FIRST RECORD OF NECROPHAGY BY PILLBUGS (Armadillidium vulgare) ON THE LINED TOLUCAN EARTHSNAKE (Conopsis lineata)

Edgar De La Rosa Silva; Gabriel Suárez Varón; Gisela Granados González; Ilse Estefania Segura Zarzosa; Oswaldo  Hernández Gallegos

doi:10.22201/fc.25942158e.2024.3.973

Authors

Edgar De La Rosa Silva Laboratorio de Herpetología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México
Gabriel Suárez Varón Laboratorio de Morfofisiología de la Reproducción, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México
Gisela Granados González Laboratorio de Morfofisiología de la Reproducción, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México
Ilse Estefania Segura Zarzosa Centro de Estudios Ecológicos FCB-UJED, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas
Oswaldo Hernández Gallegos Laboratorio de Herpetología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22201/fc.25942158e.2024.3.973

Keywords:

Oniscidea, carrion, diet, Colubridae, Mexico State

Abstract

Necrophagy involves feeding upon carrion. As some of the main drivers involved in the process of decomposition, carcasses are mainly consumed by arthropod members of orders Diptera and Coleoptera, as well as the subclass Acari, though sometimes other species may carry out such a function. We observed one such instance after lifting a rock, finding a large concentration of pillbugs (Armadillidium vulgare) consuming the remains of a Lined Tolucan Earthsnake (Conopsis lineata). This is the first report, to our knowledge, of this type of unusual behavior in Mexico. Pillbugs are usually detritivores; thus, we suggest that the change in conduct stems from a possible attempt to complement their diet and increase the survival of the organism by acquiring hard-to-obtain nutrients found in decaying flesh, especially during the dry season, when this event took place.

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