Feeding ecology of the common sun skink, Eutropis multifasciata (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae), in the plains of central Vietnam

Abstract

We studied the feeding ecology of Eutropis multifasciata in the tropical plains of central Vietnam to understand better the foraging mode, spatiotemporal and sexual variation in dietary composition, and rarefaction curves of prey-taxon richness for males and females. Stomach contents (n = 161) were collected from October 2013 to May 2014 using a nonlethal stomach-flushing technique. A total of 680 food items (624 animal items and 56 plant items) was found in 161 stomachs of skinks, representing 19 unique animal categories. We found that the diet of E. multifasciata is composed mainly of small, sedentary and clumped prey and that this skink specialises on spiders, insect larvae, snails, grasshoppers and crickets (with a combined importance index of 60%). Dietary composition, prey size and total prey volume in E. multifasciata changed between dry and rainy seasons and among regions. The total volume of food items consumed by males was larger than that of females, and the diversity and evenness index of prey categories were larger in males than in females. However, using rarefaction curves revealed that females have the higher prey-taxon richness after points between 130 and 140 prey items for frequency, and between 160 and 170 prey items for number of items, and the differences were not statistically significant. The foraging behaviour of E. multifasciata best fits a ‘widely foraging’ model.

Keywords:

• diet
• feeding
• food
• foraging mode
• lizards
• skinks

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the heads of the Faculty of Biology, College of Education, Hue University, Vietnam, for their support of this research. We thank D. Ha, R.M. Hoang and T.D. Le for assistance in the field and laboratory. Finally, we would like to thank A.V. Paterson for revision of the English and helpful comments on the manuscript; we also thank two anonymous reviewers for critical reading and suggestions on the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by Vietnam’s National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) under [grant number 106-NN.05-2013.18].