Why does the biggest communal nest of any bird occur only in one southern African semi-desert? part 2

In taking Hodotermes as a staple, the sociable weaver itself belongs to a foraging guild (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild_(ecology)) that contains a remarkable assortment of sympatric species:

• Proteles cristata, the largest-bodied animal on Earth specialising on termites for food (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aardwolf),
• Otocyon megalotis, the most insectivorous of all canids (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat-eared_fox and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251699653_The_bat-eared_fox_A_dietary_specialist and https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15627020.2019.1596754),
• Cynictis penicillata, a diurnal mongoose (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_mongoose),
• Rhinoptilus africanus, a 'dryland wader' more reliant on termites than any other bird on Earth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-banded_courser and https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/EJC117141 and https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/OSTRICH.2008.79.2.16.590?journalCode=tost20),
• Heliobolus lugubris, a lacertid lizard extremely adapted against predation by e.g. the yellow mongoose (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/35981-Heliobolus-lugubris and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nYvCM_MLGs and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2k-NlfTbQk and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/216813240_Field_Energetics_and_Foraging_Mode_of_Kalahari_Lacertid_Lizards/link/02e7e5330eb6fe9309000000/download),
• Ptenopus spp., and possibly other geckos (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptenopus, and see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hodotermes),- Typhlosaurus lineatus, a legless lizard specialising on termites (https://faculty.washington.edu/hueyrb/new/HueyPianka74EcologyTyphlosaurus.pdf and https://www.jstor.org/stable/1935218), as well as possibly Zygaspis quadrifrons or Monopeltis sp. (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/31738-Zygaspis-quadrifrons and https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/106040-Monopeltis-infuscata and https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/31774-Monopeltis-anchietae and https://www.jstor.org/stable/1565264), and
• Ammoxenus amphalodes, a spider specialising on Hodotermes (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/649189-Ammoxenus-amphalodes and https://www.nature.com/articles/srep14013 and also see https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/693152-Thaumastochilus-termitomimus), plus possibly certain species of zodariid spiders (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00222939200770781).

Availability of termites allows a sedentary life, because these insects are reliable even in drought. However, they have limited food-value, demanding metabolic and reproductive economy in their consumers.

Although the sociable weaver differs from the aardwolf in not specialising on termites, it resembles this hyenid in that Hodotermes tides both species over the lean season of winter, when both water and energy are in short supply.

Posted on April 9, 2022 06:59 PM by milewski