New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts
Z00010Received 26 June 2000; accepted 18 September 2000
Diet of house mice (Mus musculus L.) on coastal sand dunes, Otago, New
Zealand
AARON P. MILLER+
PETER I. WEBB
Zoology Department
University of Otago
P.O. Box 56
Dunedin, New Zealand
+Present address: Landcare Research,
Private Bag 11-052,
Palmerston North, New Zealand.
email: millera@landcare.cri.nz
Abstract The diet of feral house mice (Mus musculus
L.) inhabiting a sand dune ecosystem near Dunedin, New Zealand, was determined
from the contents of 102 stomachs, and quantified in relation to season, gender
and reproductive status by fitting linear logistic regression models to
frequency of occurrence data. Mice were omnivorous, although their diet was
biased towards invertebrates. Overall, 86% of stomachs examined contained plant
material, and 90% contained invertebrate remains. Lepidopteran larvae (66% of
stomachs), Coleoptera (64%, mostly larvae), and Araneae (58%) were important
dietary items. Plant material was largely unidentifiable (61%) but included
leaves and seeds from three common grass species. Mouse diet varied seasonally,
with lepidopteran larvae and coleopteran larvae eaten significantly more often
in summer. Reproductive state also influenced diet, at least in summer, when
reproductive females ate Araneae more often than non-reproductive females.
Results emphasise the importance of invertebrates in the diet of feral house
mice, and the need for more detailed research.
Keywords house mouse; Mus musculus; food habits; small
mammal; invertebrates; lepidopteran larvae; sand dunes; Otago; New Zealand
New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2001, Vol. 28: 49-56
0301-4223/00/2801-0049 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New
Zealand 2001
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (501K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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