Vol. 77 (1) 2025

ARTICLES

Data on the Trophic Spectrum of Ablepharus kitaibelii (Reptilia: Scincidae)

Emiliya Vacheva* & Borislav Naumov

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https://doi.org/10.71424/azb77.1.2824

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Abstract
The snake-eyed skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii) is one of the smallest European lizards and is still insufficiently studied, especially in regard to its trophic preferences. We studied a total of 100 individual faecal samples of A. kitaibelii from two sites in Western Bulgaria and collected information for the potential trophic resource (using pit-fall traps). The results showed that Araneae and Auchenorrhyncha have the largest relative share in the trophic spectrum of the species, which, to some extent, confirms what was found in previous studies. The presence of five higher taxa of invertebrates (Gastropoda, Acari, Blattodea, Orthoptera and Rhaphidioptera) in the diet of A. kitaibelii was recorded for the first time. Several cases of keratophagy (a phenomenon that has not been reported for this species) were also recorded. Regarding the main physical characteristics of the prey (evasiveness and hardness), it was found that A. kitaibelii prefers sedentary and medium moving prey regardless of its hardness. We found no differences between sexes in food preferences.

Key words
Sauria, diet, prey electivity, keratophagy

How to Cite
Vacheva E., Naumov B. 2025. Data on the Trophic Spectrum of Ablepharus kitaibelii (Reptilia: Scincidae). Acta zoologica bulgarica 77 (1) 85-91.

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