SEAVR 2017: 066‐067
ISSN: 2424‐8525
Date of publication: 20 December 2017
Hosted online by ecologyasia.com

Green Crested Lizard Bronchocela cristatella predatedby Palawan Hornbill on Lagen Island, Philippines
Emerson Y. SY & Jaime Anne L. DICHAVES
emersonsy@gmail.com (Sy), jdichaves @tenknots.com

Observer: Jaime Anne. L. Dichaves.
Photograph by: Jaime Anne. L. Dichaves.
Subject identified by: Emerson Y. Sy.
Location: Barangay Aberawan, Municipality of El Nido, Lagen Island, Palawan Province, Philippines.
Elevation: 48 metres
Habitat: Secondary forest.
Date and time: 21 March 2016, 14:00 hrs.
Identity of subjects:(i) Green Crested Lizard, Bronchocela cristatella (Reptilia: Squamata: Agamidae).
(ii) Palawan Hornbill, Anthracoceros marchei (Aves: Bucerotiformes: Bucerotidae).
Description of record: A female Palawan Hornbill foraging on the ground for fruits of Alocasia sp. (family Araceae)
suddenly flew to a branch of a Variegated Fig (Ficus variegata) and caught an adult Bronchocela cristatella by theneck (Fig. 1). It took the bird less than 10 seconds to swallow head first the entire body of the prey and an
additional 10 minutes or so to completely swallow the long tail of the lizard.

Fig. 1.

© Jaime Anne. L. Dichaves

66Remarks: The agamid lizard consumed by the hornbill is identified as Bronchocela cristatella based on (i) overall
greenish colour, (ii) long tail more than 2.5 times snout‐vent length (this was observed, but is not fully visible inthe selected photograph). A closely‐related species of similar appearance, Bronchocela marmorata, appears notto have been recorded on the island of Palawan, but is known from the neighbouring islands of Negros, Panayand Mindoro (Diong & Lim, 1998).
Bronchocela cristatella is a conspicuous, diurnal, arboreal, and moderate‐sized (snout‐vent length = 83−120 mm)
agamid with widespread, although fragmented, distribution in Asia and the Philippines (Diong & Lim, 1998;
Grismer et al., 2015).
While the Palawan Hornbill is primarily a frugivorous bird, it has been noted to prey on unidentified lizards(Gonzales & Rees, 1988). More recently, Lamprolepis smaragdina (Emerald Tree Skink) was identified as a prey
item of the Palawan Hornbill (Widmann et al., 2015). Lizards may be an important source of protein for hornbills
particularly during breeding and nesting season. To our knowledge, this is the second known lizard species in thediet of the Palawan Hornbill.
References:Diong, C.H. & Lim, S.S.L. (1998). Taxonomic review and morphometric description of Bronchocela cristatella (Kuhl,1820) (Squamata: Agamidae) with notes on other members in the genus. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 46(2):345−359.
Gonzales, P.C. & Rees, C.P. (1988). Birds of the Philippines. Haribon Foundation for the Conservation of NaturalResources, Incorporated. 184 pp.
Grismer, L.L., Wood, P.L. Jr., Lee, C.H., Quah, E.S.H., Anuar, S., Ngadi, E. & Sites, J.W. Jr. (2015). An integrative
taxonomic review of the agamid genus Bronchocela (Kuhl, 1820) from Peninsular Malaysia with descriptions ofnew montane and insular endemics. Zootaxa 3948(1): 1−23.
Widmann, P., Widmann, I.L., Plazos, M.F. & Antonio, R. (2015). Aspects of breeding biology and conservation ofthe Palawan Hornbill Anthracoceros marchei in the Palawan faunal region, Philippines. Malayan Nature Journal
67(2): 130‐143.

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