Tachycineta leucorrhoa subsp. leucorrhoa

T. leucorrhoa leucorrhoa

Buenos Aires (Ituzaingó): COLEOPTERA of small size [Carabidae; Chrysomelidae], HYMENOPTERA [Formicidae], DIPTERA [wings and other remains] (Aravena 1928).

Buenos Aires (February): ORTHOPTERA [Acridiidae]; COLEOPTERA [Elateridae; Scarabaeidae (= Lamellicornia)]; HYMENOPTERA [Formicidae] (Zotta 1936).

Buenos Aires (March): COLEOPTERA [Chrysomelidae; Elateridae; Scarabaeidae (= Lamellicornia)] (Zotta 1936).

Buenos Aires (April): ORTHOPTERA; COLEOPTERA [Chrysomelidae; Curculionidae] (Zotta 1936).

Progne chalybea domestica (Vieillot, 1817)

Buenos Aires (September): COLEOPTERA [Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae; Scarabaeidae (= Lamellicornia)]; DIPTERA [Culicidae]; HEMIPTERA [Pentatomidae] (Zotta 1936).

Buenos Aires (February): ORTHOPTERA; NEUROPTERA; HYMENOPTERA; LEPIDOPTERA [nocturnal species]; HEMIPTERA [Pentatomidae] (Zotta 1936).

Minas Gerais: Viçosa (November): DIPTERA [Tabanidae, 2 exs.; Muscidae, 1 ex.]; COLEOPTERA [2 wings; Buprestidae, 1 ex.]; HYMENOPTERA [Apidae, 2 exx.; Vespidae, 162 wings] (Moojen & Carvalho 1941).

São Paulo: Ilha Seca: COLEOPTERA [fragments]; HYMENOPTERA [Apoidea, fragments]; HOMOPTERA [fragments]; HEMIPTERA [Pentatomidae, fragments] (Moojen & Carvalho 1941).

São Paulo: Ilha Seca: HYMENOPTERA [Apoidea, fragments]; HOMOPTERA [fragments]; HEMI- PTERA [Pentatomidae, fragments] (Moojen & Carvalho 1941).

Petrochelidon pyrrhonota pyrrhonota (Vieillot, 1817)

Buenos Aires (February): COLEOPTERA [Chrysomelidae] (Zotta 1936).

Tachycineta leucopyga (Meyen, 1834) [= Iridoprogne leucopyga]

Buenos Aires (May): COLEOPTERA; HEMIPTERA; DIPTERA (Zotta 1936). Buenos Aires (September): HYMENOPTERA [Formicidae: Acromyrmex lundi Guérin, 1838]; HEMI- PTERA [Reduviidae] (Zotta 1940).

Notiochelidon cyanoleuca [cyanoleuca (Vieillot, 1817)]

Minas Gerais: Viçosa (2 exx.): LEPIDOPTERA; DIPTERA; HYMENOPTERA (Moojen & Carvalho 1941).

In Argentina prey remains found in the swallows’ nests during the first breeding season belongs to DIPTERA, 84.41 %, 498 exx.: undetermined spp., 48.98 %, 289 exx.; Bibionidae, 29.49 %, 174 exx.; Sirphidae, 3.73 %, 22 exx.; Tabanidae, 2.03 %, 12 exx.; Calliphoridae, 0.17 %, 1 ex.; HYMENOPTERA, 4.74 %, 28 exx.: Formicidae, 3.72 %, 22 exx.; Vespidae, 0.85 %, 5 exx.; Ichneumonidae, 0.17 %, 1 ex.; HEMIPTERA, 4.74 %, 28 exx.: Corixidae, 3.56 %, 21 exx.; Cicadellidae, 0.85 %, 5 exx.; Miridae, 0.17 %, 1 ex.; undetermined spp., 0.17 %, 1 ex.; LEPIDOPTERA, 2.54 %, 15 exx.: Microlepidoptera, 1.86 %, 11 exx.; undetermined larvae, 0.34 %, 2 exx.; Pieridae, 0.17 %, 1 ex. [Colias lesbia (Fabricius, 1775)]; Noctuidae, 0.17 %, 1 ex.; COLEOPTERA, 2.37 %, 14 exx.: Dytiscidae, 1.02 %, 6 exx.; Chrysomelidae, 0.68 %, 4 exx.; Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae, 0.34 %, 2 exx.; Carabidae, 0.17 %, 1 ex.; Lampyridae, 0.17 %, 1 ex. [Photinus fuscus (Germar, 1824)]; ODONATA, 0.85 %, 5 exx.: Anisoptera, 0.68 %, 4 exx.; Zygoptera, 0.17 %, 1 ex.; BLATTARIA, 0.34 %, 2 exx. (Table 3).

Prey items were found in 55 (82.1 %) of 67 nests of the first brood and in 5 (45.4 %) of 11 nests of the second brood, making a total of 60 (89.5 %) of 78 nests in the first breeding season. Mean prey per nest was 11.78 ± 16.92 and 3.8 ± 3.9 for the first and second brood respectively (positive nests) (Table 3). No prey item was found in the nests belonging to the second breeding season.

Mean prey per month decreases from November to December (Table 4). A decrease pattern of food availability along the season is usually found during the breeding season of swallows, reflecting a decrease of food abundance at the end of the season. A negative and significant correlation was found between the number of total prey items found in each nest and the date of nest recollection (N = 71, R = -0.43, p = 0.0002). As the dipterans alone represent the 84.41 % of swallows’ diet, the decrease of the total prey items could not be reflecting an important factor on the main prey order. However, there was also a significant and negative correlation between the number of dipterans found in each nest and the date of nest recollection (N = 71, R = - 0.46, p = 0.0004). As a result, both the total number of prey items and the number of dipterans alone found in the nests decreased as the breeding season progressed (Fig. 2), concordantly with a decrease of food abundance (Di Iorio, unpubl. data).

L, larva; P, pupae; **, second brood; ***, several hundred of specimens (Solenopsis sp.) ocasionally attracted by a dead nestling.

Box code 70 13 13 b 60 3 67 G P 32 44 51 F T 56 64 14 15 I U 68 6 / 0 11 12 12 13 14 14 14 14- 15 15 15 15 15 16 16 16 16 16 16 17 17

Date XI- XI- XI- XI- XI- XI- XI- XI XI- XI- XI- XI- XI- XI- XI-05 XI- XI- XI- XI-05 XI-05 XI-05

Taxa 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5

DIPTERA

Bibionidae 7 6 - 14 3 2 2 - 2 - 8 2 1 - - 3 - - 21 3 6

Calli- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

phoridae

Sirphidae - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 - -

Tabanidae - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3 - 2

Undeter- - 7 11 9 8 1 2 1 1 1 - 1 14 - - - 1 1 69 1 11

mined

HYMENOPTER

A

Formicidae - 3 - 2 - - - - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - -

Ichneu- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

monidae

Vespidae - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 L, 3 - - - - - -

P

COLEOPT

ERA

Carabidae - - - - - - - - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - -

Dytiscidae - - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1

Chrysomel- - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

idae

Lampyridae - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Scara- - - - - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

baeidae

HEMI-

PTERA

Cicadellidae - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Corixidae - - - - - 1 - - - - 1 - - - - - - - 3 - 3

Miridae - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Undeter- 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

mined

LEPI-

DOPTERA

Larvae - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Pieridae - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Microlepi- - - 1 - - - - - - - - 1 - - - - - - 3 - 3

doptera

Noctuidae - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ODONATA

Anisoptera - - - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 - 1 Zygoptera - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BLAT-

TARIA

Undeter- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - mined

TOTALS 8 18 13 27 12 4 5 1 3 1 11 4 15 - 1 L, 3 3 1 1 101 4 27

P

Similarly nestling diets of Tachycineta bicolor (Vieillot, 1808) from Ottawa County (Michigan) were composed by Diptera: Brachycera (44.28 %), Diptera: Nematocera (12.5 %), Homoptera (12.0 %), Hymenoptera (14.5 %) and Coleoptera (7.6 %); the remainder of the diet (9.12 %) included Araneae, Hemiptera, Odonata, Ephemeroptera, Lepidoptera, Mollusca (clam and snail shells) and stones (Johnson & Lombardo 2000).

According to the records of prey items in literature and the obtained now, most of the insects mentioned by Hicks (1959) in swallows’ nests can be consider as prey or as items delivered by adults to their nestlings and not eaten, but not as insects directly related to the birds (parasites) or to their nests (comensals, saprofages, hibernants): ORTHOPTERA: Gryllacrididae [p. 283]; COLEOPTERA: Carabidae [pages 20, 21, 22, 26]; Mycetadeidae [p. 73]; Nitidulidae [p. 74]; Scarabaeidae [p. 84]; Scydmaenidae [p. 90]; Staphylinidae [p. 96, 97, 98, 99]; DERMAPTERA [p. 164]; DIPTERA: Agromyzidae (leaf miners) [p. 167]; Calliphoridae [p. 167, 168, 169]; Cecidomyiidae [p. 183]; Chironomidae [p. 184]; Empididae [p. 1895]; Ephydridae [p. 185]; Helomyzidae [p. 188]; Lonchopteridae [p. 209]; Muscidae [p. 210]; Omphralidae [p. 223, 224]; Sarcophagidae [p. 227, 228], Sciaridae [p. 228, 229]; Stratyomiidae [p. 232]; Tabanidae [p. 232]; Tachinidae [p. 233]; Tendipedidae [p. 233]; Therevidae [p. 233]}; Trixoscelidae [p. 234]; HEMI- PTERA: Ploiariidae [p. 251]; Cicadellidae (= Jassidae) [p. 255]; uncertain Homoptera [p. 255]; HYMENOPTERA: Braconiidae [p. 256], 257]; Formicidae [p. 260]; Ichneumonidae [p. 261]; Pteromalidae [p. 262, 264, 265]; LEPIDOPTERA [p. 266, 267]: Pieridae [p. 271]; Psychidae [p. 271]; NEU- ROPTERA: Myrmeleontida e [p. 282].

I 3,5 1,454876856 3,5 1 9 21 6 nests were considered in calculations.