Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles The Diet of the Hispaniolan Snake Antillophis parvifrons (Colubridae) Author(s): Robert W. Henderson, Brian I. Crother, Teresa A. Noeske-Hallin, Albert Schwartz, Craig R. Dethloff Source: Journal of Herpetology, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Dec., 1987), pp. 330-334 Published by: Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1563975 Accessed: 16/09/2008 17:17 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. 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Specimens from collections at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), the Museum of at Harvard Uni- The Diet of the Snake Comparative Zoology Hispaniolan versity (MCZ), and the Milwaukee Public Museum Antillophis parvifrons (Colubridae) (MPM) were examined; the Franz and Gicca material is stored at the Florida State Museum at the University Robert W. Henderson,' Brian I. Crother,2 Teresa A. of Florida (FSM). Details of methods used for nec- Noeske-Hallin,' Albert Schwartz,3 and Craig R. ropsies and determination of prey volumes appear Dethloff4. elsewhere (Henderson 1982, 1984a). The Antillophis were collected throughout the year at many localities 1Sectionof VertebrateZoology, Milwaukee Public Museum, throughout Hispaniola (including satellite islands) Milwaukee, Wisconsin53233, USA, 2Departmentof Biol- over a span of about 70 years. ogy, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida 33124, We compared snake size (SVL), prey size and diet USA, 3BiologyDepartment, Miami-Dade CommunityCol- composition for five localities/regions. Localities in = lege-North Campus,Miami, Florida 33167, USA, 4427E. Haiti were: 1) Dept. Sud: St. Croix; (N 14 specimens/ Van Beck Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin53207, USA. 8 prey items) 2) Dept. L'Ouest: Tiote (11/8) and 3) Savane Zombi; (12/12) 4) Ile de la Gonave (several sites) (22/6); 5) we lumped specimens from several Snakes of the xenodontine colubrid genus Antillo- localities in the Barahona Peninsula of the Dominican phis occur on Cuba, several of its satellite islands (A. Republic (30/18). andreae), and on Hispaniola and many of its satellite Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of vari- islands (A. parvifrons);in addition, a single specimen ance (ANOVA), analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), of A. parvifronshas been taken on Little Inagua Island Student's t test and regression. Differences among in the Bahamas (Schwartz and Thomas, 1975). Both group means were determined with Student-New- species of Antillophis are geographically and ecolog- man-Keuls (SNK) test. Prey species volume data were ically widespread and have differentiated into a num- logarithmically transformed prior to analysis to nor- ber of subspecies (six in A. andreae and nine in A. malize their distribution. All analyses were per- parvifrons). formed using the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) Antillophisparvifrons is the most widespread (rivaled package. only by the arboreal Uromacercatesbyi) and abundant The 649 Antillophisparvifrons yielded 199 prey items species of colubrid on Hispaniola. It is one of the identifiable to genus; of those, 89 were reliably iden- smallest Hispaniolan colubrids: mean snout-vent tified to species. Table 1 provides a list of prey species length (SVL) in our sample was 366 ? 6 mm (range and their contributions to A. parvifronsdiet, and Fig. 153-557), and it is similar to some North American 1 compares percentages of frequency vs volume con- garter snakes (Thamnophis)in general habitus. tributions of selected prey genera and species. Antillophisparvifrons is an active forager that is diur- Ariolis lizards predominate in the diet of A. parvif- nal and ground-dwelling. It is ubiquitous in habitat, rons in frequency of occurrence (70.9%) and percent ranging from lush tropical forest to xeric scrub. It has of total prey volume (61.8%).The next most common been taken at altitudes from sea level to 1708 m prey genus is Eleutherodactylusfrogs (12% frequency, (Schwartz, 1980). The most recent taxonomic review 15.9% volume), followed by Sphaerodactyluslizards is that by Thomas and Schwartz (1965); Maglio (1970) (4.6% frequency, 1.1%volume) and Ameiva (4.6% fre- discussed skull morphology, zoogeography and ori- quency, 6.5% volume). No invertebrates were en- gin. Photographs of juvenile and adult A. parvifrons countered in our sample. appear in Sajdak and Henderson (1982); a photograph Among the anoles, Anolis cybotes was vastly more of an adult A. andreaeappears in Schwartz and Hen- common in the diet than any other species (34.8% derson (1985). frequency and 42.4% volume); A. coelestinus was the Despite its wide distribution and relative abun- next most commonly eaten (14.6%frequency and 17.7% dance on Hispaniola, little is known about the natural volume). Eleutherodactylusabbotti and Osteopilus dom- history of A. parvifrons.Franz and Gicca (1982) pro- inicensiswere the anurans most frequently eaten, but vided information on diet and reproduction for a col- four of the five 0. dominicensiswere froglets consumed lection of snakes from Ile de la Gonave, Haiti; and by a single snake, and thus Osteopiluscontributed lit- Sajdak and Henderson (1982) added a note on clutch tle to total prey volume. size, description of hatchlings and defensive behavior Fig. 2. illustrates the relationship between snake for animals from Isla Saona, Dominican Republic. In SVL and prey taxa and prey size. Prey size (volume) this paper, we present information on the diet of A. consumed depends on snake SVL (Fig. 2, F = 6.8, P < parvifronsbased on examination of 649 specimens, and 0.01). Small A. parvifrons(<30.0 cm SVL) ate frogs and discuss diet in terms of foraging mode, prey size, lizards that are small as adults (i.e., Eleutherodactylus relative prey abundance, and geography. and Sphaerodactylus)and juveniles of species with Five hundred and sixty specimens of Antillophispar- larger adult sizes (e.g., Anolis coelestinus). Larger A. vifrons from three collections were necropsied at the parvifrons(>30.0 cm SVL) continue to eat small prey Milwaukee Public Museum, and we have incorpo- items, but also include larger items of a fairly wide L NOTES 331 70 [ Percent 60 * Frequency LI PercentVolume 50 ii -4-' * 0 a) L 30 * 20 * * 10 I^:*:*:*:*:*:-:::Wff...:: *???~ IrHi ""' o - i O M M M M h ft if i mif Eleuth. Sphaero. Anolis Leioceph. Anolis Anolis Ameiva Mus species species species species cybotes coelest. chry. musculus FIG. 1. Percent contribution by frequency and volume of selected prey genera and species. Percentages for genera were calculated separately from percentages for species. Contributions of genera (e.g., Eleutherodacty- lus species) should be compared against other genera, and contributions of species (e.g., Anolis cybotes) should be compared against other species. Abbreviations used are: Eleuth. = Eleutherodactylus;Sphaero. = Sphaerodac- tylus; coelest. = coelestinus;Leioceph. = Leiocephalus;chry. = chrysolaema. taxonomic diversity, and of a size (>2.0 cm3) that those snakes from the Barahona Peninsula sample small A. parvifrons are perhaps unable to subdue or (ANOVA, F = 3.52; P < 0.01; SNK, P < 0.05). Gonave swallow. snakes were the only ones to eat mice (N = 2 snakes) The largest prey species was Mus musculus taken by and took more Ameiva than did snakes from other snakes from Ile de la Gonave, Haiti; we have esti- localities; if the Mus are eliminated from the Gonave mated the mouse volumes to be 12-14 cm3. Surpris- sample, prey size is no longer significantly different ingly, the next largest prey items were two large from that in the Barahona sample. species of Eleutherodactylus(E. inoptatus, 11.0 cm3; E. With the exception of Darlingtonia haetiana, which hypostenor,8.0 cm3). Ameiva chrysolaemafollowed with feeds almost exclusively on Eleutherodactylus (Hen- a mean volume of 6.5 cm3. The most frequently eaten derson and Schwartz, 1986), the diet of Antillophis species of Eleutherodactylusand Sphaerodactylus had parvifronsis, in general, similar to those of other His- volumes ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 cm3. Anolis cybotes paniolan colubrids (Henderson, 1984a): it preys pre- and A. coelestinus had mean volumes of 3.1 cm3 and dominantly on lizards of which a high percentage is 3.4 cm3, respectively. Anolis; in fact, ainong Hispaniolan colubrids, only U. There were geographic differences in Antillophis oxyrhynchus takes a greater proportion of Anolis than parvifronsSVL (ANOVA, F = 10.8, P < 0.0001). Snakes A. parvifrons (Henderson et al., 1987b). However, al- from Ile de la Gonave have a mean SVL significantly though taking a large proportion of anoles, A.