First record of cannibalism in Thamnodynastes phoenix Franco, Trevine, Montingelli & Zaher, 2017 (Serpentes, Colubridae)

By

De Morais, Mayara Da Silva Ribeiro
De Araújo, Paula Fernanda
Costa, Renato Magnum Tavares
França, Frederico Gustavo Rodrigues

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2020-4-7

Original Publication

Subterranean Biology

Volume

33

Pages

17--19

Subjects

Brazil , Caatinga , Diet , Ecology , feeding habits , intraspecific predation , snake behavior

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.33.e47317

 

Abstract

Cannibalism has been documented across many groups of snakes and the same is true for Brazilian snakes. Herein, we present the first observation of cannibalism in Thamnodynastes phoenix between two adult males from Caatinga biome of northeastern Brazil. We suggest this behavior could be influenced by a lack of resources caused by extreme abiotic conditions, as well as the opportunistic habits of this species.