Food Composition of the Far Eastern Skinks (Plestiodon finitimus) on the Kunashir Island (Kuril Islands, Russian Far East)

Yuri N. Sundukov, Larissa A. Sundukova, Nikolai L. Orlov

Abstract


The study of 23 excrements of Far Eastern skinks collected on the Kunashir Island revealed 75 species of invertebrates that served for the skinks as a food source. Coleopteran (41 taxa from 14 families) were most diverse, which is explained by the good preservation of chitin of beetles during passage through the digestive tract of lizards. The crickets Dianemobius fascipes nigrofasciatus (Matsumura, 1904) (96 specimens), caddisflies (Trichoptera indet. 2, 36 specimens), and barkflies (Psocoptera indet., 19 specimens) prevailed in number of identified specimens in the samples.

Keywords


Scincidae; Plestiodon finitimus; food composition; Kunashir Island; Russian Far East

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2020-27-5-303-306

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