I spent the Easter holidays on Crete. Weather was - like in the rest of Europe - mixed. I wasn't able to do all excursions, I actually planned...
My main goal was Podarcis cretensis - it was no problem to find them but it took some time to find good looking (colourful) ones.
Some pictures:
- Male Podarcis cretensis is the most short-snouted wall lizard I ever saw. Unbelievable that this species was considered as subspecies of P. erhardii for decades...
- and another one
- another male
- Chalcides ocellatus
- Mauremys rivulata
- turtle river
- Pelophylax cretensis
- Zamenis situla
- fishing trilineata? green lizard basking on a fisher net...
- Lefka ori
Other herps seen were Hierophis gemonensis, Hemidactylus turcicus and Bufo viridis...
While the herpetofauna of Crete is rather poor, the island is a paradise for botanists:
- Orchis pauciflora with Psiloritis mountain in the background
- Orchis boryi
- Ophrys cretica
- Ophrys candica
- Cretan endemic: Petromarula pinnata
- Another cool endemic: Aristolochia cretica
That's it - hope you enjoyed...
Regards
Peter
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