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Frequency of occurrence of four prey types (amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) in the diet of the Cuban Boa (Chilabothrus angulifer). Columns indicate the number of prey items and the number of snakes found consuming each resource.
Source publication
The Cuban Boa (Chilabothrus angulifer) is a top terrestrial predator in Cuba. References to prey species consumed by this boa date to when the first Europeans arrived in the region more than 500 years ago. However, long-term studies on its trophic ecology do not exist. The scarce and scattered records on its feeding habits indicate that this boa pr...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... portion (n = 14 items [4%]; n = 14 snakes). Mammals represented 54.7% of total prey items consumed (n = 192 items; n = 105 snakes), followed by birds (n = 145 items [41.3%]; n = 99 snakes), whereas amphibians (n = 7 items [2%]; n = 7 snakes) and reptiles (n = 7 items [2%]; n = 7 snakes) comprised only a small proportion of the diet (Table 1; Fig. 4). The prey species most frequently consumed were domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) (24.8%), Desmarest's Hutias (Capromys pilorides) (14.5%), two bat species (Jamaican Fruit-eating Bat [Artibeus jamaicensis]: 8.8%; Cuban Flower Bat [Phyllonycteris poeyi]: 6.0%), and House Rats (Rattus rattus) (7.7%); the remaining prey species were taken ...
Context 2
... (6) 6J, 1A SA 1 Gruiformes: Rallidae Purple Gallinule, Porphyrio martinicus (0.3%) 1 (1) -A SA 1 Passeriformes: Icteridae Greater Antillean Grackle, Quiscalus niger (0.3%) but 32 snakes (27.6%) contained two or more items (Table 2). Thus, for several prey species, the number of items recorded was higher than the number of snakes containing them ( Fig. 4; Table 1). The maximum number of prey items in a single boa was nine (n = 3 snakes; Table 2). In a single instance, a snake contained more than one prey species in its stomach (all bats; n = 6 items) (Tables 1 and 2, Appendix I). One snake (1.47 m SVL) was observed swallowing an adult Buffy Flower Bat (Erophylla sezekorni) while ...
Citations
... pilorides is the only hutia to occur sympatrically with other Cuban hutias (prehensile-tailed hutia, dwarf hutia, black-tailed hutia, Cabrera's hutia, and eared hutia- Silva Taboada et al. 2007;Borroto-Páez and Mancina 2011). The Cuban boa (Chilabothrus angulifer) is the most important native predator of C. pilorides; of the 351 prey items analyzed from 218 boas, C. pilorides constituted 14.5% of the prey, including adult and subadult individuals (Rodríguez-Cabrera et al. 2020). Other native predators of C. pilorides include the Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) and American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus-Rodríguez Soberón et al. 2001;Alonso Tabet et al. 2014). ...
Capromys pilorides (Say, 1822), Desmarest’s hutia, is one of the world’s largest rodents; body mass of adults typically exceeds 3 kg. It occurs only on Cuba, although fossil remains from the late Quaternary Period have been found on the Cayman Islands. Capromys pilorides is widely distributed throughout the Cuban archipelago where it occurs at elevations from sea level to 1,200 m. Capromys pilorides can be terrestrial or arboreal depending on habitat and has a generalist phytophagous diet. It forms social groups and has a polygynous mating system. The conservation status of Capromys pilorides was most recently assessed in 2008, and it is currently listed as “Least Concern” (LC) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Red List of Threatened Species.
During a routine clinical examination of a four-year-old female Cuban boa (Epicrates angulifer) belonging to a zoological park located in northern Portugal, a skin lesion was observed. A skin swab was taken. Bacteriological analysis conducted using the Vitek® 2 Compact system identified the presence of the bacteria species Kocuria kristinae, a new bacterial pathogen that may be a potential pathogen in wild animals. This K. kristinae strain was resistant to kanamycin, pradofloxacin, erythromycin, clindamycin, tetracycline, nitrofurantoin, and trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole and was therefore classified as a multidrug-resistant bacterium. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that K. kristinae has been described in the skin of a Cuban boa. This report serves as a cautionary warning about the importance of recognising and investigating the potential pathogenicity of this agent, as well as contributing to the development of strategies to prevent the spread of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms.
