Sand Boa
Eryx jaculus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Order Squamata
Family Boidae
Conservation status: in Bulgaria: Endangered EN [B1], BDA-III; International: BeC-III, CITES-II, HD-IV.
General distribution. In Europe – sporadically in the eastern and the southern half of the Balkan peninsula (with isolated habitats in Romanian Dobrudzha and Northern Bulgaria), many of the islands in the Aegean Sea and the Ionian Sea, and also the lands between the Stavropol region of Russia and the region of Baku; in Northern Africa between Morocco and Egypt; in Asia from Turkey to Eastern Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Distribution and abundance in Bulgaria. Sporadically distributed in the Danube valley [1], the Petrich-Sandanski valley [2, 3], the Thracian lowland [4, 5], the Eastern Rhodopes [6, 7], Sakar [8]. New habitats are found near the village of Vabel (Nikopol region), Asenovgrad, the Besaparskite hills (Pazardzhik region) near the villages of Byaga and Ognyanovo, the Rupite locality near Petrich, Marino Pole (Petrich region), the village of Manolovo (municipality Pavel Banya), the village of Binkos (municipality Sliven), the village of Radovets (Topolovgrad region). 1-3 individuals are known from most habitats. Changes in the numbers in Bulgaria are hard to be found, because the javelin sand boa leads a clandestine, semi-underground way of life.
Habitats. Low, dry and sunlit places, often of a semi-desert nature, with poor vegetation and crumbly soils, usually scattered with rock blocks and plates.
Biology. It mainly feeds on rodents and lizards that it kills by stifling. At the end of the summer it gives birth to several young ones. It rarely reaches a length of up to 75 cm. It is not poisonous.
Similar species. Among the Bulgarian ones none.
Negative factors. Gathering by collectors; some of the habitats in the Harmanli region and the Petrich-Sandanski valley are devastated; forestation of the habitats with coniferous trees (near Sandanski) and acacia trees (near the village of Tatari, Svishtov region) plantations. Probably also forest fires.
Conservation measures taken. Included in the Bulgarian Red Data Book, 1985, in the endangered category. Some of the habitats (the Rupite locality, near Asenovgrad) are in protected territories. A poster was published for the protection of reptiles in Bulgaria in 1998.
Conservation measures needed. Strict control and sanctioning poachers – collectors of reptiles; popularization of the nature conservation status of the species; preservation of the present state of the habitats and elimination of the negative factors in them; territorial protection of the sites with the largest numbers and dense populations.
References. 1. Beshkov, 1961; 2. Beskov et Beron, 1964; 3. Beshkov, 1985; 4. Beshkov et al., 1967; 5. Buresch & Zonkov, 1934; 6. Petrov et al., 2001; 7. Naumov, 2006; 8. Stoev, 2000.
Author: Vladimir Beschkov
