WGS84; 180 m a.s.l.) between 1980). The species may reach 9 cm in rostrum-cloaca Poço Redondo and Canindé do São Francisco, Sergipe, length and is characterized by its translucent skin Brazil. marked with small granules and larger dorsal tubercles On 9th November 2012 at around 13:36 h, we were (Vanzolini et al., 1980; Alves et al., 2012). This lizard is observing a female marmoset when it perceived the typically nocturnal (Recorder et al., 2012), and is a sit- presence of the gecko, which was moving up the trunk and-wait forager that depends on visual cues to detect at a distance of 1.2 m from the monkey. The marmoset potential prey, which mainly include ants, termites, and watched the lizard for approximately three minutes before beetles (Vitt, 1995; Silva, 2008). pouncing and capturing it in a single movement. The The common marmoset, Callithrix jacchus (Erxleben, marmoset grasped the gecko by the trunk and returned 1777), is a small platyrrhine monkey endemic to to its previous resting site. The prey was consumed the Brazilian Northeast, where it occurs in both the head-ﬁrst (Figure 1a), in typical marmoset fashion, with coastal Atlantic Forest and more arid areas, such as the part of the head (possibly the skull) subsequently being arboreal Caatinga scrub (Rylands & Mittermeier, 2013). discarded. The monkey then pulled out the lizard’s This diurnal species feeds on a wide variety of items, viscera using its mouth and discarded them (Figure including fruit, leaves, plant exudates, and animal prey, 1b). Having ingested approximately half of the gecko including both vertebrates and invertebrates (Rylands (Figure 1c), the marmoset dropped the remains, which and Farias, 1993; Digby et al., 2011; Amora et al., fell to the ground, and then continued resting as before. 2013). These monkeys are highly skilled predators with As an adult P. pollicaris weighs approximately 10 g a highly varied behavioral repertoire (Schiel, 2010). (Vitt, 1986), the marmoset may have ingested around 5 g of prey, which would represent ~1.5% of the body weight of an adult C. jacchus (Stevenson and Rylands, 1988; Clarke, 1994). The predation of lizards is not easily observed in the 1 Graduate Program in Ecology and Conservation (PPEC), wild (Malkmus, 2000; Aguiar and Di-Bernardo, 2004). Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Cidade Universitária Prof. The principal predators of these reptiles are snakes José Aloísio de Campos - CEP 49100-000 - São Cristóvão, (Rocha and Vrcibradic, 1998; Silva and Araújo, 2008), Brazil. other lizards (Rocha and Vrcibradic, 1998; Araújo, 1991), 2 Graduate Program in Zoology, Universidade Federal da mammals (Silva and Araújo, 2008), and birds (Gallup, Paraíba, Cidade Universitária, CEP 58059-900, João Pessoa, 1973; Constantini et al., 2007). However, predator-prey Brazil. interactions between primates and lizards are poorly 3 Department of Ecology, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Cidade Universitária Prof. José Aloísio de Campos - CEP documented, although there are some records for C. 49100-000 - São Cristóvão, Brazil. jacchus (Digby and Barreto, 1998) and other marmosets * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] (Ferrari, 1988; Passamani and Rylands, 2000), as well 548 Tacyana Duarte Amora et al.

Figure 1. Sequence of events recorded during the present study. Female marmoset (a) biting the head of the gecko, (b) extracting the viscera, (c) consuming the upper half of the body.

as other platyrrhine monkeys (Freese and Oppenheimer, in the semiarid region of Brazil. Journal of Ethnobiology and 1981). In few cases, however, has the prey species been Ethnomedicine 8:27 identified (Canale et al., 2013; Rodrigues et al., 2013). Amora, T.D.; Beltrão-Mendes, R.; Ferrari, S.F. (2013): Use of Alternative Plant Resources by Common Marmosets (Callithrix The Caatinga scrublands is a region that dramatically jacchus) in the Semi-Arid Caatinga Scrub Forests of Northeastern modifies its scenery throughout the year though provides Brazil. American Journal of Primatology 75:333-341. just few microhabits that can be used as refugee Araújo, A.F.B. (1991): Structure of a White sand dune lizard for lizards (Denno et al., 2005; Santos et al., 2011). community of coastal Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Biology 51: Therefore, predation events are more likely to occur, and 857-65. consequently it’s observation, being able to improve the Canale, G.R.; Freitas, M.A.; Andrade, L.L. (2013): Predation of lizards by a critically-endangered primate (Sapajus understanding of the predator-prey relationship and it’s xanthosternos) in a tropical biodiversity hotspot in Brazil. ecological process. Herpetology Notes 6:323-326. Clarke, J.M. (1994): The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus). Acknowledgments. The fieldwork reported here was authorized ANZCCART News 7: 1-8. by the Sergipe State Secretariat for the Environment and Constantini, D.; Bruner, E.; Fanfani, A.; Dell’Omo, G. (2007). Hydrological Resources (SEMARH/SE) through license Male-biased predation of western Green lizards by Eurasian #032.000.02054/2011-6. Research was supported by the Brazilian Kestrels. Naturwissenschaften 94: 1015-1020pp. National Research Council, CNPq (projects 302747/2008-7 Denno, R.F.; Finke, D.L.; Langellotto, G.A. (2005): Direct and and 303994/2011-8), and CAPES (Brazilian Higher Education indirect effects of vegetation Council) for providing graduate stipends. We would like to thank structure and habitat complexity on predator-prey and predator- the personnel at Grota do Angico for their support, James Cardozo predator interactions. In: Ecology of Predator-prey Interections, for field assistance and David Cho for English review. p. 211-239. Barbosa, P. and Castellanos, I., Ed., Oxford, U.K. Digby, L.J.; Barreto, C.E. (1996): Activity and ranging patterns in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus).. In: Adaptive References Radiations of Neotropical Primates, p.173-185. Norkonk, Aguiar, L.F.S.; Di-Bernardo, M. (2004): Diet and feeding M.A.; Rosenberger, A.L.; Garber, P. A., Eds., New York, Plenum behavior of Helicops infrataeniatus (Serpentes: Colubridae: press. Xenodontinae) in southern Brazil. Studies on Neotropical Fauna Digby, L.J.; Ferrari, S.F.; Saltzmann, W.J. (2011): Callitrichines: and Environment 39:7-14. the role of competition in cooperatively breeding species. In: Alves, R.R.N.; Filho, G.A.P.; Vieira, KS.; Souto, W.M.S.; Primates in perspective, p. 91-107. Campbell, C. J.; Fuentes, A.; Mendonça, L.E.T.; Montenegro, P.F.G.P.; Almeida, W.O.; Mackinnon, K. C.; Bearder, S. K.; Stumpf, R. M., Eds., New Vieira, W.L.S. (2012): A zoological catalogue of hunted repitiles York, Oxford University Press. Predation of Phyllopezus pollicaris by the common marmoset in northeastern Brazil 549

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