DOCSLIB.ORG

New Locality Records of Ablepharus Kitaibelii Fitzingeri Mertens, 1952 from the Area Surrounding the River Ipel’, in Slovakia and Adjacent Hungary

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
New Locality Records of Ablepharus Kitaibelii Fitzingeri Mertens, 1952 from the Area Surrounding the River Ipel’, in Slovakia and Adjacent Hungary North-Western Journal of Zoology Vol. 4, No. 1, 2008, pp.125-128 [Online: Vol.4, 2008: 05] New locality records of Ablepharus kitaibelii fitzingeri Mertens, 1952 from the area surrounding the river Ipel’, in Slovakia and adjacent Hungary Zoltán KORSÓS1, Róbert CSEKÉS2 and Eszter TAKÁCS3 1Department of Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Baross u. 13, H-1088 Budapest, Hungary, E-mail: [email protected] 2 U mlékárny 290, 353 01 Mariánské Lázně, Czech Republic 3Zoological Institute, Szent István University, Rottenbiller u. 50, H-1078 Budapest, Hungary Abstract. During a survey in August, 2006, the Ipoly (Ipel’) River region along the Hungarian-Slovakian border was visited for occurrences of the Pannonian Snake-eyed Skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii fitzingeri Mertens, 1952) at the northernmost border of its range. Populations at four localities were found, two of which (one in Slovakia and one in Hungary) proved to be new without previously known records. Key words: Ablepharus kitaibelii fitzingeri, distribution, new localities, Slovakia, Hungary The Snake-eyed skink, Ablepharus In the framework of a Hungarian kitaibelii (Bibron & Bory, 1833), is the nationwide project on the origin and only representative of the genus in evolution of the selected faunal Europe, and the northernmost elements of the Carpathian Basin, we European member of the lizard family surveyed the appropriate area of the Scincidae. The species’ subspecific subspecies’ (Ablepharus kitaibelii fitzin- composition is still under discussion geri) range along the Slovakian-Hunga- (Fuhn 1970, Ljubisavljevic et al. 2002, rian border, determined mainly by the Schmidtler 1997), although a successful valley of the Ipoly (Ipel’) river and the attempt was already made on its adjacent slopes. Previous reports on the phylogeography in the southern range occurrence in this region include; (Poulakakis et al. 2005). The north- Kováčovské kopce (Kamenica nad ernmost subspecies, A. k. fitzingeri Hronom: Burda, Baruš & Oliva 1997), Mertens, 1952, is endemic to the Plášťovce (Kočárek & Palochová 1997), Pannonian geographic region. It occurs on the Slovakian, and Nagymaros in Hungary, in the southern part of (Börzsöny Mts: Szabó 1960, excl. Slovakia and in the northern part of personal observations) on the Hunga- Serbia (for general distribution see rian side. Gruber 1981, Gasc et al. 1997, and We proved the existence of Herczeg et al. 2004). Ablepharus kitaibelii fitzingeri in all of North-West J Zool, 4, 2008 Oradea, Romania 126 Korsós, Z. et al. these places, and found two new brook Kemence (N 47° 59.5’ – E 18° localities in the region (Table 1), 55.9’). Both habitats are warm oak previously only mentioned in the woods (Festuco pseudodalmaticae – literature as personal observations, but Quercetum pubescentis) typical for the without voucher exemplars or reliable occurrences of Ablepharus kitaibelii photographs (Herczeg et al. 2004). This fitzingeri (Fig. 2) at the closest localities locality in Slovakia is at Ipel’ské in Western Cserhát Hills, Hungary (see Predmostie (N 48° 04.8’ – E 19° 00.5’), the biotope characterisations by on the hill named Šomoš (Fig. 1), and, Harmos & Herczeg 2003). The slopes similarly to Plášťovce, belongs to here were southern faced, and the Krupinská planina (Nitrianský kraj, temperatures of the vegetation and the okres Levice). The new Hungarian open rocky surface during captures locality lies in the northern range of were 23 and 35° C, respectively. Mts Börzsöny, in the valley of the Table 1: Locality data of Ablepharus kitaibelii fitzingeri occurrences in the region of Ipel’ river, Slovakia and Hungary (* - new localities) Locality GPS-coordinates Date of No. of observation observed/caug ht specimens Slovakia, Ipel’ské Predmostie, N 48° 04.8’ – E 19° 00.5’ 1 Aug. 2006 4/2 Šomoš, 220 m* Slovakia, Plášt’ovce, 241 m N 48° 10.3’ – E 18° 59.2’ 2 Aug. 2006 3/3 Slovakia, Kamenica nad Hronom, N 47° 49.9’ – E 18° 44.2’ 2 Aug. 2006 4/4 Kováčovské kopce, 163 m (incl. 1 juv.) Hungary, Börzsöny Mts, Kemence, N 47° 59.5’ – E 18° 55.9’ 3 Aug. 2006 1/1 valley of Kemence brook, Hegyhát, 346 m* The specimens caught were adults, early for Slovakia (see e.g., Barus & with snout-vent lengths (SVL) of 40-51 Oliva 1997), but it is maybe due to the mm. We also found a juvenile, exceptionally warm weather in the newborn specimen at Kováčovské previous weeks of 2006. kopce, its total length was only 42 mm, We believe that further surveys in SVL 23 mm. It had obviously hatched detail on the appropriate habitats in the from the egg only some days ago, still region may yield the discovery of more showing the peculiar red-tailed occurrences and still viable populations juvenile colour pattern (Koncz 1998). A of this rare and protected skink hatching at this time of the year (end of subspecies at its northernmost distri- July) can be considered as a little too bution range. North-West J Zool, 4, 2008 Locality records of Ablepharus kitaibelii fitzingeri 127 Acknowledgements. The research was the fauna of the Carpathian Basin: diversity, supported by the Hungarian National R&D biogeographical hotspots and nature conser- Programme, entitled „The origin and genezis of vation significance”; Contract No. 3B023-04. Figure 1: Habitat of Ablepharus kitaibelii fitzingeri at the new locality of Šomoš, Slovakia Figure 2: Pannonian Snake-eyed skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii fitzingeri) from Šomoš, Slovakia References Vincent, 1883) (Sauria; Scincidae). Acta Societatis Zoologicae Bohemoslovacae 34(1): Baruš, V. & Oliva, O. (eds) (1992): Plazi – 9–17. Reptilia. Fauna CSFR 26, Academia, Praha. Gasc, J-P., Cabela , A., Crnobrnja-Isailovic, J., Fuhn, I. E. (1970): Über die Unterarten von Dolmen, D., Grossenbacher, K., Haffner, P., Ablepharus kitaibelii (Bibron & Bory de St. Lescure, J., Martens, H., Martínez Rica, J. P., North-West J Zool, 4, 2008 128 Korsós, Z. et al. Maurin, H., Oliveira, M. E., Sofianidou, T. S., Koncz, A. (1998): Van új a Nap alatt! [There are Veith, M. & Zuiderwijk, A. (eds) (1997): Atlas new things still to discover!] Természet 5(11): of amphibians and reptiles in Europe. 409. Societas Europea Herpetologica & Museum Ljubisavljevic, K., Dzukic, G. & Kalezic, M. L. National d’Histoire Naturelle (IEGB/SPN), (2002): Morphological differentation of the Paris. Snake-eyed skink Ablepharus kitaibelii Gruber, U. (1981): Ablepharus kitaibelii (Bibron (Bibron et Bory, 1833), in the north-western und Bory 1833) – Johannisechse, pp. 297-302. part of the species' range: systematic In Böhme, W. (ed.) Handbuch der Reptilien implications. Herpetozoa 14(3/4): 107-121. und Amphibien Europas, Vol. 1. Akade- Poulakakis, N., Lymberakis, P., Tsigenopoulos, mische Verlagsgesellschaft, Wiesbaden. C. S., Magoulas, A. & Mylonas, M. (2005): Harmos, K. & Herczeg, G. (2003): A pannongyík Phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary elterjedése és természetvédelmi helyzete a history of snake-eyed skink Ablepharus Központi-Cserhátban és környékén. kitaibelii (Sauria: Scincidae). Molecular [Distribution and conservation status of the Phylogenetics and Evolution 34: 245–256. Snake-eyed Skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii Schmidtler, J. F. (1997): The Ablepharus kitaibelii- fitzingeri) in the Central-Cserhát and group in southern Anatolia and adjacent surroundings.] Folia historico naturalia territories. Herpetozoa 10(1/2): 35-63. Musei Matraensis 27: 349-357. Szabó, I. (1960): Adatok a Börzsöny hegység Herczeg, G., Tóth, T., Kovács, T., Korsós, Z. & herpetofaunájához. [Beiträge zur Herpeto- Török, J. (2004): Distribution of Ablepharus fauna des Börzsöny-Gebirges.] Vertebrata kitaibelii fitzingeri Mertens, 1952 (Squamata: hungarica 2(2): 199-216. Scincidae) in Hungary. Russian Journal of Herpetology 11(2): 99-105. Kočárek, P. & Palochová, A. (1997): Nová lokalita krátkonožky evropské v SR. Živa, Bratislava Submitted: 21 January 2008 1997(4): 181. / Accepted: 12 February 2008 North-West J Zool, 4, 2008 .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Species List of Amphibians and Reptiles from Turkey
    Journal of Animal Diversity Online ISSN 2676-685X Volume 2, Issue 4 (2020) http://dx.doi.org/10.29252/JAD.2020.2.4.2 Review Article Species list of Amphibians and Reptiles from Turkey Muammer Kurnaz Gümüşhane University, Kelkit Vocational School of Health Services, Department of Medical Services and Techniques 29600, Kelkit / Gümüşhane, Turkey *Corresponding author : [email protected] Abstract Turkey is biogeographically diverse and consequently has a rich herpetofauna. As a result of active herpetological research, the number of species has steadily increased in recent years. I present here a new checklist of amphibian and reptile species distributed in Turkey, revising the nomenclature to reflect the latest taxonomic knowledge. In addition, information about the systematics of many species is also given. In total 35 (19.4%) amphibian and 145 Received: 8 October 2020 (80.6%) reptile species comprise the Turkish herpetofauna. Among amphibians, 16 (45.7%) Accepted: 23 December 2020 anurans and 19 urodelans (54.3%) are present. Among reptiles, 11 (7.6%) testudines, 71 Published online: 31 January 2021 (49%) saurians, 3 (2.1%) amphisbaenians and 60 (41.3%) ophidians are considered part of the herpetofauna. The endemism rate in Turkey is considered relatively high with a total of 34 species (12 amphibian species – 34.3% and 22 reptile species – 15.2%) endemic to Turkey, yielding a total herpetofaunal endemism of 18.9%. While 38 species have not been threat-assessed by the IUCN, 92 of the 180 Turkish herpetofaunal species are of Least Concern (LC), 13 are Near Threatened (NT), 10 are Vulnerable (VU), 14 are Endangered (EN), and 7 are Critically Endangered (CR).
    [Show full text]
  • Distribution of Reptiles in Kosovo and Metohija Province
    UNIVERSITY THOUGHT doi:10.5937/univtho8-16981 Publication in Natural Sciences, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2018, pp. 1-6. Original Scientific Paper CONTRIBUTION TO THE HERPETOFAUNA OF SERBIA - DISTRIBUTION OF REPTILES IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA PROVINCE LJILJANA TOMOVIĆ1*, MAGDALENA TIMOTIJEVIĆ2, RASTKO AJTIĆ3, IMRE KRIZMANIĆ1, NENAD LABUS2 1Institute of Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia 2Faculty of Science and Mathematics, University of Priština, Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbia 3Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia ABSTRACT Kosovo and Metohija have already been recognized as regions with the highest diversity of reptiles in Serbia, where 92% (22 of 24) of existing reptile species can be found (Tomović et al., 2015a). First comprehensive contribution to herpetofauna of Kosovo and Metohija was provided by late Professor Gojko Pasuljević. In this study we present a complete dataset of distribution records for 13 most common reptile species in Kosovo and Metohija, including published and new distribution data compiled, and provide standardized 10 x 10 km UTM maps for these data. Results of this study include 1013 distribution records (278 new and 735 published data) for the following reptiles: Testudo hermanni, Ablepharus kitaibelii, Anguis fragilis, Lacerta agilis, Lacerta viridis, Podarcis muralis, Podarcis tauricus, Coronella austriaca, Dolichophis caspius, Natrix natrix, Natrix tessellata, Zamenis longissimus and Vipera ammodytes. The most widely distributed species, which occupy more than 50 UTM 10 x 10 km squares are: Podarcis muralis and Vipera ammodytes. Species with limited distribution which occupy less than 20 UTM 10 x 10 km are: Dolichophis caspius and Lacerta agilis. The largest numbers of new or confirmed literature data are recorded for: Anguis fragilis, Testudo hermanni and Vipera ammodytes.
    [Show full text]
  • The Herpetofauna of the Island of Rhodes (Dodecanese, Greece)
    HERPETOZOA 21 (3/4): 147 - 169 147 Wien, 30. Jänner 2009 The herpetofauna of the Island of Rhodes (Dodecanese, Greece) Die Herpetofauna der Insel Rhodos (Dodekanes, Griechenland) THOMAS BADER & CHRISTOPH RIEGLER & HEINZ GRILLITSCH KURZFASSUNG Die Herpetofauna von Rhodos wird aufgrund von Literaturdaten, Sammlungsmaterial des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien sowie Ergebnissen diverser herpetologischer Exkursionen aufgelistet. Verbreitungskarten aller nachgewiesenen Arten sowie eine aktuelle herpetologische Faunenliste werden erstellt. Folgende Arten wurden regelmäßig und wiederholt festgestellt: Bufo viridis, Hyla arborea, Pelophylax cerigensis, Mauremys rivulata, Hemidactylus turcicus, Laudakia stellio, Ophisops elegans, Lacerta trilineata, Anatolacerta oertzeni, Ablepharus kitaibelii, Chalcides ocellatus, Trachylepis aurata, Blanus strauchi, Typhlops vermicularis, Dolichophis sp., Platyceps najadum, Hemorrhois nummifer, Zamenis situla, Natrix natrix, Telescopus fallax. Der taxonomische Status der Springnatter wird diskutiert. Aufgrund mehrerer aktueller Funde wird Mediodactylus kotschyi ergän- zend zur Herpetofauna von Rhodos hinzugefügt und das Auftreten folgender Arten, deren Vorkommen in der Literatur regelmäßig für Rhodos angegeben wurde, in Frage gestellt: Testudo graeca, Pseudopus apodus, Natrix tessellata. Aktuelle Einzelfunde gelangen von Chamaeleo chamaeleon, Malpolon monspessulanus, Testudo grae- ca und Testudo hermanni, deren Status diskutiert wird. ABSTRACT Based on several recent herpetological surveys, as well as data from
    [Show full text]
  • First Evidence for the Snake-Eyed Skink Ablepharus Kitaibelii (Bibron Et Bory De Sant-Vincent, 1833) (Sauria Scincidae) in Astypalea Island (Dodecanese, Greece)
    Biodiversity Journal , 2019, 10 (1): 3–6 https://doi.org/ 10.31396/Biodiv.Jour.2019.10.1.3.6 First evidence for the snake-eyed skink Ablepharus kitaibelii (Bibron et Bory de Sant-Vincent, 1833) (Sauria Scincidae) in Astypalea Island (Dodecanese, Greece) Mauro Grano¹ * & Cristina Cattaneo² ¹Coordinator of Lazio Section Societas Herpetologica Italica ²Via Eleonora d’Arborea 12, 00162 Rome, Italy *Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT The first documentation (also with photos) on the presence of the snake-eyed skink Able - pharus kitaibelii (Bibron et Bory de Saint-Vincet, 1833) (Sauria Scincidae) in Astypalea Island (Dodecanese, Greece) is provided here. Until now, only five specimens in the Natural History Museum of Crete were known. KEY WORDS Ablepharus kitaibelii ; Astypalea; Dodecanese; Snake-eyed skink. Received 13.01.2019; accepted 19.02.2019; published online 28.02.2019 INTRODUCTION budaki , and which could be ascribed to A. budaki anatolicus Schmidtler, 1997 (Skourtanioti et al., The snake-eyed skink Ablepharus kitaibelii 2016). (Bibron et Bory de Saint-Vincent, 1833) (Sauria The occurrence of the snake-eyed skink A. ki - Scincidae) is the only species of the genus distrib - taibelii in the Aegean Island of Astypalea (Dode - uted in Europe and shows a distribution from canese, Greece) is here reported for the first time. southern Slovakia and Hungary, through most of Serbia, the eastern parts of continental Croatia, southern Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania MATERIAL AND METHODS (lowland areas), Turkey (western and central), and Greece (Mainland, and many Ionian and Aegean The data here presented came from field obser - Islands). As regards its range in the Aegean Islands, vation made by the authors on Astypalea Island on Kos, Leros, Makronisi (SW of Lipsi), Nisyros, during two different periods: August 2015 and Tilos (Masseti, 1999), Chalki, Alimia, Symi, and April 2016.
    [Show full text]
  • I Online Supplementary Data – Henle, K. & A. Grimm-Seyfarth (2020
    Online Supplementary data – Henle, K. & A. Grimm-Seyfarth (2020): Exceptional numbers of occurrences of bifurcated, double, triple, and quintuple tails in an Australian lizard community, with a review of supernumerary tails in natural populations of reptiles. – Salamandra, 56: 373–391 Supplementary document S1. Database on bifurcation, duplication and multiplication of tails in natural populations of reptiles. We considered only data that were provided at least at the genus level and that explicitly originated from natural populations or for which this was likely, as either the authors indicated for other specimens that they were captive animals, or because museum series were examined (even if data were provided only for the specimens with accessory tails). We relaxed these criteria for pre-1900 publications and included also individuals without determination and data that were not explicitly stated as applying to wild individuals if such an origin was plausible. We extracted the following data (if available): species name, number of individuals with accessory tails, number of individuals with bifurcation, duplication, trifurcation, quadruplication, quintuplication and hexaplication, sample size, geographic origin (usually country but may also be oceanic islands), microhabitat, and the year of publication. Nomenclature follows Cogger (2014) for Australian reptiles and Uetz et al. (2019) for other species regarding generic names, name changes due to priorities and synonymies, and for subspecies identified in the source reference that have been elevated later to full species rank. Name changes due to splitting of taxa into several species were made only if allocation of the data to the new species was obvious from morphological or geographic information provided by the assessed source reference or was already done by other authors.
    [Show full text]
  • Morphology and Reproduction of the Snake-Eyed Skink (Ablepharus Kitaibelii Bibron & Bory De Saint-Vincent, 1833) in the Western Most Parts of Its Range
    NORTH-WESTERN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY 14 (2): 185-192 ©NWJZ, Oradea, Romania, 2018 Article No.: e171510 http://biozoojournals.ro/nwjz/index.html Morphology and reproduction of the Snake-eyed Skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii Bibron & Bory De Saint-Vincent, 1833) in the western most parts of its range Olga JOVANOVIĆ GLAVAŠ1, Ana KOLARIĆ2, Mariann EROSS3 and Dušan JELIĆ4,* 1. Department of Biology, University of Osijek, Cara Hadrijana 8A, Osijek, Croatia. 2. Travnik 35, 40000 Čakovec, Croatia. 3. Szent István street 15, 4400 Nyíregyháza, Hungary. 4. Croatian Institute for Biodiversity, Maksimirska cesta 129/5, Zagreb, Croatia. * Corresponding author, D. Jelić, E-mail: [email protected] Received: 28. January 2017 / Accepted: 14. September 2017 / Available online: 23. September 2017 / Printed: December 2018 Abstract. The most western populations of the Snake-eyed Skink, discovered recently on Papuk Mountain and Ilok area in Croatia, has never been studied before. Here we examined the morphology and age structure, reproduction, and prevalence of injuries in both populations. We examined 191 individuals: 163 adults and 28 juveniles. Morphological analysis was based on 140 adult individuals (129 from Papuk, 11 from Ilok) and 34 juveniles (21 caught in the wild and 13 hatched in captivity). Our results showed that although there is no clear sexual dimorphism, adult animals exhibit slight differences between sexes. In 34.1 % of the adult individuals in Papuk and in 35 % of juveniles, a tail has been regenerated, while in Ilok in 27.3 % of the adults. In 2010-2012 nine gravid females collected from Papuk Mountain deposited a total of 25 eggs in the lab.
    [Show full text]
  • Die Ablepharus Kitaibelii - Gruppe in Süd-Anatolien Und Benachbarten Gebieten (Squamata: Sauria: Scinidae)
    ZOBODAT - www.zobodat.at Zoologisch-Botanische Datenbank/Zoological-Botanical Database Digitale Literatur/Digital Literature Zeitschrift/Journal: Herpetozoa Jahr/Year: 1997 Band/Volume: 10_1_2 Autor(en)/Author(s): Schmidtler Josef Friedrich Artikel/Article: Die Ablepharus kitaibelii - Gruppe in Süd-Anatolien und benachbarten Gebieten (Squamata: Sauria: Scinidae). 35-63 ©Österreichische Gesellschaft für Herpetologie e.V., Wien, Austria, download unter www.biologiezentrum.at HERPETOZOA 10 (1/2): 35 - 63 Wien, 30. Juli 1997 Die Ablepharus kitaibelii - Gruppe in Süd-Anatolien und benachbarten Gebieten (Squamata: Sauna: Scincidae) The Ablepharus kitaibelii - group in southern Anatolia and adjacent territories (Squamata: Sauria: Scincidae) JOSEF F. SCHMIDTLER ABSTRACT Near East snake-eyed skinks in the distribution area of Ablepharus (k.) kitaibelii BroRON & BORY, 1833 turned out to be a group of four species ("Ablepharus kitaibelii - group"): (1) A. kitaibelii s. Str., here restricted to the Balkan Peninsula, Western and Central Anatolia; (2) the closely related^, chernovi DAREVSKY, 1953, representing a polytypic species: A. ch. chernovi (from Armenia in the East along the eastern Taurus and northern Syria to the northeastern margins of the Bolkar mountains / Nigte), A. ch. eiselti n.ssp. (Cilician plains around Adana and submontane parts of the Antitaurus), A. ch. ressli n. ssp. (southern slopes of the Bolkar mountains N Mersin), A. ch. isauriensis n.ssp. (central South Anatolia and adjacent parts of Central Anatolia); (3) A. kitaibelii budaki GôÇMEN, KUMLUTAS& TOSUNOOLU, 1996, described from Cyprus, representing a polytypic species: A. b. budaki (Cyprus and Levantine region from the Antitaurus in the North to northern Lebanon in the south) and A. b. anatolicus n. ssp.
    [Show full text]
  • Age Structure and Growth in Bulgarian Populations of Ablepharus Kitaibelii (Bibron & B Ory De Saint -V Incent , 1833) (Squamata: Sauria: Scincidae)
    Vergilov_etal_Ablepharus_kitaibelii_Age_structure:HERPETOZOA.qxd 02.03.2018 16:59 Seite 1 herPetozoA 30 (3/4): 179 - 185 179 Wien, 28. Februar 2018 Age structure and growth in Bulgarian populations of Ablepharus kitaibelii (BiBron & B ory de SAint -V incent , 1833) (Squamata: Sauria: Scincidae) Altersstruktur und Wachstum bei Bulgarischen Populationen von Ablepharus kitaibelii (BiBron & B ory de SAint -V incent , 1833) (Squamata: Sauria: Scincidae) VlAdiSlAV VergiloV & † n ikolAy tzAnkoV & B oyAn zlAtkoV kUrzFASSUng Ablepharus kitaibelii (BiBron & B ory de SAint -V incent , 1833) ist eine der kleinsten Skinkarten weltweit. Bis auf eine einzige Beobachtung an A. kitaibelii in gefangenschaft, fehlen daten über die lebensdauer in der gattung Ablepharus lichtenStein , 1823 . in der vorliegenden chronologischen Studie an Skeletten von A. kitai- belii betrug die maximale Anzahl an Überwinterungen in beiden geschlechtern drei. Mit zunehmendem Alter der individuen wurden Umgestaltungen im lamellären Aufbau der knochen beobachtet. nach der dritten Überwin - terung traten signifikante Unterschiede in der körperlänge zugunsten der Weibchen auf. die Studie unterstützt die hypothese, daß kleine Arten früh geschlechtsreif werden und eine relativ kurze lebenserwartung aufweisen. ABStrAct Ablepharus kitaibelii (BiBron & B ory de SAint -V incent , 1833), is one of the smallest scincid species in the world. Apart from a single observation in captive A. kitaibelii , there is no information on the lifespan of any species of the genus Ablepharus lichtenStein , 1823 . in the present skeletochronological study the maximal num - ber of hibernations was three in both sexes of A. kitaibelii . remodeling of the lamellar bone structure with age was observed. the significantly longer body length of the females became most pronounced after the third hibernation.
    [Show full text]
  • Cranial Kinesis in the Miniaturised Lizard Ablepharus Kitaibelii (Squamata: Scincidae) Stephan Handschuh1,*, Nikolay Natchev2, Stefan Kummer1, Christian J
    © 2019. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd | Journal of Experimental Biology (2019) 222, jeb198291. doi:10.1242/jeb.198291 RESEARCH ARTICLE Cranial kinesis in the miniaturised lizard Ablepharus kitaibelii (Squamata: Scincidae) Stephan Handschuh1,*, Nikolay Natchev2, Stefan Kummer1, Christian J. Beisser3, Patrick Lemell3, Anthony Herrel4 and Vladislav Vergilov5 ABSTRACT 1961; Herrel et al., 1999; Kardong, 1977; Metzger, 2002; Rieppel, Cranial kinesis refers to intracranial movements in the vertebrate skull 1993). Considerations on cranial kinesis in lizards go back to the that do not concern the jaw joint, the middle ear or the hypobranchial works of Versluys early in the 20th century (Versluys, 1910, 1912, skeleton. Different kinds of cranial kinesis have been reported for lizards, 1936), and since then this topic has received considerable interest. In including mesokinesis, metakinesis, amphikinesis (simultaneous a seminal work, Frazzetta (1962) developed the quadric-crank mesokinesis and metakinesis) and streptostyly. Streptostyly is model for lizard cranial kinesis during mouth opening and mouth considered relatively widespread within lizards, whereas mesokinesis closing, functionally integrating three types of kinesis: metakinesis, has been documented only for geckos, varanids and anguids. The which is movement between the braincase and dermal bones of the present study investigated cranial kinesis in the miniaturised scincid skull roof; mesokinesis, which is dorsal extension and ventral Ablepharus kitaibelii by integrating morphological and experimental flexion of the snout around a transverse axis behind the eye; and data. Based on micro computed tomography, we provide a description of streptostyly, which is the pendulum-like rotation of the quadrate skull osteology. Cranial joints were studied with histology, which results bones allowing the position of the jaw joint to move forward in the first detailed description of cranial joint histology for a member of and backward (for a review, see Metzger, 2002).
    [Show full text]
  • DISTRIBUTION of Ablepharus Kitaibelii Fitzingeri MERTENS, 1952 (SQUAMATA: SCINCIDAE) in HUNGARY
    Russian Journal of Herpetology Vol. 11, No. 2, 2004, pp. 99 – 105 DISTRIBUTION OF Ablepharus kitaibelii fitzingeri MERTENS, 1952 (SQUAMATA: SCINCIDAE) IN HUNGARY Gábor Herczeg,1,2 Tamás Tóth,3 Tibor Kovács,1 Zoltán Korsós,4 and János Török1 Submitted January 22, 2004. Ablepharus kitaibelii fitzingeri is the northernmost subspecies of the snake-eyed skink (the only representative of the genus in Europe), and an endemic species of the Carpathian Basin. Despite of its unique status in the Hungar- ian herpetofauna and its strict protection, no recent summary has been provided on its distribution in the country. In the last attempt, Dely (1978) presented 40 localities of the subspecies. Here we give an updated distribution of the subspecies (100 localities), based on records from the literature, collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum (HNHM), field surveys made by the authors and observations of field researchers. The current conser- vation status of A. k. fitzingeri in Hungary is discussed and an updated distribution map is provided. Keywords: Ablepharus kitaibelii fitzingeri, snake-eyed skink, Hungary, distribution. INTRODUCTION Hungarian localities represent three main regions: (1) the Transdanubian Mountains, (2) the North Hungarian Mountains, and (3) the Great Hungarian Lowland Ablepharus kitaibelii Bibron & Bory, 1833 is the (Fig. 1). only representative of the genus in Europe, and the The current conservation status and ecology of northernmost European member of the lizard family A. k. fitzingeri are poorly evaluated, as most of the previ- Scincidae. Ablepharus kitaibelii fitzingeri Mertens, ous studies dealt only with its distribution (e.g., Fitzin- 1952 is characteristic to the Carpathian Basin.
    [Show full text]
  • Rueppel's Snake-Eyed Skink, Ablepharus Rueppellii (Gray, 1839) (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae) : Distribution Extension and Geographic Range in Israel
    This is a repository copy of Rueppel's snake-eyed skink, Ablepharus rueppellii (Gray, 1839) (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae) : distribution extension and geographic range in Israel. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/168864/ Version: Published Version Article: Roll, U., Tallowin, O., Berkowic, D. et al. (6 more authors) (2013) Rueppel's snake-eyed skink, Ablepharus rueppellii (Gray, 1839) (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae) : distribution extension and geographic range in Israel. Check List, 9 (2). pp. 458-464. 10.15560/9.2.458 © 2013 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Reuse This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. This licence allows you to distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon the work, even commercially, as long as you credit the authors for the original work. More information and the full terms of the licence here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Check List 9(2): 458–464, 2013 © 2013 Check List and Authors
    [Show full text]
  • Ablepharus Rueppellii (Gray, 1839) (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae): Distribution
    Check List 9(2): 458–464, 2013 © 2013 Check List and Authors Chec List ISSN 1809-127X (available at www.checklist.org.br) Journal of species lists and distribution N Rueppel’s Snake-eyed skink, Ablepharus rueppellii (Gray, 1839) (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae): Distribution ISTRIBUTIO extension and geographic range in Israel D 1 2 3 3,4 4 4 RAPHIC Uri Roll , Oliver Tallowin , Daniel Berkowic , Erez Maza , Yael Ostrometzky , Alex Slavenko , Boaz G 5 4 3,4* EO Shacham , Karin Tamar and Shai Meiri G N O 1 School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, United Kingdom. 2 Furze, South Zeal, Okehampton, EX20 2PQ. Okehampton, Devon, UK. OTES 3 Tel Aviv University, National Natural History Museum, 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel N 4 Tel Aviv University, Faculty of Life Sciences, Department of Zoology, 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel 5 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, National Natural History Collections, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel. * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: We report a new locality for Rueppel’s Snake-eyed skink (Ablepharus rueppellii) in Southern Israel – near Shivta Junction. This record extends the known distribution of this species in Israel by ~25km. We examined all known localities of this species in Israel and the adjacent Sinai Peninsula (Egypt), and discuss some discrepancies between them and currently published range maps, including the one produced by the IUCN. Rueppel’s Snake-eyed skink, Ablepharus rueppellii ~5 m waterfall of a small, dry, seasonal stream (wadi) with (Gray, 1839) is a small (17-45 mm SVL, 0.1-1.2 g [Meiri limestone walls at 30°56’06” N, 34°29’20” E (Figure 1).
    [Show full text]