Diet and Foraging

Violaceous Euphonia is primarily frugivorous. In one detailed study on Trinidad, 97% of all foraging observations were of birds feeding on fruit (Snow and Snow 1971). Epiphytes represented 62% of the fruit consumed, including Aechmaea nudicaulis, mistletoes, and the epiphytic cactus Rhipsalis (Snow and Snow 1971). Violaceous Euphonia on Trinidad also frequently consumes Anthurium (Snow and Snow 1971). Cecropia fruit also are consumed regularly (Oniki et al. 1994). This species also consumes some insects (Snow and Snow 1971), and, in Brazil, "avidly seeks out small terrestrial snails" (Sick 1983).

Species of Euphonia have a degenerated digestive tract that is specialized for processing soft fruit pulp (Desslberger 1931).