A seasonal feeding habit of Spiny Ant-eaters

Abstract

Spiny ant-eaters feed on the mound-building ant, Iridomyrmex detectus, during August, September, and October. They obtain the ants by burrowing into the mounds and so gain access to the galleries and brood chambers. The occurrence of the attacks on the mounds coincides with the presence of virgin queen ants which contain 47.2 % fat. When the virgin queens quit the mounds the attacks cease. The fat of the queens provides a readily accessible energy-rich meal which would be of peculiar importance to echidnas since energy-rich proximate constituents of a diet consisting of insects are limiting for growth.