Food Habits of Sympatric Pitvipers from the West Gulf Coastal Plain, USA

Widespread species that occupy multiple communities exhibit geographic variation in their natural history due to the ecological context of the local community. An animal’s food habitats are a central component to understanding its natural history and ecological role within its community—information that is critical to understanding resource needs of a species, mechanisms of species coexistence, and energy flow in food webs (Litvaitis 2000; Schalk et al. 2014). This information is also crucial for predicting the response of populations to changes in resource availability and, if necessary, inform mitigation strategies (Holycross and Mackessy 2002

Prey handling and diet of Louisiana pine snakes (Pituophis ruthveni) and black pine snakes (P. melanoleucus lodingi), with comparisons to other selected colubrid snakes

Diet and prey handling behavior were determined for Louisiana pine snakes (Pituophis ruthveni) and black pine snakes (P. melanoleucus lodingi). Louisiana pine snakes prey heavily on Baird\u27s pocket gophers (Geomys breviceps), with which they are sympatric, and exhibit specialized behaviors that facilitate handling this prey species within the confines of burrow systems. Black pine snakes, which are not sympatric with pocket gophers, did not exhibit these specialized behaviors. For comparative purposes, prey handling of P. sayi sayi and Elaphe obsoleta lindheimeri was also examined