Pietruszka R D, Hanrahan S A, Mitchell D, Seely M K
Desert Ecological Research Unit, P.O. Box 1592, 9000, Swakopmund, SWA/Namibia.
Department of Zoology, University of the Witwatersrand, 2001, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Oecologia. 1986 Nov;70(4):587-591. doi: 10.1007/BF00379909.
Early observations of the feeding habits of Angolosaurus skoogi (Andersson), a 50-120 g lizard inhabiting the almost vegetationless dunes of the northern Namib Desert, indicated that this species was herbivorous. Less than two percent of living lizard species are predominantly herbivorous and these species tend to have a high body mass (>100 g). We therefore analysed fecal pellets of A. skoogi to obtain dietary details of this relatively rare lizard. Eighteen food taxa were identified: 81 percent by mass was composed of vegetable matter, of which 56 percent was an endemic, perennial cucurbit Acanthosicyos horrida. Both spatial and temporal variation in dietary composition were apparent. Ready access to water in the form of A. horrida is postulated to have allowed Angolosaurus to occupy this extreme habitat and to forage on components of the windblown detritus, a food source that would probably not be usable in other circumstances.
早期对斯科吉安哥拉龙（Andersson）进食习性的观察表明，这种体重在50至120克之间的蜥蜴以草本植物为食，它们栖息在纳米比亚北部沙漠几乎没有植被的沙丘地带。现存的蜥蜴物种中，以草本植物为主要食物来源的不到2%，而且这些物种往往体型较大（体重超过100克）。因此，我们分析了斯科吉安哥拉龙的粪便颗粒，以获取这种相对稀有的蜥蜴的饮食细节。我们识别出了18种食物分类：按质量计算，81%由植物性物质组成，其中56%是一种当地特有的多年生葫芦科植物——霍氏棘瓜。饮食构成在空间和时间上的变化都很明显。据推测，能随时获取霍氏棘瓜这种形式的水分，使安哥拉龙得以占据这一极端栖息地，并以被风吹来的碎屑中的成分作为食物，而这种食物来源在其他情况下可能无法利用。
