First record of tail bifurcations in the snake-eyed skink (Ablepharus kitaibelii Bibron & Bory de Saint-Vincent, 1833) from Pastrina hill (northwestern Bulgaria)

Abstract

First record of tail bifurcations in the snake-eyed skink Ablepharus kitaibelii Bibron & Bory de Saint-Vincent, 1833 from Pastrina hill (northwestern Bulgaria).-We report for the first time on the occurrence of tail bifurcations in the snake-eyed skink (A. kitaibelii). This morphological anomaly was identified during a four-year monitoring program conducted in a herpetological hot-spot at Pastrina hill (northwestern Bulgaria). From a total of 415 captured specimens, four animals (0.96%) showed symmetrical or asymmetrical lateral duplication of the tail. Only bifurcations of the distal-most caudal section were detected in contrast to some other lizards (e.g. Gekkonidae, Lacertidae, Teiidae) that are reported to survive with bifurcations at more proximal tail sections.

New distribution record, ecology and tail trifurcation of Cyrtodactylus mamanwa (Gekkonidae) on Dinagat Islands, Philippines

“…Tail anomalies (e.g., bifurcation, trifurcation) have been widely documented. Bifurcation is noted among multiple lizard families: Agamidae (Ofori et al 2018), Anguidae (Conzendey et al 2013), Corytophanidae (Cervera and Novelo 2020), Dactyloidae (Najbar and Skawiński 2018;Hoefer and Robinson 2020), Gekkonidae (De Andrade et al 2015;Gogoi et al 2018;Maria and Al-Razi 2018;Bhattari et al 2020), Gymnophtalmidae (Pheasey et al 2014), Iguanidae Lozano and Siro 2020), Lacertidae Baeckens et al 2018;Kornilev et al 2018;Ramadanovic and Zimic 2019;Sorlin et al 2019), Mabuyidae (Vrcibradic and Niemeyer 2013), Phrynosomatidae (Álvarez et al 2020), Phyllodactylidae (Filadelfo et al 2017;Koleska 2018;Tzoras et al 2020), Polychrotidae (Goin and Goin 1971), Scincidae (Jablonski 2016;Turner et al 2017;Vergilov and Natchev 2017;Mendes et al 2019;Magalhães et al 2020;Miles et al 2020), Teiidae (Sales and Freire 2019;Da Silva et al 2019) and Tropiduridae (Passos et al 2014). However, supernumerary (e.g., tail trifurcation) caudal anomalies were reported only for a few families: Dactyloidae (Camper and Camper 2017), Gymnophtalmidae (Pheasey et al 2014), Iguanidae (Hayes et al 2012), Lacertidae (Koleska and Jablonski 2015), Phrynosomatidae (Mata-Silva et al 2010), Gekkonidae (Crouch 1969) and Teiidae (Trauth et al 2014;Pas...…”

Autotomy and Regeneration in Squamate Reptiles (Squamata, Reptilia): Defensive Behavior Strategies and Morphological Characteristics (Using Computer Microtomography Methods)

“…Various ecological, functional, morphological, and evolutionary aspects of autotomy as defensive behavior strategies have been studied: caudal bi-and trifurcation (Ananjeva and Danov, 1991;Dudek and Ekner-Grzyb, 2014;Pheasey et al, 2014;Koleska and Jablonski, 2015;Passos et al, 2016;Pelegrin and Leão, 2016;Gordeev, 2017;Kolenda et al, 2017;Vergilov and Natchev, 2017;Kukushkin, 2018;Koleska, 2018;Maria and Al-Razi, 2018;Ramadanović and Zimić, 2019), regulation of the formation of the cartilaginous tube (Lozito and Tuan, 2015), and the histochemistry and ultrastructure of the regenerated epidermis (Alibardi and Maderson, 2003). Experiments were also performed on spinal cord implantation (Lozito and Tuan, 2016); localization of proliferating cells (Alibardi, 2016); physiology (Meyer et al, 2002); bioenergetics of autotomy, regeneration, and post-autotomy locomotion (Pafilis et al, 2005;Lin et al, 2006;Seligmann et al, 2008;Sun et al, 2009;Fleming et al, 2013); and the rate and molecular mechanisms of regeneration (Pillai et al, 2013;Yadav et al, 2014;Hutchins et al, 2016;Alibardi, 2017).…”

Injuries reflecting intra- and interspecific interactions in the Snake-eyed Skink Ablepharus kitaibelii (Bibron & Bory de Saint-Vincent, 1833) (Squamata, Scincidae) from Bulgaria

“…А second tail may also regrow after impartial autotomy or erroneous regrowth following a complete autotomy, resulting from an aggressive encounter (Brock et al 2014;Dydek and Ekner-Grzyb 2014). For A. kitaibelii, bifurcation was first mentioned by Fejérváry (1912); it was quantified for a population by Vergilov and Natchev (2017). Although these publications do not specifically state the causes for bifurcation, most likely they were errors of regeneration.…”