Illingworth, J.F.

Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society

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51Feeding Habits of Bufo MarinusBY J. F. II.IJNGWORTHHonolulu, Hawaii(Presented at the meeting of April 8, 1940)Toads were abundant as usual in my fish pond in Kaimuki, giving me an opportunity to observe their feeding habits. During fiveweeks, following March 1st, 1940, I examined several of theirstools each day—a total of 53 in all. We all know that toads willgrab anything that moves. I was surprised, however, to find thattheir principal food in this location is the burrowing roach, Pycno-celus surinamensis (Linn.). These run from 40% to as high as90% of the entire contents. At the start, the Chinese rose beetle(Adoretus sinicus Burm.) was on the wing, and some stools ranas high as 40 to 50% of their remains. Later, these fell off rapidly,with only 2 or 3 beetles per stool. This method gives a fine indicator of abundance on the wing.I was interested to see how far Pheidole ants (Pheidole megace-phala) were eaten. Most stools contained none, but following rainynights when the ants threw up soil on the lawn, the toads fed uponthem. In such rare instances, comprising about 10 to 20% of theircastings. Stools containing ants contain much soil and mud, takenin with these tiny insects.Toads swallow considerable plant trash, bits of leaves, grassclippings, etc., when grabbing the insects. Other insects foundwere in small numbers: grain beetles (Tenebrionidae), black grassbugs (Geotomus pygmaeus), black wasp (Odynerus ?), Fuller'srose beetle (Pantomorus godmani [Crotch]), one honey bee, andone large caterpillar (Herse cingulata [Fab.]).Records should be taken in other locations to note variations.Also at various seasons. This indicates that the toads are destinedto be an important check upon the burrowing roach, which has animportant bearing in the tropics, as it is the intermediate host ofthe eye worm of chickens.Proc. Haw. Ent. Soc, XI, No. 1, July, 1941.

Feeding Habits of Bufo Marinus

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Feeding Habits of Bufo Marinus

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