Fossorial prey in an arboreal snake: an observation of earthworm consumption by a Northern Tree-Snake (Dendrelaphis calligastra)

Snakes are carnivores, consuming a wide variety of organisms (Greene 1997), but some widely distributed and abundant types of prey are consumed less frequently than one might expect. For example, invertebrates are rarely taken by Australian snakes (Shine 1995), although they are common prey items for snakes in most other parts of the world. Within the diverse Australian snake fauna (approx. 229 species: Uetz et al. 2023), invertebrates are regularly consumed only by burrowing blindsnakes (Typhlopidae) that consume ant larvae, and aquatic (mangrove-dwelling) homalopsines that consume crabs and other crustaceans (Shine 1995). Among the terrestrial and arboreal Australian snakes (i.e., elapids and colubrids), grasshoppers and crickets are occasional prey items (e.g. Fearn and Munday 1996). Annelids (worms) have never been reported as prey for snakes in mainland Australia, although one IndoPacific blindsnake (Ramphotyphlops subocularis) eats worms (Webb and Shine 1993), as does the endemic Fijian elapid Ogmodon and the Melanesian Toxicocalamus (Shine and Keogh 1996).