Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Massimo Trentin » Wed Jun 11, 2014 11:10 pm

As this is my first post I'd like to say a great hello to everybody;I'm really glad to meet here some old friends and a lot of new ones :D .
Really nice report Ruggero,these two islands are real gems,with these wide variety of species in such relatively small space.
Interesting the fact that you can find a lot of snakes that simply don't exist just 100 Km or so heading west and at the same latitude (Italy).
I'm talking about E.quatuorlineata,M.insignitus,Z.situla,just to name some ;) .
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Francesco Tri » Wed Jun 11, 2014 11:26 pm

Roger Morimando, the most good Italian herpetologist, in my opinion!
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Ruggero M. » Wed Jun 11, 2014 11:29 pm

Massimo Trentin wrote:As this is my first post I'd like to say a great hello to everybody;I'm really glad to meet here some old friends and a lot of new ones :D .
Really nice report Ruggero,these two islands are real gems,with these wide variety of species in such relatively small space.
Interesting the fact that you can find a lot of snakes that simply don't exist just 100 Km or so heading west and at the same latitude (Italy).
I'm talking about E.quatuorlineata,M.insignitus,Z.situla,just to name some ;) .



Hello Massimo! Glad to meet you here!

I agree: it's really strange... but useful for us herpers who live in northern Italy. We can find such species in a few hours by car, without the need to take a plane or a ship to Greece! ;)

Hope to see soon some pictures of yours!
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Ruggero M. » Wed Jun 11, 2014 11:37 pm

Francesco Tri wrote:Roger Morimando, the most good Italian herpetologist, in my opinion!



Hello Francesco! Even if I had some problems in other forums, I'm really happy to see that you are still a friend towards me! Same thing for me! :oops: :D

It would be interesting to publish something about your experience with Chalcides chalcides: if you remember well, I was the only one who believed in that strange event, long before you had personal evidence of this... :lol:
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Jeroen Speybroeck » Wed Jun 11, 2014 11:48 pm

That's a lot of snakes! Good stuff!
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Ruggero M. » Thu Jun 12, 2014 7:04 am

Thanks Jeroen!

Now the sequence of "in situ" pictures of a male Malpolon.
I saw this snake for two days in the same place, and another snake was nearby, but I could not see it: maybe the female.

Some pictures of the first day.
1.jpg

2.jpg

3.jpg


The second day.
day1.jpg

subst2.jpg

day3.jpg

subst.jpg

day5.jpg

day6.jpg

day7.jpg

day flower.jpg

Seldom met a snake as alert and fast as this specimen!

In the same habitat: a banquet for the Malpolon!
lacertas.jpg
A young bilineata + male and female melisellensis


Now two big males about the same size.
One specimen is grey-greenish, while the other rather bluish in colour, because of the Tyndall optical effect of deeper melanin deposits.
green.jpg
Grey/greenish specimen

blue.jpg
Beautiful bluish specimen


Females are always totally different snakes: on the background of the picture my car and part of the habitat
female1.jpg
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Ruggero M. » Thu Jun 12, 2014 12:15 pm

I have already shown the ubiquitous melisellensis
meli.jpg

meli2.jpg


But in a certain area of Cres island you can see another species, which could somehow recall a small monitor lizard: the Dalmatolacerta oxycephala
oxy varan.jpg

oxy varan2.jpg

oxy1.jpg

oxy2.jpg

oxy3.jpg
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Jeroen Speybroeck » Thu Jun 12, 2014 12:19 pm

Ruggero Morimando wrote:Dalmatolacerta oxycephala

Introduced, right? Didn't know about that.
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Ruggero M. » Thu Jun 12, 2014 12:39 pm

Bilineata is common
bilineata0.jpg

bilineata.jpg


Observing a probable courtship maybe less common
courtship.jpg


And now a quiz. What reptile can you spot in the pictures below?
quiz1.jpg

quiz2.jpg

quiz3.jpg


Yes: it's the Pseudopus. Very common in certain areas, it's curiously totally absent in others.

pseudopus3.jpg

pseudopus4.jpg

pseudopus5.jpg
Detail of the same picture


pseudopus1.jpg
In situ

pseudopus2.jpg
In situ

pseudopus8.jpg
In situ

pseudopus6.jpg
Picture for adults only!

pseudopus7.jpg
Detail of the same picture

hemipenis.jpg
Same behaviour in another specimen


Baby Pseudopus are pale and have green ornamentations, and my friend Melo call them "little soldiers" because their colours recall a military mimetic uniform
baby1.jpg

baby2.jpg

baby3.jpg

baby4.jpg

baby5.jpg
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Ruggero M. » Thu Jun 12, 2014 12:54 pm

And now, near the conclusion of my 3d, some random pictures and a few landscapes.

Which snake is this? Malpolon or gemonensis?
gemonensis in situ.jpg
Losinj island: "in situ"

same gemo.jpg
Here it is!


Another gemonensis in situ, in the second/late afternoon
gemonensis in situ2.jpg


Gemonensis, like Malpolon, can be sometimes found drowsy in the late afternoon or in the first evening hours.
Here are two typical examples of this behaviour
gemonensis in situ3.jpg

malpo.jpg
Picture of Rica Kempter
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