Do Otters Prey on Breeding Natterjack Toads?Author(s): J. S. Fairley and T. K. McCarthySource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 21, No. 12 (Oct., 1985), pp. 544-545Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25538989 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 15:24

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The IrishNaturalists' Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.111 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 15:24:50 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

544 Ir. Nat. J. Vol. 21 No. 12 1985

ZOOLOGICAL NOTES

IRISH MAMMAL ROAD CASUALTIES

Mammal road casualties have been recognised as a useful source of information (Jahn 1959 7.

Wildl. Mgmtiy. 187-197, Case 1978 Wildl. Soc. Bull. 43: 8-13). These casualties are known to be a

major cause of mortality in certian mammal populations for example badgers Meles meles (L.) in

England (Gallagher and Nelson 1979 Vet. Ree. 105: 546-551). Such casualties have received only

passing mention in Ireland. To provide some Irish data on the subject five investigators co-operated to

do a road casualty survey over one year, June 1983 to May 1984.

The wild mammal species recorded are: hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus L., rabbit Oryctolagus funiculus (L.), Irish hare Lepus timidus hibernicus (Bell), brown rat Rattus norvegicus (Berkenhout);

fox Vulpes vulpes (L.), Irish stoat Mustela erminea hibernica (Thomas and Barrett-Hamilton) and

badger Meles meles (L.). Domestic mammals are: cat Felis catus (Schreber), dog Canis familiaris L.

and sheep Ovis aries L.

Ten mile (16.0km) stretches of road were searched in ten different areas. For the first three

months all ten areas were surveyed giving a total of 100 miles (160km) per month. Thereafter

distances of less than 100 miles (90 miles in September to November; 50 in December; 70 in January and February; 30 in March and April and 50 in May) were covered. The total distances surveyed per

county were: 90 miles in Donegal, 150 in Cavan, 40 in Tipperary and 590 in Cork. The road counts

were made once only, in daylight at speeds of up to 40mph (64kmph) from a car, occasional stops

being made for closer examination of a dead mammal. Only mammals of rat size or bigger were

recorded. All roads surveyed were national primary or secondary routes. They passed mainly through farmland, but also through woodland, villages and the edges of towns. In the course of the survey 152

recognisable casualties were recorded; the numbers of each species were as follows:

Hedgehog Rabbit Hare Rat Fox Stoat Badger Cat Dog Sheep 12 41 2 59 2 3 4 25 2 2

The data indicate that the most frequent mammal killed on the roads surveyed was the brown rat,

followed by the rabbit and the cat. The large figures for these species were not distorted by figures from one particular area; cats were, however, found more often near human settlements. Without

traffic data, which was not collected, the usefulness of such records is limited, but it is hoped that the

availability of numbers of animals killed per mile will be of use to future investigators. The authors are endeavouring to produce more detailed data on casualties in hedgehogs (PS),

stoats (DPS) and badgers (PGS). We would like to thank our fellow surveyors P. A. Byrne and A. Ni Shuilleabhan.

Department of Zoology, University College, Cork D. P. SLEEMAN

Ballykenneally, Ballymacoda, Co. Cork P. SMIDDY

ClydaCottage, Lavally, Mallow, Co. Cork P. G. SWEENEY

BANK VOLE IN COUNTY GALWAY

During some overnight snap-trapping of small mammals in south Galway on 27/28 June 1985, a

bank vole Clethrionomys glareolus Schreber was caught in the townland of Scarriff (R4193) near the

village of Tubber, a new county record. First discovered in Ireland in 1964 in Co Kerry, the spread of

this species since 1970 has been reviewed by Smal and Fairley (1984. Mammal Rev. 14: 71-78). The

most extreme previous north-westerly record was from R3383 in September 1982. The present one,

13.5km from this, is within the maximum estimated rate of spread of about 4.5km yr~'.

Department of Zoology, University College, Galway. J. S. FAIRLEY

DO OTTERS PREY ON BREEDING NATTERJACK TOADS?

Earlier in this volume Ir. Nat. J. 21: 372 it was shown that, during their breeding season, frogs Rana temporaria L. may form the bulk of the food of otters Lutra lutra (L.) in some parts of Ireland.

Here we present the results of an attempt to determine whether otters also prey significantly on

breeding natterjack toads Bufo calamita Laureuti, which are in Ireland confined to parts of County

Kerry, one of us (TKMcC) having extensive field experience with these amphibians there.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.111 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 15:24:50 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Ir. Nat. J. Vol. 21 No. 12 1985 545

On 15-16 May 1985 we visited the majority of spawning sites on the Castlegregory Peninsula

(Q51-61), when the mating season was in progress as evinced by spawn, tadpoles and at night by choruses and large numbers of males seen at some locations by torch. Eleven of the dune slacks we

visited on the peninsula contained toad tadpoles but a careful examination of the margins yielded no

spraints (otter faeces). None were found around Lough Naparka which, though it holds no fish, had at

the time large numbers of vocal male toads. The edges of Lough Gill, another importaant spawning area, are mostly reed-fringed and difficult to search for spraints. However 7 were obtained and 40

more along the first 0.6km of the Trench which drains it into Tralee Bay. A further 5 were picked up beside about 0.5km of the Stradbally River just before it enters Lough Gill.

On 17 May we searched around some breeding sites on the Iveragh Peninsula: Lough Yganavan

(V79) (16 spraints); the small adjacent loughs Knockaunroe (V69) and Nambrickdarrig (V79) (3 spraints); and two ponds near Glenbeigh (V69) where no droppings were spotted but breeding by toads

was recorded. Futher otter faeces were gathered from 2-5 June from Lough Gill (1) and the Trench

(17), at which time nocturnal observations indicated that the mating season was far past its peak. Jenkins and Burrows (1980. J. Anim. Ecol. 49:755-774) found that 50% of spraints disappeared

two weeks after deposition, 83-94% after seven. None of the 89 collected here looked old and it can be

assumed that they give some indication of the food of otters in the districts studied during the toads'

breeding season. One contained nothing identifiable, another unidentified fish bones, 6 remains of

flatfish (Trench), 2 or birds (Trench), 1 of three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus L.

(Trench), 1 of salmonid (Stradbally River) and 86 of eel Anguilla anguilla (L.). In addition there were

traces of insects, tiny molluscs and crustacean fragments, possibly origniating from the fish.

The absence of spraints from the sites where there were toads but no fish is suggestive; and the

complete lack of anuran remains from the faeces constitutes strong evidence that otters do not prey on

breeding natterjacks, presumably because of their dermal poison glands. Rana species as a rule have

fewer pharmacologically active and partly poisonous substances in their skin secretions than Bufo

species (Biicherel and Buckley 1971. Venomous animals and their venoms. Academic Press,

London). It is perhaps relevant that while Fraser (1983. Reptiles and amphibians. Collins, London) records numerous vertebrate predators of R. temporaria, the list is considerably shorter for both the

common toad Bufo bufo (L.) and the natterjack.

Department of Zoology, University College, Galway J. S. FAIRLEY

T. k. McCarthy

FIRST IRISH RECORD OF A NEPTICULID MOTH

On 25 September 1982,1 found some mines in the leaves of barren strawberry, Potentilla sterilis

(L.) Garcke, growing by the shore of Lower Lough Erne in Ely Lodge Forest. I provisionally identified them as made by Ectoedemia arcuatella (Herrich-Schaffer), not previously recorded in

Ireland.

A few leaves with tenanted mines were overwintered on damp sphagnum moss, and two minute

moths emerged on 4 June 1983. These are now in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin. Their

identity as E. arcuatella has kindly been confirmed by Mr Liam O'Neill and Col. A. M. Emmet.

This species is known from northern and southern England but not Wales or Scotland (Heath, J.,

ed., 1976, The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland^ vol. I, Blackwell). It favours chalk

downland in Britain, so it is not surprising to find it on the Fermanagh limestone. It may well be

widespread on the Irish limestones but would easily escape notice.

49 Orchards Way, Highfield, Southampton. HENRY HEAL

MYRMELEOTETTIX MACULATUS (THUNBERG) (ORTHOPTERA: ACR1DIDAE) IN THE MOURNES, COUNTY DOWN

The mottled grasshopper, Myrmeleotettix maculatus (Thunberg), is a locally distributed species in Ireland (Cotton, D. C. R, 1980, Entomologist's Gaz. 33: 243-254), and there are no previously

published records from Co Down (H38). Two sites for the species were found in the Mournes in 1984.

Down (H38): J3422, 31 July 1984. Carrick Big, common in dry MoliniaiErica heathland at side of

track, at altitude of 220m. Coll and det BN. J2925, 14 August 1984. Cam Mountain. 1 cf seen and 2

others heard stridulating on heathery slope above a small valley bog at 400m. Coll and det BN.

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.111 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 15:24:50 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions