La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	Patterns of mammal-eating by snakes in the Italian Alps and in peninsular Italy: A review (1998)
Auteurs :	Francesco M. Angelici, Auteur ; Luca Luiselli, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Ecologia Mediterranea (24(1) 1998)
Article en page(s) :	1-13
Résumé :	Mammals are primary prey for many snake species. In this paper we review the available data on mammal-eating by snakes in Italy, comparing the data recorded in the Alps with those recorded in peninsular Italy. Snakes of both areas preyed on small mammals with a nearly identical frequency and in both areas most of the mammal eaten were Rodentia, while Insectivora accounted for a significantly lower proportion. The two areas differed in that (i) Microtidae and Muridae were eaten in similar proportions in the Alps, while the latter were significantly more preyed than the former in peninsular Italy, (ii) the amount of shrews eaten was significantly higher in peninsular Italy than in the Alps, and (iii) some prey taxa (juvenile Lagomorpha and Carnivora) were preyed upon occasionally only in peninsular Italy. A cluster analysis, based on the mammalian prey species eaten, revealed that two well defined groups of snakes are formed: (i) a group composed of the four species of genus Vipera plus Coronella austriaca, (ii) a group formed by the other larger colubrids of the genera Elaphe, Coluber and Natrix.

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