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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter March 14, 2016

Predation upon small mammals by Caluromys lanatus (Didelphimorphia: Didelphidae) and Callithrix penicillata (Primates: Callitrichidae) in the Brazilian savanna

  • Nícholas F. de Camargo , Nayara Y. Sano and Emerson M. Vieira EMAIL logo
From the journal Mammalia

Abstract

The identification of interactions by predation in field can be considered as valuable complementary information for studies on feeding and interaction ecology. Here we report and describe two cases of opportunistic predation upon small mammals in forests of the Brazilian savanna (Cerrado): by the didelphid brown-eared woolly opossum Caluromys lanatus on the sigmodontine rodent Rhipidomys macrurus, and by the black-tufted-ear marmoset Callithrix penicillata on the didelphid Gracilianus agilis. Our observations suggest that opportunistic predation events on vertebrates can be advantageous for animals that feed mainly on plant items, as a way to obtain protein-rich resources.


Corresponding author: Emerson M. Vieira, Laboratório de Ecologia de Vertebrados, Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, CP 04457, Universidade de Brasília (UnB), Brasília, DF, 70919-970, DF, Brazil, e-mail:

Acknowledgments:

We are grateful to the staff of the Jardim Botânico de Brasília and the Fazenda Água Limpa, for the authorization and support of our fieldwork. While conducting this research, EMV received a personal research grant from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Brazil (No 308992/2013-0). Partial financial support was provided by a research grant to EMV from CNPq (No. 481858/2012-1). This study also had the support of the American Society of Mammalogists through Latin American student field grant, granted to NFC.

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Received: 2015-7-7
Accepted: 2016-1-28
Published Online: 2016-3-14
Published in Print: 2017-3-1

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