What's for dinner? Prey consumption by Neotropical scorpions across contrasting environments
Abstract
The overall assumption that scorpions are generalist predators is often based on conspicuous information from the literature. Here, we compiled a list of prey consumption by scorpions from different environments in Brazil to produce a documentation of predations by this taxon. This list is based on observations made under natural conditions in Atlantic Forest, Caatinga, and Cerrado formations. We compiled 135 predation instances including 11 scorpion species from field work through 14 years. The observed diet composition of the scorpions was mainly based on cockroaches, crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, and other scorpions. Such data highlights the generalist diet and cannibalism of scorpions with many cannibalistic events among the records of intraguild predation. Overall, this study broadens the knowledge of the diet composition of Brazilian scorpions under natural conditions.
W. Dionisio-da-Silva, S.Í.A. Foerster, J.E. Gallão, A.F.A. Lira "What's for dinner? Prey consumption by Neotropical scorpions across contrasting environments," The Journal of Arachnology, 52(1), 26-30, (8 April 2024)
