PreprintArticleVersion 1Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
Winter Activity of Podarcis muralis (Laurenti, 1768) and P. erhardii (Bedriaga, 1876) in Urban and Suburban Habitats in the City of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
Version 1
: Received: 8 September 2023 / Approved: 8 September 2023 / Online: 11 September 2023 (09:26:58 CEST)
How to cite:
Sakelarieva, L.; Pulev, A.; Mitrevichin, E. Winter Activity of Podarcis muralis (Laurenti, 1768) and P. erhardii (Bedriaga, 1876) in Urban and Suburban Habitats in the City of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. Preprints2023, 2023090656. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202309.0656.v1
Sakelarieva, L.; Pulev, A.; Mitrevichin, E. Winter Activity of Podarcis muralis (Laurenti, 1768) and P. erhardii (Bedriaga, 1876) in Urban and Suburban Habitats in the City of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. Preprints 2023, 2023090656. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202309.0656.v1
Sakelarieva, L.; Pulev, A.; Mitrevichin, E. Winter Activity of Podarcis muralis (Laurenti, 1768) and P. erhardii (Bedriaga, 1876) in Urban and Suburban Habitats in the City of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. Preprints2023, 2023090656. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202309.0656.v1
APA Style
Sakelarieva, L., Pulev, A., & Mitrevichin, E. (2023). Winter Activity of Podarcis muralis (Laurenti, 1768) and P. erhardii (Bedriaga, 1876) in Urban and Suburban Habitats in the City of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202309.0656.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Sakelarieva, L., Alexander Pulev and Emanuil Mitrevichin. 2023 "Winter Activity of Podarcis muralis (Laurenti, 1768) and P. erhardii (Bedriaga, 1876) in Urban and Suburban Habitats in the City of Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202309.0656.v1
Abstract
Lizards in Bulgaria hibernate in winter. Yet, individuals of many species were found active in this period. Cases of winter activity of Podarcis muralis and P. erhardii in the country have been published, but this behavior has not been studied in detail. The purpose of this research was to observe and analyze the winter activity of these two species in the city of Blagoevgrad. The observations took place at two sites in days with high solar radiation in December, January, and February 2015–2017. One of the sites was a typical urban territory, inhabited only by P. muralis. The other site was a suburban area, inhabited by P. erhardii. The number of the active individuals of the Common Wall Lizard recorded was about 8.5 times higher than that of the Erhard's Wall Lizard. The lowest air temperature at which P. muralis was observed was -4°C and for P. erhardii it was +0.5°C. Individuals of both species were registered only at positive substrate temperatures. Representatives of all age groups of P. muralis were recorded often with dorsoventrally flattened bodies while basking. On the other hand, few juveniles of P. erhardii were found active and they flattened their bodies very rarely.
Keywords
Balkan Peninsula; phenology; hibernation; thermoregulation; basking; behavior; Common Wall Lizard; Erhard`s Wall Lizard; Lacertidae
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
