USE OF UNDERSTORY FOR FRUGIVORY BY Thrichomys fosteri (RODENTIA, ECHIMYIDAE)

Abstract

Thrichomys fosteri (Rodentia, Echimyidae) is a terrestrial spiny rat displaying frugivorous/ herbivorous diet. Then, why eventually this terrestrial species uses the understory? Here, we report two events of use of understory for fruit feeding by the spiny rat. Monthly from October 2015 through July 2016, we sampled three sites in one woodland savannah fragment in the Pantanal ecoregion. Each site was 1 km apart from each other, and present five camera traps on understory (1.5 m height) in front of different fruit plant species. With an effort of 350 camera trap-days, we recorded twice the punaré on branch of Randia armata (Rubiaceae) feeding on its fruits. Our results highlight a feeding behaviour on understory by the terrestrial spiny rat, which contribute to the understanding of the species' natural history as well as point out questions for further investigations.

Phylogenetic, Allometric, and Ecological Factors Affecting Morphological Variation in the Scapula and Humerus of Spiny Rats (Rodentia: Echimyidae)

“…The similarity of Thrichomys with arboreal echimyids was concentrated in the broad, rounded head. These features suggest that Thrichomys species are capable of long and fast steps, favored by terrestrial locomotion, as well as wide movements of the glenohumeral joint, useful for climbing branches and rocks, a habit reported for this genus (Mares and Ojeda 1982;Hannibal et al 2019).…”

“…Green = arboreal, yellow = scansorial, blue = semiaquatic, brown = semi-fossorial, red = terrestrial. Adapted from Álvarez et al (2017) were allocated into five locomotor habits (terrestrial, semifossorial, semi-aquatic, arboreal, and scansorial) as per the literature (Galewski et al 2005;Fabre et al 2013a;Emmons et al 2015a;Hannibal et al 2019). Although some authors classify Thrichomys Trouessart, 1880 species as terrestrial (Galewski et al 2005;Neves and Pessôa, 2011;Olivares et al 2012;Tavares et al 2018;Carvalhaes et al 2019;Courcelle et al 2019), we considered them as scansorial, following other studies (Lacher and Alho 1989;Weisbecker and Schmid 2007;Patterson and Velasco 2008) and because Thrichomys has also been captured in trees (Hannibal et al 2019).…”

“…Adapted from Álvarez et al (2017) were allocated into five locomotor habits (terrestrial, semifossorial, semi-aquatic, arboreal, and scansorial) as per the literature (Galewski et al 2005;Fabre et al 2013a;Emmons et al 2015a;Hannibal et al 2019). Although some authors classify Thrichomys Trouessart, 1880 species as terrestrial (Galewski et al 2005;Neves and Pessôa, 2011;Olivares et al 2012;Tavares et al 2018;Carvalhaes et al 2019;Courcelle et al 2019), we considered them as scansorial, following other studies (Lacher and Alho 1989;Weisbecker and Schmid 2007;Patterson and Velasco 2008) and because Thrichomys has also been captured in trees (Hannibal et al 2019). The specimens examined are deposited in the collections of the Laboratório de Biologia e Parasitologia de Mamíferos Reservatórios Silvestres (LABPMR), the Museu Nacional da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (MN/ UFRJ), the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo (MZUSP), and the Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB) (Appendix 1).…”

Camera traps reveal the predation of artificial nests by free‐ranging Azara’s agoutis, Dasyprocta azarae Lichtenstein, 1823, in central Brazil

“…Given that the collection of these data was only possible through the use of camera traps, the findings of the present study highlight the value of this method, not only as a complementary tool for inventories, but also as an important source of information on the rare or cryptic behaviour of many animal species (e.g. Cove et al 2017or Hannibal et al 2019.…”