Food habits of snakes from Espigão do Oeste, Rondônia, Brazil

Abstract

The present study reports on food habits of snakes in Espigão do Oeste, Rondônia State (Southwestern Amazonia), Brazil. Snakes were recorded by time constrained search, pitfall traps with drift fences, captures by local inhabitants, and opportunistic sightings. The snakes collected had their stomachs and intestinal contents examined. Information on food habits was obtained for 89 specimens belonging to 31 species. The majority of the 114 items found (stomach contents and field observations) were adult frogs (38%), followed by mammals (16%), lizards (15%), mollusks (13%), birds (5%), and snakes (5%). The majority of snake species from Espigão do Oeste feed on lizards, as in Central Amazonia (Manaus). A smaller proportion of snakes in the Amazonia feed upon frogs in relation to the Pantanal, South and Southeastern Brazil. These differences may be due to greater proportion of Xenodontinae in extra-Amazonian communities, as many snakes in that clade prey upon frogs. Most of the frogs and lizards species recorded in stomach contents snakes are terrestrial, which should be associated with most species of analysed snakes (52%) foraging on the ground.