Herpetology Notes, volume 8: 111-113 (2015) (published online on 10 April 2015)

First record of ophiophagy in the roughtail rock agama (Stellagama stellio): one of the most rare feeding behaviors among European lizards

Emmanouela Karameta*, Vassilios V. Papadopoulos & Panayiotis Pafilis

Feeding ecology shapes the overall biology of animals Corfu and Paxoi Islands in the Ionian Sea (Valakos et and is directly linked to survival and fitness. The low al., 2008), while recently a new population from Crete metabolic rates of ectotherms in combination with the was described (Spaneli and Lymberakis, 2014). The impressive plasticity of their feeding apparatus enable roughtail rock agama feeds mainly on insects and also them to colonize even the poorest habitats, in terms of on large invertebrates such as scolopendres (Düsen and food availability (Huey, 1982; Herrel et al., 2008). In Öz, 2001; Lo Cascio et al., 2001; Ibrahim and El Naggar, this context reptilian trophic preferences attracted early 2013), sharing the feeding habits of other agamids in the researchers and still are a hot topic in herpetological broader area (Çiçek et al., 2011). Occasionally it may studies (Pérez-Mellado et al., 2011). Though a large also prey on mice (Baier et al., 2009) and bird hatchlings body of literature arose through the last two centuries, (Kopan and Yom-Tov, 1982). new evidence is still emerging (Passos et al., 2013; On June 12, 2014, during a field trip to Thessaloniki Melo-Sampaio et al., 2013; Brock et al., 2014). area (40°38’42.79”N, 22°58’52.42”E), Greece, we Ophiophagy (compound word from the Ancient captured 13 S. stellio individuals in a hill top covered Greek: όφις, ophis, “snake” and φαγία, phagia, “to eat with pine trees and shrubby vegetation. Lizards were what the first part denotes”), snake consumption, is an kept in individual terraria for at least two hours before uncommon but not rare practice among reptiles. Many processing them (morphometry, weight, bite force, snakes include other snakes in their diet (Trembath, ectoparasite load). After taking the measurements, all 2008; McKelvy et al., 2013), while ophiophagic lizards were released in the place they were captured. incidences have been also reported from turtles (Lovich While in the terraria, many individuals defecated. We et al., 2010) and lizards (Meyers et al., 2005). In the collected the fecal material and analyzed it under a latter case, snake-eating is restricted to medium- and stereoscope in the lab (Clusella-Trullas and Botes, large-bodied predator species. Here we report a case 2008; Pérez-Mellado et al., 2011). In the faeces of an of ophiophagy in one of the largest European lizards, adult male (snout-vent length: 123 mm, weight: 71.7g), the roughtail rock agama Stellagama stellio (Linnaeus, we detected a large food item (34 mm long) of hard 1758) from Greece. texture that bore scales. We identified it as a part of Stellagama stellio has a disjunct distribution, a juvenile worm snake (Xerotyphlops vermicularis) occurring in Egypt, south-western Asia, Cyprus and (Figure 1a). The scales were very small, with 22 rows Greece that hosts the only European populations of the at the dorsal side (Figure 1b). To certify the validity of species (Ananjeva, 1997). Greek populations include our observation, we compared our finding with a X. east and central Aegean islands, Thessaloniki area, vermicularis Museum specimen that was collected in the same area (Figure 1c). Stellagama stellio is a large lizard, able to enhance its diet with occasional vertebrate prey. Chicks, mice and even lizards (Beutler, 1981; Valakos et al., 2008; Department of Zoology and Marine Biology, School of Biology, Karameta, unpubl. data) may comprise part of its diet. University of Athens, Panepistimioupolis, Ilissia, Greece. Worm snakes, especially juveniles, are small enough be * Corresponding author: [email protected] consumed by the roughtail rock agama. This is the first 112 Emmanouela Karameta et al.

(a) (b)

Figure 1. (a) The fecal material spread for analysis (X. vermicularis lies in the centre of the picture), (b) A close-up of X. vermicularis remnants in the stereoscope, (c) Xerotyphlops vermicularis from the fecal material (left) juxtaposed to a Museum specimen (right). Figure 1. Dorsal (A) and ventral (B) views of Cochranella mache from El Salto, Buenaventura, Colombia, showing specific diagnostic features, including bluish-green dorsum with yellow spots and dermal enameled fold and tubercles on ventrolateral edge of limbs.

(c)

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Accepted by Philipp Wagner