Dietary Value of Fruits and Seeds to Spiny Pocket Mice, Heteromys desmarestianus (Heteromyidae)

Spiny pocket mice, Heteromys desmarestianus, were maintained on monospecific diets of fruits or seeds of 15 plant species. Average consumption rates over 5-day trials were high (>1.50 g seed/g mouse) for fruits of Ficus yoponensis (Moraceae), moderate (0.88–1.10) for seeds of Nectandra ambigens (Lauraceae) and Brosimum alicastrum (Moraceae), and fruits of Astrocaryum mexicanum (Palmae), and low (0.01–0.38) for seeds of Cymbopetallum baillonii (Annonaceae), Abuta panamensis (Menispermaceae), Poulsenia armata and Pseudolmedia oxyphyllaria (Moraceae), Bactris tricophylla and Chamaedorea tepejilote (Palmae), Cupania glabra (Sapindaceae), Dipholis minutiflora and Pouteria campechiana (Sapotaceae) and fruits of Bumelia persimilis (Sapotaceae). Seeds of Omphalea oleifera (Euphorbiaceae) were not consumed. Dietary values (average change in body weight/average consumption rate) indicated that P. armata, C. baillonii, B. alicastrum, N. ambigens, and A. mexicanum were the most valuable species to spiny pocket mice; C. tepejilote and A. panamensis were the least valuable. Six of the nine (67%) fruit or seed species found in cheekpouches of wild-caught spiny pocket mice had high dietary values. Energy and nutritional content or presence of toxic compounds in fruits and seeds appear to affect dietary choices of spiny pocket mice.