SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.43 issue1Valuation of ecosystem services of guadua bamboo (Guadua angustifolia) forest in the southwestern of Pereira, ColombiaDefecation rate of Red brocket deer (Mazama temama) in captivity author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Services on Demand

Journal

Article

Indicators

Related links

  • On index processCited by Google
  • Have no similar articlesSimilars in SciELO
  • On index processSimilars in Google

Share


Caldasia

Print version ISSN 0366-5232On-line version ISSN 2357-3759

Caldasia vol.43 no.1 Bogotá Jan./June 2021  Epub Mar 24, 2021

https://doi.org/10.15446/caldasia.v43n1.83517 

Notas breves

Updates on the diet items of Conophis lineatus (Squamata: Dipsadidae)

Actualizaciones sobre la dieta de Conophis lineatus (Squamata: Dipsadidae)

Carlos Javier Pérez-Alvarado1 
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4745-7967

Victor Vásquez-Cruz1  * 
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5446-1855

1 PIMVS Herpetario Palancoatl, Avenida 19 número 5525, Colonia Nueva Esperanza, Córdoba, Veracruz, México, clelia.scytalina@gmail.com


ABSTRACT

Conophis lineatus is a widely distributed species, from Mexico to Costa Rica, recognized for its wide diet breadth. Here we present two feeding events under natural conditions, as well as a review of literature on the species in the diet of C. lineatus.

Keywords: Anura; Incilius valliceps; Central american Road Guarder; Smilisca baudinii

RESUMEN

Conophis lineatus es una especie con extensa distribución, desde México hasta Costa Rica, reconocida por su amplia dieta. Aquí presentamos dos eventos de alimentación en condiciones naturales, así como una revisión de la literatura sobre las especies en la dieta de C. lineatus.

Palabras clave: Anura; Incilius valliceps; Guarda Caminos Centroamericana; Smilisca baudinii

Conophis lineatus (Duméril, Bibron and Duméril, 1854) is a colubrid with a distribution on the Atlantic versant from Veracruz and on the Pacific versant from western Chiapas southward to Costa Rica (Heimes 2016). In Mexico there are three subspecies: C. l. lineatus (Duméril, Bibron and Duméril, 1854), C. l. concolor (Cope, 1867) and C. l. dunni (Smith, 1942). This snake is recognized for its wide diet although having a preference for lizards though; In general, its diet includes toads, frogs, lizards, birds and their eggs, small mammals, snakes, and members of its own species (Pérez-Higareda et al. 2007, Heimes 2016). Here, we present a new item in the diet of Conophis lineatus lineatus in Veracruz, México as well as a literature review of dietary items C. lineatus (sensu lato) where at least the genus of the prey is given (Table 1).

Table 1 List of dietary items recorded for Conophis lineatus. 

On 12 June 2014, around 11:00 h, we found an adult of Conophis lineatus preying an adult individual of common toad Incilius valliceps (Wiegmann, 1833) (Fig. 1a) in a deciduous forest fragment in the locality Tejeria (19°o8'59" N, 96° 13'11.2" W; WGS 84; elev. 5 m) municipality of Veracruz, Veracruz, Mexico. At the beginning of our observation, the snake was just starting to eat the toad from the head, as an antidepredatory method, the toad inflated its body, and the feeding process took about 30 min. The snake had a snout-vent length (SVL) of 870 mm. Subsequently, on 13 June 2014, around 9:00 h, in the same locality, we found an adult of C. lineatus (SVL=790 mm) eating a corpse of an adult of Smilisca bauidinii (Duméril and Bibron, 1841) (previously observed) in a remarkable state of decomposition (Fig. 1b).

Figure 1 Records of adult Conophis lineatus prédation events in Veracruz, México. a. on an adult Incilius valliceps b. eating a corpse of adult of Smilisca bauidinii 

For the first observation, we determined the toad species based on two criteria: (1) distribution, which suggest two potential species Incilius valliceps and Rhinella horribilis (Wiegmann, 1833) (Oliver et al. 2009), (2) the prey had short limbs, narrow head compared to the body, characteristics that R. horribilis does not possess (Oliver et al. 2009). In the second case, we had previously observed the corpse and, based on its spotted dorsal pattern and the bars on the forelimbs on a bluish-green background, we determined the identity as S. baudinii (Duellman, 2001).

Amphibians are an important part of trophic webs, being predators of a great variety of species, as well as prey to a large group of animals (Duellman and Trueb 1994). Smilisca baudinii has been reported in several cases of prey-predator interactions with snakes (e.g. Aguilar-López et al. 2019), as well as other vertebrates (e.g. Vásquez-Cruz 2020). Nevertheless, few cases of predation have been reported in Incilius valliceps (e.g. Avalos-Vela and Vásquez-Cruz 2018), as in other bufonid species (e.g. Hernández-Gallegos et al. 2019). It is suggested that the secretion from the glands of certain bufonids causes nausea in vertebrates, shortness of breath, and muscle paralysis, and may even lead to death (e.g. Shine and Wiens 2010).

This represents the first report of predator-prey interaction between Conophis lineatus and Incilius valliceps and the second record of Smilisca baudinii as prey of C. lineatus (Greding 1972). Furthermore, this is the first case of C. lineatus as scavenger. Conophis lineatus is a snake with a wide range of prey species (Table 1), however, it shows preference for lizards of the family Teidae (Stafford and Henderson 2006), likely because these lizards are very abundant. Our observation of C. lineatus as a scavenger suggests a low selectivity, considering any species that it manages to catch as a potential prey.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Arleth Reynoso Martínez for valuable suggestions that improved the manuscript, Luis Canseco-Márquez for the verification of the species prey and two anonymous reviewers for their comments from which the manuscript greatly benefited.

LITERATURE CITED

Aguilar-López JL, Ortiz-Lozada L, Pelayo-Martínez J, Hernández-Jímenez CA. 2019. Four cases of prey-predator interaction (anuran-snake) throug their geographical distribution. Rev. Latinoam. Herpetol. 2(1)31-34. [ Links ]

Avalos-Vela R, Vásquez-Cruz V. 2018. Depredación de Lithobates vaillanti sobre Incilius valliceps en Veracruz, México. Bol. Asoc. Herpetol. Esp. 29(2)31-32. [ Links ]

Duellman WE. 2001. The Hylid Frogs of Middle America. New York: Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. [ Links ]

Duellman WE, Trueb L. 1994. Biology of Amphibians. Baltimore, Maryland: John Hopkins University Press. [ Links ]

Gómez-de Rengil GM, Escalante-Pasos JA. 2017. Conophis lineatus (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854) Diet. Mesoam. Herpetol. 4(1):180-181. [ Links ]

Greding EJ Jr. 1972. Mordedura y alimentación de la culebra centroamericana Conophis lineatus dunni Smith. Rev. Biol. Trop. 20(1):29-30. [ Links ]

Heimes P. 2016. Herpetofauna Mexicana Vol. 1: Snakes of Mexico. Germany: Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main. [ Links ]

Henderson RW, Binder MH. 1981. Excavating behavior in Conophis lineatus (Serpentes, Colubridae). Herpetol. Rev. 12(4):103-104. [ Links ]

Hernández-Gallegos O, Rodríguez-Romero F, Granados-González G, Méndez FR. 2008. Conophis lineatus (Road Guarder) Diet. Herpetol. Rev. 39(4):467. [ Links ]

Hernández-Gallegos O, López-Moreno AE, Pérez-Pérez A. 2019. Depredación masiva del sapo de pinos, Incilius occidentalis (Anura: Bufonidae). Caldasia. 41(2)450-452. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.15446/caldasia.v41n2.69735Links ]

Mays JD. 2010. Conophis lineatus (Road Guarder) Diet. Herpetol. Rev. 41(4):500. [ Links ]

Mittleman MB. 1944. Feeding Habits of a Central American Opisthoglyph Snake. Copeia. 1944(2):122. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/1438771Links ]

Oliver López L, Woolrich Piña GA, Lemos Espinal JA. 2009. La familia Bufonidae en México. México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. [ Links ]

Pérez-Higareda G, López-Luna MA, Smith HM. 2007. Serpientes de la Región de los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, México. Guía de Identificación Ilustrada. México D.F.: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. [ Links ]

Rodríguez GJ, Pérez-Higareda G, Smith HM, Chiszar D. 1998. Micrurus diastema and M. limbatus (Diastema Coral Snake and Tuxtlan Coral Snake, respectively). Diet. Herpetol. Rev. 29(1):45. [ Links ]

Scott NJ. 1983. Conophis lineatus (guarda camino). In: Janzen D, editor. Costa Rican Natural History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 392-393. [ Links ]

Stafford PJ, Henderson RW. 2006. Ecological traits of the colubrid snake Conophis lineatus concolor (Guarda Camino) in the Yucatan Peninsula. S. American J. Herpeto. 1(3):210-217. doi: https://doi.org/10.2994/1808-9798(2006)1[210:ETOTCS]2.0.CO;2Links ]

Shine R, Wiens JJ. 2010. The ecological impact of invasive cane toads (Bufo marinus) in Australia. Q. Rev. Biol. 85(3)253-291. doi: https://doi.org/10.1086/655116Links ]

Vásquez-Cruz V. 2020. Smilisca baudinii (Mexican Treefrog). Predation. Herpetol. Rev. 51(1):104. [ Links ]

Villa J. 1969. Notes on Conophis nevermamzi, an addition to the Nicaraguan herpetofauna. J. Herpeto. 3(3-4):169-171. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/1562959Links ]

Wellman J. 1963. A revision of snakes of the genus Conophis (Family Colubridae, from Middle America). Univ. Kan. Publ. Museum Nat. Hist. 15:251-295. [ Links ]

1Citation: Pérez-Alvarado C J. y Vásquez-Cruz V. 2021. Updates on the diet items of Conophis lineatus (Squamata: Dipsadidae). Caldasia 43(1):197-201. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.15446/caldasia.v43n1.83517.

PARTICIPATION OF AUTHORS CJPA performed the field work, VVC wrote the manuscript.

INTEREST CONFLICT The authors declare no conflict of interest

Received: November 26, 2019; Accepted: November 03, 2020

*Corresponding author: victorbiolvc@gmail.com

Creative Commons License This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License