Ecological aspects of the horned viper, Cerastes cerastes gasperettii in the central region of Saudi Arabia
Journal Article
Al-Sadoon, Mohammad K. . 2016
Publication Online URL:
Magazine \ Newspaper:
Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences
Volume Number:
23
Pages:
135–138
Publication Abstract:
Feeding ecology of any species can help us to understand its natural history, ecological
requirements and approaches involved in searching for food. Feeding ecology and sexual dimorphism
in the horned viper, Cerastes cerastes gasperetti collected from the Al-Thumama area, central
region of Saudi Arabia was described. The gut content of Cerastes c. gasperetti mainly consisted of
rodents (70%) in addition to arthropods (15%) and lizards (10%). Least sexual size dimorphism
was noticed in the species in terms of total length. Significant difference was noticed between males
and females in terms of two correlation points vent tail length (VT) and total length (TL) with the
males attaining a larger size (P <0.05). The mean number of the dorsal body scales, ventrals and
subcaudals for the females was 102, 156 and 33 scales respectively which were significantly different
from respective ones in males 95, 160 and 38 scales. There are many aspects of the feeding of this
snake that remain unknown and further studies are clearly needed.