Stomach contents of the Indian Pangolin Manis crassicaudata (Mammalia: Pholidota: Manidae) in tropical forests of southern India

Abstract

The Indian Pangolin, Manis crassicaudata is a nocturnal, elusive, sparsely distributed, poorly studied and rapidly declining species. The stomach contents of a female Indian Pangolin were analysed from a road kill specimen collected from the South Wayanad Forest Division in Kerala on September 2013 and confirms that they are myrmecophagous, i.e., feeding primarily on ants and ant eggs. The morphometry of the head and position of the eye in the head was used to identify the ant species consumed, which was found to be exclusively Leptogenys sp. with head size of one to two millimeter. Since the abundance of the ant species was not available, the preference could not be determined. Rather, our preliminary survey in the area revealed that Leptogenys sp. is the most abundant in the tropical moist deciduous forest of Wayanad, Kerala. The soft parts of the ant body were digested while only the heads remained in the stomach content. Similarly, only hard egg shells could be identified from the content. The major proportion of the stomach content was grit (50%), both in frequency and biomass. Ant head constituted higher biomass (41.3%) and lower frequency (22.5%) whereas ant egg shells were found in higher number (29%) with a low biomass (1.8%). The present observation gives insight into ant species selection and biomass contribution. Though the biomass of ant head was higher, its contribution to the Indian Pangolin nutrient intake is unknown. Further research is needed to better understand the diet of the Indian Pangolin.

Keywords

• indian pangolin
• manis crassicaudata
• myrmecophagus
• leptogenys sp.
• stomach contents
• wayanad.