Microhabitat, diet, and reproductive activity of a population of the Andean shrew Cryptotis tamensis (Eulipotyphla: Soricidae)

ABSTRACT

The Tamá small-eared shrew is found in the Andean cloud forests of the Cordillera Oriental of Colombia and the Tamá paramo in western Venezuela. Few aspects of its biology are known, and all information comes from its original description. In a patch of oak cloud forest, we found a relatively abundant population of the species and studied its abundance, microhabitat preference, diet composition and reproductive features, and their relationship with the rainfall seasonality of the study area. The fieldwork was carried on for two years at altitudinal intervals from 2402 to 2627 m.a.s.l. We caught 44 shrews in microhabitats with dense vegetation cover, abundant litter and fallen trees; their abundance changed significantly through time, varying along with the precipitation of the month before the capture. We found seven groups of arthropods in their diet, the composition of which did not differ significantly between sexes, reproductive stages or seasons. These shrews have a specialised diet, with ants as the most important item. Reproductive males are distinguished externally by the presence of hypertrophic subcutaneous lateral glands. We found adult reproductive males and non-reproductive males throughout the duration of the study, and their abundance did not vary significantly with precipitation. In contrast, we did not capture females in the driest months of the years, and although adult non-reproductive females were also found, we found a significant relationship between the abundance of reproductive females and precipitation. Consequently, adult reproductive males would be a permanent reproductive resource for the females, which appear to adjust their reproductive activity during the rainy seasons.

KEYWORDS:

• diet composition
• microhabitat
• reproductive features
• reproductive activity
• cloud forest seasonality

Acknowledgements

Thanks to A.M. Villamizar, J. Sánchez and L. Velásquez for their help during the field sampling; and to the Jaimes Martínez family for welcoming us into their home during our field trips. J.P. Ramírez reviewed the English language of the manuscript. This research was supported by Grupo de Estudios en Biodiversidad, Universidad Industrial de Santander.

Contributions

Conceptualisation: VHSC and MPRP; methodology: LCVR; data analysis: LCVR, VHSC and MPRP; resources: VHSC and MPRP; writing – original draft: LCVR; writing – review and editing: LCVR, VHSC and MPRP; supervision: VHSC and MPRP; project administration: VHSC.

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and/ its supplementary materials.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

We collected the animals under the ‘Permiso marco de recolección de especímenes de especies silvestres de la diversidad biológica con fines de investigación científica no comercial’ (Autoridad Nacional de Licencias Ambientales ANLA, Resolution 22 January 0047, 2015). Similarly, we obtained the endorsement of the Ethics Committee of our university (CEINCI-UIS, 23 November 2018). This study complies with all current Colombian laws and regulations concerning work with wildlife.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2022.2120438

Additional information

Funding

This research was not associated with specific funding. The first author conducted the study as the research required to obtain their MSc degree in biology, with the last two authors being their advisors, who are part of the Grupo de Estudios en Biodiversidad research group.