A contribution to the knowledge on the diet and food preferences of Darevskia praticola (Reptilia: Lacertidae)

IF 0.6 4区生物学 Q4 ZOOLOGY

Acta Herpetologica Pub Date : 2022-04-29 DOI:10.36253/a_h-12179

E. Vacheva, B. Naumov

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

The Meadow lizard (Darevskia praticola s.l.) is one of the more poorly-studied lizard species in Europe, and no detailed data on its diet is available. We investigated a total of 180 faecal samples of D. praticola s.l. from two locations in Bulgaria, and conducted a comparison between sex and age groups (adult males, adult females, and immatures). In addition, the correlations between the consumed prey and the available resources were also analysed. Food selectivity was analysed by comparing the faecal samples with pit-fall trap samples on the basis of abundance of prey items from particular operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Results indicate that the diet of the Meadow lizard contains mainly arthropods (insects and spiders) and the most abundant prey items belong to Araneae, Auchenorrhyncha, and Coleoptera. According to the used electivity indices none of the OTUs are highly preferred by D. praticola s.l., but Formicidae are the most avoided OTU for all sex/age groups. Differences in food preferences can be found between adults and immatures, while differences among males and females seem to be insignificant. The lack of clear differentiation between males and females could be a result of their similar size and locomotor ability. In conclusion, our results reveal that Darevskia praticola s.l. is a generalist and it shows no food specialization due to its narrow spatial niche.

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对长尾夜蛾食性和食物偏好认识的贡献(爬虫纲:长尾夜蛾科)

草地蜥蜴（Darevskia praticola s.l.）是欧洲研究较少的蜥蜴物种之一，目前还没有关于其饮食的详细数据。我们调查了保加利亚两个地点共180份草地贪夜蛾粪便样本，并对性别和年龄组（成年男性、成年女性和未成年人）进行了比较。此外，还分析了消耗的猎物与可用资源之间的相关性。根据特定操作分类单元（OTU）猎物的丰度，通过将粪便样本与陷阱样本进行比较来分析食物选择性。结果表明，草地蜥蜴的日粮以节肢动物（昆虫和蜘蛛）为主，捕食对象最丰富的有蜘蛛目、蛛形目和鞘翅目。根据所用的选择性指数，没有一种OTU是草地贪夜蛾的首选，但蚁科是所有性别/年龄组最避免使用的OTU。成年人和未成年人在食物偏好方面存在差异，而男性和女性之间的差异似乎微不足道。雄性和雌性之间缺乏明确的区别可能是由于它们的体型和运动能力相似。总之，我们的研究结果表明，Darevskia praticola s.l.是一个多面手，由于其狭窄的空间生态位，它没有表现出食物的专门化。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Acta Herpetologica ZOOLOGY-

CiteScore

1.20

自引率

12.50%

发文量

审稿时长

6 months

期刊介绍： Acta Herpetologica, a journal open to academics all over the world, offers itself as a new site for the presentation and discussion of the most recent results in the field of research on Amphibians and Reptiles, both living and extinct. The official journal of the Societas Herpetologica Italica (S.H.I.), Acta Herpetologica publishes original works – extended articles, short notes and book reviews – mostly in English, dealing with the biology and diversity of Amphibians and Reptiles.