Opportunistic predation of Carollia brevicauda (Schinz, 1821) (Chiroptera: Phylostomidae) by Marmosa demerarae (Thomas, 1905) (Marsupialia: Didelphidae) in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

Bat predator-prey interactions are still poorly known. Following this diagnosis, this work aims to report an event of opportunistic predation of silky short-tailed bat (Carollia brevicauda) by Long-furred woolly mouse opossum (Marmosa demerarae) in the Brazilian Amazon. The event took place on April 10, 2021, in a cocoa plantation. The bat individual that was preyed upon was an inactive adult female trapped in a mist net, approximately 40 cm from the ground. The predation of bats that are trapped in mist nets reinforces the idea of opportunistic predation and may explain the consumption of a vertebrate by an insectivorous marsupial.

Predação do lagarto papa-vento Norops fuscoauratus (Squamata: Dactyloidae) pela cuíca Marmosa demerarae (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae)

“…Até o presente, apenas um caso de predação de vertebrado havia sido registrado para M. demerarae, em que esta predou um indivíduo do morcego Carollia brevicauda (Schinz, 1821), que foi capturado em uma rede de neblina (Alencastre-Santos et al, 2022). Em um estudo conduzido em área de mangue, no leste da Amazônia, observou-se alta frequência de decápodes na dieta de M. demerarae, com predominância de insetos da ordem Coleoptera (Fernandes et al, 2006).…”