The first record of a Sado shrew Sorex shinto sadonis in southwestern part of Sado Island in the stomach contents of a Japanese forest rat snake

Abstract

On May 11, 2022, three individuals of the Sado shrew Sorex shinto sadonis were found in the stomach contents of a Japanese forest rat snake, Euprepiophis conspicillatus, on southwestern Sado Island. This critical report shows a new habitat for this subspecies, for which ecological knowledge, such as distributional information, is lacking. This is the first record of shrews found in the stomach contents of Japanese forest rat snakes. Southwestern Sado Island is at a lower elevation than the Osado Mountains (northern part of the island) and the northeastern part of the Kosado Mountains (southern part of the island), where Sado shrews have been found in previous studies. Moreover, the vegetation is a warm secondary forest dominated by Quercus serrata and Camellia japonica, unlike the cool-temperate forests of Osado and the northeastern Kosado Mountains. This finding suggests that the Sado shrew can live in secondary forests at 300 m. In addition, the fact that individuals of different ages were observed in this study provides valuable data indicating that a breeding population of this subspecies lives in the area.