DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY OF DORMICE (MYOXTDAE) IN SICILY: A PRELIMINARY ACCOUNT

Muscardinus uvellunarius and Eliornys quercinus. Their distribution is mapped according to the 10 x 10 km squares of the UTM grid. Data were collected until May 1993, mostly coming from pellet analysis, and direct records (vocalization listening, museum specimens, field observations, literature, etc.). The Fat dormouse (5.3 % of 10 x 10 km squares) and the Hazel dormouse (2,1%) are mainly localized within deciduous wooded areas like the beech forests and the hazel groves mixed with oaks and chestnuts of Nebrodi and Madonie. The Fat dormouse is also present in south-eastern Sicily (Monti Iblei) and on in Eolian island (Salina). The Garden dormouse shows the widest distribution (21.2%), ranging from sea level to the beech forests (1600 m a.s.1.). Dormice are rarely preyed upon by Owls in Sicily, generally forming less than 1,5 % of the total prey, with the exception the Fat dormouse (5.3%). Other occasional predators, so far recorded, are the Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the Lanner (Falco biarmicus). Hibernation regularly occurs at high altitudes, but seeins to be absent or curtailed in the warm habitats below 500 m a.s.1