
%0 Journal Article
%A Mansergh, I. 
%A Baxter, B. 
%A Scotts, D. 
%A Brady, T. 
%A Jolley, D. 
%T Diet of the Mountain Pygmy-possum, Burramys parvus (Marsupialia: Burramyidae) and other small mamma ls in the alpine environment at Mt Higginbotham, Victoria.
%J Australian Mammalogy
%D 1990/06/01
%V 13
%N 2
%P 167-177
%K 
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/AM90017
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/AM90017 
%X The diets of Burramys parvus, Rattus fuscipes and Antechinus swainsonii in Podocarpus lawrencei heathland in alpine Victoria during the non-winter period were determined from analysis of 264 faecal pellets. Both frequency of occurrence and mean percentage composition of dietary items in the samples were determined; the Iatter being used to assess the diet. We found B. parvus to be an omnivore concentrating on insec ts. It eats a variety of foods but the Bogong Moth (Agrolis infusa) is heavily exploited (31 % of the composition of faecal samples) especially by females during the breeding season (46 %). Other components of the diet are other invertebrates, predominantly insects (32 %) and vegetative material (16 %). Seasonal differences in the composition of the diet of B. parvus were due to the exploitation of fruit in the non-breeding season. No differences in diet were observed between age-classes and the sexes but females are sedentary in food resource-rich habitats, whilst when not breeding, males occur in areas of poorer food resources. Circumstantial evidence suggests that during facultative hibernation a major dietary component of B. parvus may be seeds, cached from the previous summer-autumn. The diet of R. fuscipes consists mainly of insects (12 %) and the largest vegetative component was seeds (10.1 %). Fungi were found in 53 % of faecal samples of R. fuscipes but could not be quantified as a percentage composition of diet. The species is classified as a selective omnivore. The diet of A. swainsonii consisted of 68 % in sec ts, 10.4 % of insect setae and worms with the major vegetative component (5.2 %) being soft fruits. Burramys parvus, relative to the other small mammals with which it cohabits, has become a specialist in exploiting the abundant and rich food resource of Bogong moths. 
