INSECT SECRETIONS DETERMINE HABITAT USE PATTERNS BY A FEMALE LESSER MOUSE LEMUR (MICROCEBUS-MURINUS)

The lesser mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) is one of six sympatric nocturnal primates found in the Kirindy forest, west-Madagascar. Each of these species is reported to consume a secretion produced during the austral winter by the Homopteran insect Flatidia coccinea. In July and August 1993 a study was conducted to determine the importance of this food resource in the ecology of female M. murinus. At this study site, animals were distributed only along the forest edge where insect secretions are significantly more abundant than in the forest interior. Abundances of arboreal and nocturnal flying insects do not differ between the forest edge and interior. Experimental resource removal from a 25 x 25 m plot in one female's home range caused a significant shift in the animals' pattern of habitat use while no change occurred in a control plot. Thus, at this study site and time of year, the ranging behavior of a female M. murinus was strongly influenced by the presence of Homopteran secretions. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.