Food habits of the Arabian skink, scincus hemprichii Wiegmann, 1837, (Sauria : Scincidae)‎, in the southwest Saudi Arabia

Abstract EN

Food and feeding habits of the Arabian skink, Scincus hemprichii were investigated in Jazan province, southwest of Saudi Arabia.

S.

hemprichii individuals fed during eleven months of the year.

The mass of food in the stomachs indicated that a high degree of foraging success occurred during the warm spring while the lowest was during winter with January as an exception to feeding by the lizard.

Analysis of the contents of 60 stomachs revealed that the diet of S.

hemprichii in the study area consisted of arthropods, with two species of beetles of the family Dermestidae (Dermestis vulpinus and Dermestis maculates) and three type of dipteran larvae, accounting for 76% of the total volume of the food items.

Specimens collected during January had empty stomachs.