Abstract

GARCIA-PADILLA, Elí  and  ESCALANTE-PLIEGO, Patricia. Predation of Abronia lizards by the Mesoamerican Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno). Huitzil [online]. 2022, vol.23, n.2, e638.  Epub Mar 31, 2023. ISSN 1870-7459.  https://doi.org/10.28947/hrmo.2022.23.2.668.

Little information exists on the diet of the Mesoamerican Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) at the northernmost limit of its distribution. We report two recent events of predation on lizards of the genus Abronia by the Mesoamerican Quetzal in Chiapas, Mexico. On 12 July 2020, we observed for 10 mins an adult male Quetzal predating an Abronia lizard in the Tzama cun pümy Community Reserve in the mountains of northern Chiapas. Furthermore, on 3 May 2016 a male Quetzal was photographed with an Abronia smithi lizard in El Triunfo in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas. Our reports, based on photographic evidence and field data on predator-prey interactions, represent the first formal records of small terrestrial vertebrates in the diet of quetzals for Mexico.

Keywords : Anguidae; Chiapas; diet; feeding behavior; Mexico; montane cloud forest; Trogonidae.

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