Atividade de predação de Tropidurus hispidus (Sauria, Tropiduridae) de Nisia floresta- RN, Brasil

Predation activity of Tropidurus hispidus (Sauria, Tropiduridae) in Nisia floresta- RN, Brazil. Tropidurus sp is a generalist predator who uses both “sit and wait” foraging strategy or sedentary strategy to catch prey. In this study we noticed thepredation activity of Tropidurus hispidus in a rain forest area in Nísia Floresta from december 6th to 10th, 2004. The scan sampling and ad libitum observation methods were used to collect data. Our search showed that T. hispidus presented a sedentary predation behavior. There was significant difference (p < 0,001) for couple analysed area in predation. We noticed a bimodal occurrence in predation. This data were related with the sun incidence. This suggests that the temperature and the catch prey type, in association, can determine its foraging behaviors temporal profile

First confirmed record of Feresa attenuata (Delphinidae) for the Northern Brazilian Coast

In Brazil only one confirmed stranding is known from an emaciated specimen collected along the southeastern coast. The aim of this work is to report a recent record of a pygmy killer whale from the coast of Maranhão State, northern Brazil. On 22 October 2005, through regular surveys conducted by Projeto Cetáceos do Maranhão team, a beach-worn skull of a pygmy killer whale was found on the Mangue Seco beach, at Caju Island, Maranhão State. The specimen was identified through peculiar features, such as a short beak, 11 teeth per row in the maxile and the distance between the anterorbital notch and the end of the toothrow. This stranding suggests that pygmy killer whales may use oceanic waters close to Maranhão continental shelf. This is the second confirmed stranding of F. attenuata for the Brazilian Coast and the first along the northern coast. The present record increases our poor knowledge on the cetacean fauna of the northern Brazilian coast