I pretty much agree with everything you said there Jeroen. Clearly there is no problem to differentiate between an adult caspius and jugularis, but I can understand how the juveniles can cause problems.
By the way, looking back at that report made me remember what a crappy photographer I used to be, with a stupid old school film camera! But at least then I didn't worry about damaging the camera to dive for a fast moving snake Which sadly isn't the case now...I do remember being very surprised when I found that big caspius sat on the road, since it was never mentioned in literature up until that trip and a subsequent one by some Dutch or Belgian guys, can't remember who