LEIOCEPHALUS CARINATUS ARMOURZ (Northern Curlytail Lizard) PREDATION

Authors

Henry T. Smith, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Park ServiceFollow
Richard M. Engeman, USDA-APHIS-Wildlife ServicesFollow
Walter E. Meshaka Jr., State Museum of Pennsylvania

Date of this Version

February 2006

Comments

Published by Herpetological Review 37(2), 2006.

Abstract

Leiocephalus carinatus armouri is a well-established exotic species in Florida (Meshaka et al. 2004. The exotic amphibians and reptiles of Florida, Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, Florida. 155 pp.; Meshaka et al., in press, Southeastern Nat. 4); however, few vertebrate predators of this species have been documented within its introduced range (e.g., Smith and Engeman 2003. Herpetol. Rev. 34:245-246; Smith and Engeman 2004a. Herpetol. Rev. 35: 169-1 70; Smith and Engeman 2004b. Florida Field Nat. 32: 107-1 13). To date, only one avian predator of L. c. annouri, the Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea), has been recorded in Florida (Smith and Engeman 2004a, op. cit.). Here, we augment the sparse information on avian predators of L. c. armouri in Florida with the observation of the probable predation of a juvenile L. c. armouri by a Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos).