ABLEPHARUS BUDAKI Göcmen, Kumlutas & Tosunoglu 1996
BUDAK'S SNAKE-EYED SKINK                               BUDAKS JOHANNISECHSE
non-venomous
For a long time the Snake Eyed Skink population in Cyprus was believed to belong to Ablepharus kitaibelii or later to the race budaki (Göcmen & al.).. Schmidtler revised the genus in 1997 and raised budaki to species level.

Identification:
This fragile Skink is the smallest representative of the family and its appearence reminds a bit of a short glass snake except of the small limbs. It is easy to identify since no other similar lizard can be found in the area.
Biology:
Ablepharus budaki is commonly found in gardens or orchards inbetween leaf-litter, where it hunts small insects (especially ants) and small molluscs.
The female lays 2-5 eggs (Göcmen).

Distribution:
Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel (Göcmen).