Diet of the lizard Mabuya agilis (Sauria; Scincidae) in an insular habitat (Ilha Grande, RJ, Brazil)

Abstract

We examined the stomach contents of 21 specimens of Mabuya agilis (Sauria; Scincidae) collected during February 2001 at the restinga habitat of Praia do Sul, in Ilha Grande, RJ, Brazil. Diet was composed of various types of small arthropods, with no plant material being eaten. Spiders were the most important items in the diet, followed by orthopterans. Apart from the absence of isopterans, the diet of Mabuya agilis from this insular area was similar to those of other conspecific mainland populations. This suggests that factors such as insularity and the absence of other small sympatric lizards may not have a significant effect on the feeding habits of the Praia do Sul population.

Similar feeding ecologies, different morphologies in Liolaemus pictus (Duméril & Bibron, 1837) (liolaemidae) from Chiloé archipelago, Chile

“…These results are very similar to the once described by Vidal and Sabat (2010) and previously Ortiz (1974) in a mainland population. The same lack of divergence in the dietary composition has also been described for another species of lizard present in Ilha Grande, Brazil (Rocha et al 2004). The relative importance values are higher in Antillanca than Chiloé, suggesting a potential higher abundance of insects in the mainland.…”

“…This situation could be explained by a precondition to herbivory present on the species, idea that has been previously suggested (Herrel et al 2004). However, this tendency differs from what has been reported for the insular population of the lizard Mabuya agilis in the island of Ilha Grande, Brazil, where the prey size is affected by lizard body and head size (Rocha et al 2004). In terms of behavioral ecology, there are studies that show big be-havioral differences between insular and mainland populations of lizards.…”

“…The most studied morphological differentiation associate to diet is the island-mainland isolation (Olsen and Valido 2003). This is explained by the absence or reduction in predators on island in comparison to the mainland, which increases intraspecific competition and could produce dietary changes (Rocha et al 2004;Godínez-Álvarez 2004). Specifically in reptiles, it has been shown that in conditions of isolation they can reach high population densities (density compensation) because of the absence of predators.…”

A summary of reptile and anuran amphibian species from Brazilian sandy coastal plains: 31 years of sampling efforts of the “Laboratório de Ecologia de Vertebrados, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro”

“…nativo, G. abaetensis, G. littoralis and Contomastix lacertoides (Duméril & Bibron, 1839) from 16 populations from different sandy coastal plains along the Brazilian coast and we observed that these five species (one parthenogenetic and four bisexual) are somewhat similar in their reproductive characteristics as, for example, clutch size (Menezes and Rocha, 2013). Another important contribution of our studies regards the knowledge on the biology and ecology of skinks (Mabuyidae) in restingas: parasites (Cunha- Barros and Rocha, 1995;Vrcibradic et al, 2000, diet (Vrcibradic and Rocha, 1995, 1996Rocha et al, 2004c), microhabitat use (Vrcibradic and Rocha, 1996;, thermal ecology (Rocha and Vrcibradic, 1996;Rocha, 2002a, 2004), and reproduction (Rocha and Vrcibradic, 1999;. Autoecological studies were also done on one of the commonest and widest-ranging species in the coastal sandy plains, the tropidurid Tropidurus torquatus, with studies addressing diet (Bergallo and Rocha, 1994;Fialho et al, 2000), thermal ecology and activity patterns (Bergallo and Rocha, 1993;Teixeira-Filho et al, 1996;Hatano et al, 2001), reproduction (Van Sluys et al, 2010), and parasitism by chigger mites (Cunha-Barros and Cunha-Barros et al, 2003) and by helminths (Ribas et al, 1998;Vrcibradic et al, 2000).…”