Food habits of rollers during the nesting season

This paper reports on the food habits of nestling Rollers from an area of Central Italy. The chicks were fed on a large number of mainly hard-bodied beetles. Scarabaeoidea made up 60,5% of the prey, Cetoninae being the most represented group (42,6%) out of the total number of prey (N=129). Also Pentodon punctatus (14%), Carabidae (11,6%) and Cicadidae (8,5%) were taken in fairly large numbers. We suggest that the Roller is a rather catholic, diurnal insectivore bird preferring medium- and largesized beetles. The strong bill of this Coraciid enables it to crack open the hard, chitinous exoskeletons of beetles such as Morimus asper, Oryctes nasicornis grypus and others. Its insectivore habits make this bird resent the use of pesticides and traditional forest management, which threaten directly and indirectly its survival, especially in such a delicate period as the breeding season.