Abstract
On May 14th 2013, on the island of Golem Grad (Prespa Lake, FYR of Macedonia) a juvenile female nose-horned viper (Vipera ammodytes) was found dead, with head of a Scolopendra cingulata protruding through the body wall of its lower abdomen. The authors discuss the possibility that the snake had swallowed the centipede alive, and that, paradoxically, the prey has eaten its way through the snake, almost reaching its freedom.
Highlights
On May 14th 2013, on the island of Golem Grad (Prespa Lake, FYR of Macedonia: 40′52′′ N, 20′59′′ E) a juvenile female nose-horned viper (Vipera ammodytes) was found dead, with head of a Scolopendra cingulata protruding through the body wall of its lower abdomen, app. 3.5 cm above the cloaca (Fig. 1a & 1b)
A subsequent dissection revealed the absence of the snake’s visceral organs, which led us to suppose that the prey caused chemical or mechanical damage to the predator’s digestive organs
An ontogenetic shift in diet composition has been described in this species – where adults feed predominantly on mammals, amphibians and occasionally on birds, while the primary food resource of juveniles are lizards and Scolopendra sp. (Beschkov 1977, Luiselli 1996, Бешков and Нанев 2002)
Summary
On May 14th 2013, on the island of Golem Grad (Prespa Lake, FYR of Macedonia: 40′52′′ N, 20′59′′ E) a juvenile female nose-horned viper (Vipera ammodytes) was found dead, with head of a Scolopendra cingulata (according to Lewis, 2010) protruding through the body wall of its lower abdomen, app. 3.5 cm above the cloaca (Fig. 1a & 1b). On May 14th 2013, on the island of Golem Grad (Prespa Lake, FYR of Macedonia: 40′52′′ N, 20′59′′ E) a juvenile female nose-horned viper (Vipera ammodytes) was found dead, with head of a Scolopendra cingulata (according to Lewis, 2010) protruding through the body wall of its lower abdomen, app. The viper’s total length was 20.3 cm (snout-to-vent length 18.3 cm; width: with prey 10.4 mm, without prey 9 mm), while that of the centipede was 15.4 cm (body width 10.1 mm) (Fig. 1c).
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