INVESTIGADORES
SOLER ESTEBAN Rosina Matilde
artículos
Título:
Dieta de Cerdocyon thous (Carnivora: Canidae), en un arroyo del Valle del río Paraná, Santa Fe, Argentina
Autor/es:
JORGELINA CANESINI; ROSINA M. SOLER ESTEBAN; ANDRÉS A. PAUTASSO; CELESTE MEDRANO
Revista:
FACENA
Editorial:
FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS EXACTAS Y NATURALES Y AGRIMENSURA, UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DEL NORDESTE
Referencias:
Lugar: Corrientes; Año: 2008 p. 13 - 21
ISSN:
0325-4216
Resumen:
The crab-eating fox, Cerdocyon thous (Linneaus) is the canid of wider distribution of South America. Santa Fe province represents the austral limit of this species distribution and there is no available information about the fox' natural history. In order to have the first quantitative data on its feeding habits in the zone of Parana's river wetlands, the crab-eating fox's diet was studied by faecal analysis. To December of 1999 at May of 2000, 85 scats from El Potrero stream in Santa Fe were collected. Twenty items was identified in the diet. The red rat (Holochilus sp.) was the item more consumed (89,41 %) in the study area, although some groups of insects like the Coleoptera also were important. The low niche width value calculated for this carnivore the value indicates a diet dominated by few prey in high proportions. Though qualitatively the crab-eating fox had a generalist diet including at least 20 prey items, quantitatively its diet in Santa Fe was specialized, because only Holochilus sp., Dyscinetus sp. and Cyclocephala sp. yielded 70 % of all prey occurrences. In this study C. thous is considered an opportunist predator probably due to the use of an abundant but temporary resource.