EFFECTS OF BODY-TEMPERATURE ON THE PREDATORY BEHAVIOR OF THE LIZARD PSAMMODROMUS-ALGIRUS HUNTING WINGED AND WINGLESS PREY

The thermal dependence of predation success in the Mediterranean lacer tid lizard Psammodromus algirus was studied using two types of prey (w inged and wingless flies) that differed in their ability to escape pre dation at all T(b)S (body temperatures) tested (25-27-degrees-C, 29-32 -degrees-C, and 34-37-degrees-C). Both number of failures and handling time decreased significantly at higher T(b)S, and capture success was much higher for wingless flies; in fact, low T(b)S were associated wi th a significant increase in capture success only in the case of winge d flies. At low T(b)S, winged flies could be efficiently seized by liz ards only if pursued from a short distance. The attack distance was th erefore larger for the less mobile (and less detectable) wingless flie s at low T(b)S, which suggests a trade-off between attack distance and capture success under conditions of impaired locomotor performance. R esults of this study show that the escape abilities of prey are crucia l to evaluate the effects of temperature on the performance of reptile s as predators.