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Prey foraging of red titi monkeys, Callicebus cupreus , in comparison to sympatric tamarins, Saguinus mystax and Saguinus fuscicollis
Author(s) -
Nadjafzadeh Mirjam N.,
Heymann Eckhard W.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.20704
Subject(s) - sympatric speciation , predation , biology , ecology , sympatry , foraging , zoology
Abstract We compared the prey capture strategies of red titi monkeys, Callicebus cupreus , with those of sympatric mustached, Saguinus mystax , and saddleback tamarins, Saguinus fuscicollis, to examine whether animal prey is important in niche differentiation between these Neotropical primates. We collected data on strata and substrate use during foraging, on prey searching and capturing, and on prey type of two C. cupreus groups and one group each of S. mystax and S. fuscicollis during a 5‐month field study in northeastern Peruvian Amazonia. Our results showed that C. cupreus differed both from S. mystax and S. fuscicollis in prey capture strategies: (1) C. cupreus used lower forest strata for prey search and capture than S. mystax and higher forest strata than S. fuscicollis. (2) C. cupreus captured prey on a higher variety of substrates than S. mystax and more often on open microhabitats compared to S. fuscicollis . (3) C. cupreus captured prey more often directly than S. mystax and rarely by manual search, in contrast to S. fuscicollis . (4) C. cupreus fed exclusively on arthropods and focused on Hymenoptera, in contrast to both tamarin species that focused on Orthoptera and included vertebrates in their diet. These findings indicate that animal prey plays a role in niche differentiation between C. cupreus and S. fuscicollis / S. mystax and might facilitate the coexistence of these three sympatric species. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.