Diet of the brown mouse lemur (Microcebus rufus) in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar

The conventional notion is that small-bodied primates should be highly inse ctivorous in order to obtain protein and other nutrients from a food source that is more easily digestible than plant matter. I studied feeding behavi or of Microcebus rufus for IG months in the east coast rainforest of Ranoma fana National Park. I determined the diet primarily through analysis of 334 fecal samples from live-trapped individuals, They consumed a mixed diet ba sically of fruit and insects year-round. I identified 24 fruits, while 40-5 2 remain unidentified. Bakerella, a high-lipid epiphytic semiparasitic plan t, was in 58% of fecal samples that contained fruit seeds, and was consumed year-round irrespective of general resource availability? It served both a s a staple and keystone resource. Fruit was less frequently totally absent from fecal samples of individual mouse lemurs than insect matter was. For M icrocebus rufus, fruit,may be a primary source of energy: not just compleme ntary to insects. Fruit consumption increased in quantity and diversity dur ing the latter part of the rainy season and the very Early part of the dry season, when fruit production was relatively high. This pattern in fruit fe eding is similar to that for mouse lemurs in the west coast dry forests and is related to specific nutritional needs dictated by the highly seasonal c haracter of the life cycle. Coleoptera were present in 67% of samples exami ned a,ld were consumed year-round by the subjects, but insect consumption d id not increase during the rainy season when insect abundance was highest.