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Ecological preferences of the endemic reptile community of Socotra

  • Socotra biodiversity research and nature conservation
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Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Socotra Archipelago is a unique hotspot of biodiversity, particularly for terrestrial reptiles (28 endemic out of 31 native species) whose ecology is known only in general terms. We describe the ecological preference and the daily activity of 21 species of terrestrial reptiles, geckos, lizards, skinks, snakes and chameleon, from the largest island of the archipelago. The database includes 6950 records collected by 260 standardized transects from 2007 to 2013. The sister species Haemodracon riebeckii–H. trachyrhinus with very distinct body sizes, overlapped in their distribution but segregated by habitat and substrate. Three pairs of sister species with great phylogenetic affinity and similar morphology (Pristurus insignis–P. insignoides; Pristurus guichardi–P. obsti; Hemidactylus dracaenacolus–H. granti) were only partially segregated by distribution, habitat, substrate and body size, in the order of decreasing frequency. On the contrary, the other, phylogenetically more distant species of geckos, widely distributed and less similar in morphology, overlapped completely in their habitat use and distributional range. Such patterns suggest that strictly related species reduced their competition by segregation in different habitats and temporal niches and by non-overlapping distribution within the relatively small island of Socotra. On the other hand, the activity rhythm was similar within each genus. The unique biodiversity of Socotra endured up to present, thanks to a human impact lower than for most other inhabited islands, but the pace of change has accelerated recently. Conservation measures are urgent, particularly for the species of endemic geckos with a distribution range as small as 10 km2.

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(a, c, d, e, f, g photo E. Razzetti; b, h photo R. Sindaco)

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Acknowledgements

Our field surveys in Socotra were accomplished within the programs “Socotra Conservation and Development” by United Nations Development Program, and “Capacity Development for Soqotra Archipelago Conservation” by the Italian International Cooperation. RV was supported by a contract from ‘Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia’ (FCT), I.P. national funds from ‘Norma transitória’ (DL57/2016/CP1440/CT0002). We are grateful for their support to Akmed Abdulrahman Fadel Al-Eryani, Minister of Water and Environment at the time of our fieldwork in Socotra 2007–2010, and to Ahmed Saeed Suleiman of the Socotra Environment Protection Agency. Several Yemeni and European colleagues and friends participated to the field surveys, Abdul Raqeb, Yaya Saleh Saeed, Salem Hamdiah, Abubakar Salim, Badar Awadh Al-Aseily, Ahmed Saeed Saif, Eleonora Boncompagni, Luca Butikofer, Caterina Carugati, Cristina Grieco, Francesca Pella, Fabio Pupin, Elisa Riservato, Oreste Sacchi and Xavier Santos.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e dell’Ambiente, Università di Pavia, Via Ferrata 1, 27100, Pavia, Italy

    Mauro Fasola, Daniele Delle Monache & Daniele Pellitteri-Rosa

  2. Kosmos - Museo di Storia Naturale, Università di Pavia, Piazza Botta 9, 27100, Pavia, Italy

    Edoardo Razzetti

  3. Istituto per le Piante da Legno e l’Ambiente, Corso Casale 476, 10132, Turin, Italy

    Roberto Sindaco

  4. Platypus s.r.l., Via Pedroni 13, 20161, Milan, Italy

    Ugo Ziliani

  5. CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrário de Vairão, R. Padre Armando Quintas, 4485-661, Vairão, Portugal

    Raquel Vasconcelos

  6. Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta, 37-49, 08003, Barcelona, Spain

    Salvador Carranza

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  1. Mauro Fasola
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Correspondence to Mauro Fasola.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human subjects. Data collection throughout our surveys were performed with permission by the Yemeni Minister of Water and Environment and in collaboration with the Environment Protection Agency of Socotra.

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This paper belongs to a Topical Collection “Twenty years of biodiversity research and nature conservation in the Socotra Archipelago” edited by Fabio Attorre and Kay Van Damme, conceived at the 18th Friends of Socotra Conference, 26–29 September, 2019, Orto Botanico di Palermo, Palermo, Italy”.

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Fasola, M., Razzetti, E., Sindaco, R. et al. Ecological preferences of the endemic reptile community of Socotra. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 31, 687–701 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-020-00922-w

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