Nuovi dati sulla presenza di Eryx jaculus (Linnaeus, 1758) in Sicilia

Abstract

The javelin sand boa {Eryx jaculus) is a snake belonging to the Erycidae family, distributed in North Africa, southern Balkans and the Middle East. Recently its presence was confirmed in Italy, in a small area along the coast of south-central Sicily, in the territories of Licata (province of Agrigento). This paper reports the current distribution area, of about 52 km2, obtained by the Minimum Convex Polygon method, using recent bibliographical ob-servations and three new observations carried out between 15 August 2014 and 30 Aprii 2016. The new findings are located east of the known Sicilian distribution area and indicate for the first time the presence of the javelin sand boa in the province of Caltanissetta. Two individuai were observed along the coast, during nocturnal activity dose to dunes and arable fields. A road killed sand boa was found in an agricultural territory. The preliminary analysis of three meristic characters indicates that their values are the same of those of both known subspecies, therefore it is not currently possible to suppose the own sub-specific taxon of the Sicilian population.