THE NATIONAL RED LIST OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Juniper Skink

Ablepharus kitaibelii

Macedonian

Обична ријачка

Albanian

Zhapi këmbvogël

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Taxonomy
Assessment info
Population
Habitat and Ecology
Threats
Use and Trade
Conservation Actions
Bibliography

Taxonomy

Scientific name

Ablepharus kitaibelii

Authority

Bibron &amp; Bory St-Vincent, 1833

Synonyms

/

Assessment info

IUCN Red List Category and Criteria

NT, B1ab(iii)

Date assessed

November 2019

Assessors

Sterijovski, B.

Arsovski, D.

Reviewers

Ajtic, R.

Contributors

/

Facilitators

Hofman, M.P.G.

Justification

The Snake-eyed Skink has a wide, but patchy distribution across North Macedonia, resulting in quite a small area of occupancy (AOO) of 112km2. Nevertheless, this small species is difficult to notice in the field, and recent field investigations have increased its AOO, nationally, indicating that it is perhaps more common than what current distribution maps demonstrate and its populations are likely not severely fragmented. Consequently, its extent of occurence (EOO; 15.845km2) was used for this assessment. This skink’s small size and unlikely long-dispersal capabilities do not suggest a possible rescue effect from neighboring countries. Nevertheless, in the lack of obvious severe fragmentation of its populations, but ongoing degradation of its habitats, it was downlisted to Near Threatened. Global: LC; Europe: LC

Population

Current population trend

Stable

Description

Where present seemingly quite common, but the lack of monitoring studies preclude any population estimations. Although it is facing threats such as wildfires and habitat destruction its populations are currently seemingly stable.

Habitat and Ecology

System

Terrestrial

Habitat and Ecology

This species is found in dry areas including south facing slopes, meadows, scrubland and clearings in woodland (both deciduous and pine). It is generally found close to ground cover such as leaf-litter, dead wood, stones, bushes and other vegetation. Mating occurs in April and May and between June and August the females lay two to four eggs (Böhme et al. 2017; Speybroeck et al. 2016)

Use and trade

Use and trade

There is no known use of or trade in this species.

Threats

Threats

Could be threatened by afforestation and conversion of suitable habitat for agricultural, forestry or industrial use. Road construction (particularly for logging purposes) and wildfires threaten populations with habitat degradation and mortality, respectively. All threats listed for this species are included in the “List of priority threats to biological diversity” in the “Strategy for biodiversity of Republic of North Macedonia” (Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, 2018).

Conservation actions

Conservation actions

It is listed on Annex II of the Bern Convention and on Annex IV of the EU Habitats Directive. On a national level it is listed as a protected wild species.

Bibliography

Bibliography

Sillero, N., Campos, J., Bonardi, A., Corti, C., Creemers, R., Crochet, P.-A., Crnobrnja-Isailović, J., Denoël, M., Ficetola, G.F., Gonçalves, J., Kuzmin, S., Lymberakis, P., de Pous, P., Rodríguez, A., Sindaco, R., Speybroeck, J., Toxopeus, B., Vieites, D.R., Vences, M. 2014. Updated distribution and biogeography of amphibians and reptiles of Europe. .p. 1-31

Micevski, B. 2015. Report of Biodiversity conditions of amphibians and reptiles of Ograzden Mt. 2014-2015 . Skopje . .p./.

Uzunova, D., Kitanova, D., Spirovska, M., Hristovski, S. 2015. Integral Report for the Project implementation. Final report of the project “Ecological data gap analysis and ecological sensitivity map development for the Bregalnica river watershed”. Skopje. .p./.

Sterijovski, B., Tomović, L., Ajtić, R. 2014. Contribution to the knowledge of the Reptile fauna and diversity in FYR of Macedonia. .p. 83–92.

Uhrin et al. 2016 Distribution updates to amphibian and reptile fauna for the Republic of Macedonia 201-220
Ministry of environment and physical planning. 2018. National biodiversity strategy and action plan : for the period 2018 – 2023 Ministry of environment and physical planning. Skopje. .p. 183.

Speybroeck, J. Beuckema, W., Bok, B., Voort, J.V.D. 2016. Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles Bloomsbury Publishing Plc London . .p./.

Gasc, J-P., Cabela, A., Crnobrnja-Isailović, J., Dolmen, D., Grossenbacher, K., Haffner, P., Lescure, J., Martens, H., Martinez-Rica, J.P., Maurin, H., Oliveira, M.L., Sofianidou, T.S., Veith, M., Zuiderwijk, A. 1997. Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles in Europe. Societas Europaea Herpetologica & Museum Nationall d’ Histoire Naturelle (IEGB/SPN). Paris. .p. 496.

Sterijovski, B. 2018 Final report for monitoring. In: Project for Exploitation of Mineral Resources Borov Dol. Maneko. Skopje. .p./.

Böhme, W., Lymberakis, P., Ajtic, R., Tok, V., Ugurtas, I.H., Sevinç, M., Crochet, P.-A., Haxhiu, I,, Sterijovski, B., Krecsák, L., Crnobrnja-Isailović, J., Kaska, Y., Kumlutaş, Y., Avci, A. & Jelić, D. 2017. Ablepharus kitaibelii (amended version of 2009 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017. .p./.