Fruit- and Seed-eating Agents for the Poisonous Shrub, <i>Daphne pseudomezereum</i> (Thymelaeaceae), in Southern Kanto District, Japan

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  • 南関東における有毒性小低木オニシバリ<i>Daphne pseudomezereum</i>（ジンチョウゲ科Thymelaeaceae）の果実食者と種子捕食者
  • 南関東における有毒性小低木オニシバリDaphne pseudomezereum(ジンチョウゲ科Thymelaeaceae)の果実食者と種子捕食者
  • ミナミカントウ ニ オケル ユウドクセイ ショウテイボク オニシバリ Daphne pseudomezereum(ジンチョウゲカ Thymelaeaceae)ノ カジツショクシャ ト シュシ ホショクシャ

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Abstract

<p>Fruit consumers of the poisonous shrub Daphne pseudomezereum (Thymelaeaceae) growing on the forest floor were investigated using automatic cameras on the southern foothill of the Tanzawa Mountains in Hadano, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. A total of five species of birds and four species of mammals were photographed near and/or on the fruiting trees of D. pseudomezereum. Camera trapping revealed that among them the Brown-eared Bulbul Hypsipetes amaurotis and the Oriental Greenfinch Chloris sinica were consumers of the fruits; no other species were recorded foraging the fruits. The Brown-eared Bulbul, which is well-known as a legitimate fruit-eater (i.e. frugivorous bird dispersing seeds) in woody areas in Japan, foraged upon the red ripe but not the green unripe fleshy fruits. However, the Oriental Greenfinch was recorded foraging heavily on the seeds of both green unripe and red ripe fruits, while discarding the flesh. Not only adults but also young fed upon the seeds of D. pseudomezereum. Furthermore, one male adult was observed to feed seeds to a fledgling at the foraging site. Thus, the Oriental Greenfinch was the major seed predator of D. pseudomezereum on the forest floor in the study area, although in Japan it is generally known as a granivorous bird foraging in such open habitats as cultivated land, riparian grassland and shrubland.</p>

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