Activity budget, home range and diet of the Colombian night monkey (Aotus lemurinus) in peri-urban forest fragments

Diet and Feeding Ecology of the Critically Endangered San Martín Titi Monkey (Plecturocebus oenanthe) in Peru

“…Cultivated species can be important food resources for primates living in altered or degraded habitat. For example, researchers studying the Colombian night monkey (Aotus lemurinus) in periurban forest fragments observed that groups included two cultivated species in their top four most consumed plant species (Bustamante-Manrique et al, 2021). Plecturocebus oenanthe also relied heavily on hemiparasitic mistletoe species that occur commonly on trees and shrubs and are typically pollinated by birds, wind, or insects (Watson, 2001).…”

Arthropofauna consumed by the Andean night monkey (Aotus lemurinus) in a forest fragment at the Cordillera Central Colombia

“…has been recorded for several species of this broadly distributed primate genus. Night monkeys rely on ripe and fleshy fruits, and complement their diet with flowers, leaves and arthropods (Puertas et al 1992;Fernandez-Duque 2007;Wolovich et al 2010;Guzmán et al 2016;Bustamante-Manrique et al 2021;Montilla et al 2021) and occasionally with small vertebrates and bird eggs (Puertas et al 1992). Studies on night monkeys living both in the field and in captivity have recorded a few arthropod orders in their diet.…”

“…Castaño et al (2010) observed A. lemurinus consuming arthropods of the orders Araneae, Hemiptera and Lepidoptera, and Grajales-Suaza et al (2021) recorded the consumption of beetles (Coleoptera) of the genus Phyllophaga. Although most authors who have described the diet of night monkeys have reported arthropod consumption (Wright 1986;Arditi 1992;Puertas et al 1992;Castaño et al 2010;Wolovich et al 2010, Guzmán et al 2016Bustamante-Manrique et al 2021;Montilla et al 2021), none have been able to establish quantitative estimates of this item within the diet (Fernandez-Duque 2007) mainly because of the challenges imposed by the nocturnal and arboreal nature of these primates, which makes it difficult to determine the arthropods consumed.…”

“…Currently, this species is considered as Vulnerable according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), due to habitat loss and forest fragmentation, mainly as a result of agricultural and illicit crops expansion (Link et al 2021). In the last decade, the diet of A. lemurinus has been described by Castaño et al (2010), Guzmán et al (2016), Bustamante-Manrique et al (2021) and Montilla et al (2021) who have recorded that they spend approximately between 12 % of their feeding time foraging and eating arthropods. However, none of these previous studies has provided a detailed account of arthropods consumed by night monkeys.…”

“…We found 9 different insect families (5 Coleoptera, 3 Hemiptera and 1 Hymenoptera) in the diet of the Andean night monkey (Table 2). The beetles' families Elateridae and Curculionidae Duque 2007; Castaño et al 2010;Wolovich et al 2010;Bustamante-Manrique et al 2021;Grajales-Suaza et al 2021;Montilla et al 2021). Earlier studies have documented the consumption of cycads (Hemiptera), which belong to the family Cicadellidae (Fernandez-Duque 2007;Castaño et al 2010) and other studies report the consumption of beetles of the genus Phyllophaga, which belong to the family Scarabaeidae (Coleoptera; Grajales-Suaza et al 2021) as well as ants of the family Formicidae (Hymenoptera; Wright 1985Wright , 1994.…”