Food Habits of Mammals During an Emergence of 17-Year Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada Spp.) (Report‪)‬

ABSTRACT. We examined the diet of nine species of mammals in Vigo and Clay Co. Indiana during an emergence of 17-year cicadas (Cicadidae; Magicicada spp.) in May and June of 2004. Small mammals were snap-trapped, and larger mammals were collected dead along roadways. During the emergence, cicadas constituted over 51% (by volume) of the diet of short-tailed shrews (Blarina brevicauda) and raccoons (Procyon lotor), while the opossum (Didelphis virginiana), white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) and eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus) consumed periodical cicadas in lesser amounts. Keywords: diet, foraging, Indiana, Peromyscus, resource pulse