Hábitos alimentares das tribos da família Dipsadidae

Abstract

Feeding habits are important for understanding the behavior of organisms in their respective habitats, and their interactions. Food habit is also an important factor for comparing diet and predation among individuals of the same taxonomic category, such as family, subfamily, tribe, genus, etc.Therefore, the aim of this work is to review and compile data from the literature on the feeding habits of snakes of five Dipsadidae tribes: Dipsadini, Elapomorphini, Philodryadini, Pseudoboini, and Xenodontini. Data on diet, predation, and feeding habits were searched, for understanding the traits of each tribe. The representatives of the tribe Dipsadini for example, have a diet of gastropods, slugs and snails, the tribe Elapomorphini has a specialized diet in ophiophagy, i.e., a diet based on other snakes, while the tribes Philodryadini and Pseudoboini both have a more generalist diet, it can be observed that small lizards and mammals are the most consumed in these two tribes, and the tribe Xenodontini specializes in preying on anurans. These results were obtained based on the food items described in the literature, such as amphibians, birds, gastropods, lizards, mammals, fish, eggs and snakes, so in the present study will also be analyzed, what are the characteristics of specialization and generalization regarding the diets of each tribe.