Dietary composition of the African five-lined skink, Trachylepis quinquetaeniata (Lichtenstein, 1823) from an agricultural area of Egypt

Seasonal variations in the dietary composition of the insectivorous African Five-lined skink, Trachylepis quinquetaeniata (Lichtenstein, 1823), were investigated in an agricultural area of Ausim, Giza Governorate, Egypt. The study was conducted between March 2024 and March 2025. This study aimed to describe and compare the dietary composition of T. quinquetaeniata among seasons, sexes, and age classes. Stomach contents of 210 individuals were examined, and seasonal, sex-related, and age-related variations in prey composition were assessed. Overall, when adults and sub-adults were considered together, the number of prey items per lizard was highest in spring, followed by winter, autumn, and summer. Adult males generally had a higher number of prey items per lizard than females, while adults had a higher number of prey items per lizard than sub-adults in spring, summer, and autumn, whereas sub-adults had a higher value in winter. The diet was dominated by insects of the orders Hymenoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, and Hemiptera throughout the study period. Adult females exhibited the greatest dietary richness (9 insect orders), followed by adult males (8 orders) and sub-adults (5 orders). The recorded prey included several arthropod groups that contain economically important agricultural pest species, including sap-sucking (Hemiptera and Thysanoptera), defoliating (Orthoptera and Lepidoptera), and wood- and stem-feeding insects (Coleoptera). These findings improve our understanding of the feeding ecology of T. quinquetaeniata in Egyptian agricultural ecosystems and highlight its potential ecological role through the consumption of insect groups that include agricultural pests.