- Zoology Department, University of Auckland, New Zealand
- Present address: Ecology Division, DSIR, Private Bag, Nelson, New Zealand
Abstract
Unusually heavy rodent interference with apple-baited live-traps set for brush-tailed possums (Trichosurus vulpecula Kerr) in a 15-year-old Pinus radiata stand prompted an attempt to reduce the local rodent population by snap-trapping. Twenty-two ship rats (Rattus rattus L.) were caught in 192 trap-nights in late July 1975 and seventeen of them were collected for autopsy. Stomach contents consisted largely of invertebrate remains, with lepidopteran larvae, wetas (Rhaphidophoridae) and bibionid larvae predominating.