Chalcides ocellatus

The Chalcides ocellatus is a scincid of environments arid, sandy or having Mediterranean scrub, present in North Africa, in southern Europe and Asia Minor. It is 20-30 cm long, tail included, with almost cylindrical body. The back, mainly greyish brown, with smooth and glossy scales, shows, as the scientific name states, a crowd of ocelli: black small dots with white center arranged in longitudinal series. On the sides of the body, some specimens have two long pale stripes sided below by a dark one. It uses little the legs, inadequate to the weight of the body and goes ahead snaking, wary and when needed, very fast. It hunts on the soil, mostly in the morning and late afternoon, insects, spiders and earthworms, with a small input, when it happens, of sweet fruits. It shelters from heat and cold in long tunnels. Where the climate is rigid it can inter for the 2-3 months of winter quiescence. The females are ovoviviparous and usually generate 3-11 newborns in good shape and self-sufficient © Giuseppe Mazza