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Pseustes poecilonotus and Pseustes shropshirei (Puffing snakes) Diet.

January 2005
Herpetological Review 36(3):326-327

Authors:

Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ)

PSEUSTES POECILONOTUS and PSEUSTES SHROPSHIREI (Puffing Snakes). DIET. Pseustes poecilonotus is known to prey on birds (Falconidae, Emberizidae), bird eggs (Cracidae), and occasionally on lizards and small mammals (Martins and Oliveira 1998. Herpetol. Nat. Hist. 6:78–150). There is not published information regarding Pseustes shropshirei diet. On 9 January 1991 a specimen of P. poecilonotus (Universidad San Francisco de Quito y Fundación Herpetológica Orcés; FHGO-USFQ 0192) was collected on the Río Payamino at Pozo Gacela, Province of Napo, Ecuador, that contained one adult beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabeidae), one moth (Lepidoptera), parts of a grasshopper (Orthoptera), parts of a bug (Hemiptera), and two legs of a woodpecker (Piciformes: Picidae). On 25 March 1994 a specimen of P. shropshirei (FHGO-USFQ 0892) collected at Piñas, Buenventura, Province of El Oro, Ecuador, contained a capsule of seeds from an undetermined plant (ca. 2 cm in diameter) and two white brittle-shelled eggs (ca. 3 cm in diameter) with partially developed avian embryos.

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Herpetological Review 36(3): 327; 2005

PSEUSTES POECILONOTUS and PSEUSTES

SHROPSHIREI (Puffing Snakes). DIET. Pseustes poecilonotus

is known to prey on birds (Falconidae, Emberizidae), bird eggs

(Cracidae), and occasionally on lizards and small mammals (Mar-

tins and Oliveira 1998. Herpetol. Nat. Hist. 6:78–150). There is

not published information regarding Pseustes shropshirei diet. On

9 January 1991 a specimen of P. poecilonotus (Universidad San

Francisco de Quito y Fundación Herpetológica Orcés; FHGO-

USFQ 0192) was collected on the Río Payamino at Pozo Gacela,

Province of Napo, Ecuador, that contained one adult beetle (Co-

leoptera: Scarabeidae), one moth (Lepidoptera), parts of a grass-

hopper (Orthoptera), parts of a bug (Hemiptera), and two legs of a

woodpecker (Piciformes: Picidae). On 25 March 1994 a specimen

of P. shropshirei (FHGO-USFQ 0892) collected at Piñas,

Buenventura, Province of El Oro, Ecuador, contained a capsule of

seeds from an undetermined plant (ca. 2 cm in diameter) and two

white brittle-shelled eggs (ca. 3 cm in diameter) with partially

developed avian embryos.

I thank Jean-Marc Touzet, Ana María Velasco, Daniel Proaño,

María Olga Borja, Ma. Elena and Laura Heredia for assistance.

Submitted by DIEGO F. CISNEROS-HEREDIA, Colegio de

Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de

Quito. Avenida Interoceánica y calle Diego de Robles, Campus

Cumbayá, Edificio Maxwell, Casilla Postal 17-12-841, Quito,

Ecuador (e-mail: diegofrancisco_cisneros@yahoo.com).

Snake predators of bird eggs: a review and bibliography

Article

Full-text available

May 2022
J FIELD ORNITHOL

Snakes are frequent predators of bird nests and therefore potentially have an important impact on bird population dynamics. However, while many species are known to consume nestlings and chicks, few species have been recorded consuming bird eggs. To effectively quantify the effects of bird egg predation by snakes on bird demographics, a key first step is to identify which snake species consume bird eggs. Unfortunately, detailed information on the dietary habits of most snakes is scarce and feeding records are poorly cataloged, making it difficult to ascertain which species do and do not eat bird eggs. We reviewed the literature and online community science reports to compile a global list of confirmed snake predators of bird eggs. In total, we gathered 471 feeding records of 123 snake taxa consuming the eggs of at least 210 bird species from 238 individual data sources. Geographical locations of records disproportionately represented well-sampled regions, and we infer that many snake species not included on our list also consume bird eggs. However, we found that oophagous snakes tend to be long (mean maximum length = 2057 mm) and mostly eat eggs that are small in diameter (mean egg diameter = 24 mm), suggesting that relative prey bulk is an important constraint of these interactions. Therefore,we expect that other snakes that eat birds are likely to mostly include congeneric and ecologically similar species to those reflected in our review. By knowing which snakes consume bird eggs, future research can consider species- and site-specific hypotheses when investigating the ecological effects of bird egg predation by snakes. Those results can also inform conservation practitioners on the causes and consequences of variation in nest success that may aid in decision-making when designing conservation management plans.

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