Diet and daily activity patterns of the lacertid lizard Psammodromus algirus (Sauria: Lacertidae) in a semi-arid Mediterranean region

Abstract

The large psammodromus, Psammodromus algirus, is one of the most widespread Mediterranean lacertid lizards; unfortunately, its ecology in North Africa remains understudied. In this study, we present detailed data on trophic ecology, daily activity patterns during the breeding season, and the maximum activity period of this lizard in a semi-arid environment at Belezma National Park (Batna, northeast Algeria). Feeding data were collected using stomach flushing, and daily activity patterns were analyzed by surveying standardized transects. Analysis of the contents of 21 stomachs revealed 238 prey items of 74 different taxa classified into five classes, 18 orders, 50 families, and 71 different genera. The diet was highly diverse and primarily consisted of arthropods. Insects were the predominant food comprising 85% of all prey, followed by arachnids (13%). Regarding temporal variation in diet, prey-species richness did not vary noticeably between months; however, the number of individuals within prey categories did. The size of prey consumed varied over a very broad spectrum and followed a logarithmic distribution, but did not vary between months. Concerning daily activity, lizards exhibited a bimodal activity pattern. Overall, compared to littoral and European populations studied in other works, diet differed slightly and daily activity was remarkably reduced in the morning and postponed in the afternoon.

Keywords:

• Lacertidae
• large psammodromus
• diet
• daily activity patterns
• Belezma National Park
• Algeria

Acknowledgments

We express our most sincere thanks to S. Abderrahmani, the director of Belezma National Park for allowing us to carry out the research and providing collecting permits. Guidelines for use of live reptiles in field research were in agreement with current laws and standard rules of Algeria. We appreciate the tremendous assistance of C. Benbouta and A. Bouteghriout in fieldwork. We are grateful to Prof. A. Si Bachir (University of Batna 2, Algeria) for permitting us to use the facilities of the laboratory Laboratoire d’Ecologie et Environnement while conducting this study, and Dr K. Brahmi (University of Tizi-Ouzou, Algeria) for her help in the identification of the large psammodromus prey. Two anonymous reviewers helpfully commented on an early version of this manuscript. We also thank Dr N. M. Gordon (University of Evansville, USA) for his help in language editing.