Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

[Mario Schweiger]

two female (and full stuffed with food) Natrix natrix at the Vir pond (road Cres town - Merag). end of May 2016

[Noah Meier]

The other one was a black snake (very fast disappearing inside a stone wall) in the island of Losinj: it was probably a black Malpolon, because I've not yet seen melanistic gemonensis, but I cannot be sure of this determination either.

Hi Ruggero
Congrats to the incredible amount of stunning observations and pictures of the herpetofauna in Cres! Following this post is just amazing.

I've been in Cres myself in the end of May in 2014. I'll try upload a report of this trip soon. Concerning the melanistic gemonensis, I think we have found one there. We found this snake in the north of Cres where we found many other gemonensis but no viridiflavus/carbonarius.

Look at the pictures and tell me what you think.

[Ruggero M.]

Thanks a lot Noah!
I think it's a beautiful and interesting specimen of gemonensis: a melanotic one, not a totally melanic one.
Never observed myself such a gemo (or, as you suspect, I could have actually seen one without knowing it... ).
But I've seen in Greece a melanotic (not melanic) Z.situla.
Will be happy to see your report from Cres!

P.S. Seems to be a female

[Mario Schweiger]

nice observation on a large spotted/dark gemonensis.
A paper on those morphs of H. gemonensis from Croatia to Greece will come soon (I hope, I had it to review).

[Berislav Horvatic]

... a melanotic one, not a totally melanic one.

Be careful, Ruggero, "melanotic" vs. "melanic" is the clear ITALIAN distinction, but not accepted
elsewhere, that is, in other languages, including English. And not understood generally.
We had some discussion about that here, and I almost ended up thrown out of the forum, so I
really wouldn't like to start that topic once again. I just like the fact that an Italian uses it as
"normal" (= accepted).

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

Yes, everyone who uses those terms will be kicked out.

[Noah Meier]

I think it's a beautiful and interesting specimen of gemonensis: a melanotic one, not a totally melanic one.

This specimen was still subadult. I could imagine that the melanin pigments will still increase and this gemonensis will become a totally black (trying to avoid wrong terms ) one.

nice observation on a large spotted/dark gemonensis.
A paper on those morphs of H. gemonensis from Croatia to Greece will come soon (I hope, I had it to review).

Thanks Mario!
I'm curious how this morphs look like...
It's actually also the only "abnormal" colored gemonensis which I've seen so far.

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

It's actually also the only "abnormal" colored gemonensis which I've seen so far.

Never seen anything like it (in the flesh), interesting!

[Mario Schweiger]

I'm curious how this morphs look like...

some of those you can see here:
http://www.fieldherping.eu/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2243&start=30
scroll down a bit and following pages

[Berislav Horvatic]

Yes, everyone who uses those terms will be kicked out.

Even the Italians? In Italian scientific literature those terms are the established/accepted "technical terms",
termini technici. Not in other languages, however, so that might cause unnecessary misunderstandings.
That's really all I wanted to remind everyone of. Not "forbidden", but also not widely accepted/understood
elsewhere, and therefore, possibly misleading.

It's actually also the only "abnormal" colored gemonensis which I've seen so far.

Never seen anything like it (in the flesh), interesting!

Neither have I. BTW, so far I don't believe in totally black H. gemonensis. ("Melanico", in Italian.)