Terrestrial arthropod groups, including insects, spiders, and millipedes, represent an important food resource for primates. However, species consumed and patterns and rates of arthropod-related feeding for most frugivorous primates are still poorly known. We examined stomach contents of 178 Amazonian primate specimens of nine genera and three families obtained from community-based collections voluntarily donated by subsistence hunters. Based on our results, we assessed whether consumption patterns followed the expected negative relationship between arthropod ingestion and body size as postulated in the Jarman-Bell and Kay models. We identified 12 consumed arthropod taxa, including insects (beetles, grasshoppers, ants, flies, caterpillars, praying mantises, and others), spiders and millipedes. Medium and large-bodied primates consumed a greater diversity (measured by Simpson’s diversity index) and richness of arthropods, but differed in terms of composition of taxa consumed. Cacajao, Sapajus and Cebus consumed proportionally more Orthoptera and Coleoptera compared to the other primate genera analyzed. We did not find significant correlations between richness and diversity of arthropods consumed and primate body mass. There was a slight tendency for the decrease in the relative content of arthropods in the diet with increased body mass in medium and large primates, which does not provide full support for the Jarman-Bell and Kay models. The study of arthropod consumption by arboreal primates in the wild remains challenging. Our study suggests that arthropods supply essential nutrients for frugivorous primates, and provides an alternative method to analyse faunal consumption patterns in primates.

Se dispone de escasos estudios que describan los hábitos alimenticios de los primates no humanos (PNH) que permiten conocer el uso de los recursos alimenticios del ecosistema en el bosque amazónico. El estudio tuvo como objetivos (1) determinar la composición de la dieta de seis especies de PNH y (2) evaluar la amplitud y diversidad de sus dietas a partir de la evaluación de los contenidos gástricos de animales cazados con fines de subsistencia por pobladores de tres áreas del norte de la Amazonía peruana entre 2012-2015. Se trabajó con muestras de 82 primates de las especies Lagothrix poeppigii (n=30), Sapajus macrocephalus (n=23), Pithecia monachus (n=11), Cacajao calvus (n=8), Cebus albifrons (n=6) y Alouatta seniculus (n=4). La dieta de los PNH estuvo constituida por una alta variedad de frutos, entre ellos por 133 tipos de semillas y 39 tipos de artrópodos. La amplitud del nicho según el Índice de Levin y el Índice de Diversidad de Simpson indican que L. poeppigii es la especie más generalista en lo referente a frutos y artrópodos. Por el contrario, Cebus albifrons es la especie más especialista en lo que se refiere a frutos y P. monachus cuando se trata de artrópodos.