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Copyright of Journal of Neotropical Mammalogy / Mastozoologia Neotropical is the property of Sociedad Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamiferos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Neotropical Mammalogy / Mastozoologia Neotropical is the property of Sociedad Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamiferos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The diet of the brown four-eyed opossum (Metachirus nudicaudatus) at a riparian savanna in Brazil was analyzed using 22 fecal samples collected monthly from November 2009 to October 2011. A comparison was established between samples from rainy and dry seasons. Diet composition varied seasonally. Arthropods and fruits were consumed in different frequencies of occurrence, in both seasons, but small vertebrates were only found in the dry season. Diet differences among biomes (Atlantic Forest and Cerrado) were also assessed by comparing the frequency of food items in the fecal sample in our study with data from the literature. Invertebrates (100%) were the most frequent food category found, followed by fruits (59%) and vertebrates (13.6%). Small differences in the consumption of invertebrates were found among the biomes. Nevertheless, seed frequency was significantly higher in samples from the Cerrado than in those from the Atlantic Forest. In our study site,Metachirus nudicaudatusis opportunistic and has an omnivorous diet, tending to include more fruits in its natural diet than has been previously described. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a study which investigates the food habits and seed dispersal promoted by Thrichomys apereoides in a Cerrado reserve in southern Brazil. The study includes the incorporation of seed germination experiments to test the seed dispersal while faecal analysis was used to determine diet. It notes that the obtained moderate to high germination rate shows that small sized seeds of pioneer plants passed undamaged through the guts and remained viable despite the efficiency of the rodent's feeding apparatus.