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Chirocephalus diaphanus (A) and Cyzicus tetracerus (B) sampled on the 27th of February 2017 in a temporary freshwater wetland (Photo by Alessandro Barra).
Source publication
The diet of the Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia is poorly documented with only the most common prey groups known, namely small fishes, amphibians, reptiles, crustaceans, molluscs, worms, leeches and plant material. Here, the first observations of three small crustaceans, Branchiopoda Triops cancriformis (Notostraca), Chirocephalus diaphanus...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... most abundant prey available for the Spoonbills were Branchiopoda (i.e., crustaceans), which had likely concentrated in the flooded area upon drought-action. The precise composition of the crustaceans included Notostraca Triops cancriformis (up to 70 mm in length excluding cercopods), Anostraca Chirocephalus diaphanus (up to 42 mm in length) see Fig. 1A, and Spinicaudata Cyzicus tetracerus (up to 20 mm in length) see Fig. 1B (F. Marrone, pers. comm.). Importantly, much smaller branchiopods with lengths between 1-4 mm such as Pleuroxus letourneuxi, Coronatella elegans, Macrothrix hirsuticornis and Ceriodaphnia cf. quadrangula (Anomopoda), as well as ostracods and unidentified cyclopoid ...
Context 2
... most abundant prey available for the Spoonbills were Branchiopoda (i.e., crustaceans), which had likely concentrated in the flooded area upon drought-action. The precise composition of the crustaceans included Notostraca Triops cancriformis (up to 70 mm in length excluding cercopods), Anostraca Chirocephalus diaphanus (up to 42 mm in length) see Fig. 1A, and Spinicaudata Cyzicus tetracerus (up to 20 mm in length) see Fig. 1B (F. Marrone, pers. comm.). Importantly, much smaller branchiopods with lengths between 1-4 mm such as Pleuroxus letourneuxi, Coronatella elegans, Macrothrix hirsuticornis and Ceriodaphnia cf. quadrangula (Anomopoda), as well as ostracods and unidentified cyclopoid ...
Context 3
... most abundant prey available for the Spoonbills were Branchiopoda (i.e., crustaceans), which had likely concentrated in the flooded area upon drought-action. The precise composition of the crustaceans included Notostraca Triops cancriformis (up to 70 mm in length excluding cercopods), Anostraca Chirocephalus diaphanus (up to 42 mm in length) see Fig. 1A, and Spinicaudata Cyzicus tetracerus (up to 20 mm in length) see Fig. 1B (F. Marrone, pers. comm.). Importantly, much smaller branchiopods with lengths between 1-4 mm such as Pleuroxus letourneuxi, Coronatella elegans, Macrothrix hirsuticornis and Ceriodaphnia cf. quadrangula (Anomopoda), as well as ostracods and unidentified cyclopoid ...
Citations
... In turn, the wintering in south-eastern Sicily is less regular and abundant, probably the abandonment of the practice of salt cultivation may have adversely affected this species. Despite, there are former salinas and natural, temporary ponds in south-eastern Sicily, their fish fauna is absent or has little abundance, therefore, Spoonbills mainly forage on invertebrates such as Branchiopods in those areas (Surdo 2020). Invertebrates have irregular life cycles because they are connected to the water level and their density can be low or they may be totally absent from the area. ...
The Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) is a migratory waterbird. We used the confirmed observations of colour-ringed individuals (2,735 specimens) of the Hungarian population collected outside the Carpathian Basin between May 2003 and February 2023. 546 Spoonbills occurred in 28 countries. They used mainly the Central Mediterranean Flyway, however, some individuals were seen along the East Atlantic Flyway or the East Mediterranean Flyway. Three individuals were observed north of the Alps, too. A small proportion of Spoonbills crossed the Sahara and they occurred in the Sahel zone, between Sudan in the east and Senegal and Mauritania in the west. A few individuals were observed on Saharan wetlands in Algeria during winter. The most important destination for the Hungarian (Pannonian) population during the migration is Tunisia, where many of them spend the winter, primarily in the tidal area of the Gulf of Gabes. The first adults reached North Africa (Tunisia) on 28 July during their southward migration, while the last ones stayed there until 23 April. The first observation of juveniles in North Africa (Tunisia) happened on 31 August. Immature, 2- and 3-cyold birds spend the summer in unknown numbers in Tunisia. The majority of Pannonian Spoonbills migrate through the Balkans and Italy and some stay there to winter, mainly in Italy. Some of the immatures spent the summer in Italy. In southern Europe, the peak of the spring migration was in March, and the peak of the autumn migration was in September. There was also a difference in the migration of different age groups: in Southern Europe, the migration peak of adult birds falls between March and April, while most of the immatures were observed in May and June during northward migration. The peak of the southward migration in all age groups was observed in September. In the southern part of Europe, there may still be adults migrating north on 13 May, while other adults may already migrate southward on 15 May. The earliest juvenile migrating south was documented on 30 June in Italy.
