Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Ruggero M. » Thu Jun 12, 2014 12:55 pm

Jeroen Speybroeck wrote:
Ruggero Morimando wrote:Dalmatolacerta oxycephala

Introduced, right? Didn't know about that.


Maybe: I don't know for sure! :)
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Jeroen Speybroeck » Thu Jun 12, 2014 1:22 pm

Ruggero Morimando wrote:
Jeroen Speybroeck wrote:
Ruggero Morimando wrote:Dalmatolacerta oxycephala

Introduced, right? Didn't know about that.

Maybe: I don't know for sure! :)


Well, it clearly falls outside of the natural range, as far as I can tell.
http://maps.iucnredlist.org/map.html?id=61528
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Ruggero M. » Thu Jun 12, 2014 1:47 pm

bienvenidos.jpg
When you'll land in Cres, this will be the proof that you've really reached these islands!

Beli.jpg
Beli: the capital of the north

land3.jpg
Salvia garrigue towards Beli: habitat of salvia... Malpolon and gemonensis!

habitat2.jpg
The abandoned villages in the north are habitat of Z.longissimus and H.gemonensis

habitat2bis.jpg

big pond.jpg
In the north you can also find big water ponds like this one (Kosmacev Pond)

land1.jpg
Beautiful view towards Lubenice, central part of Cres island

land2.jpg
Macchia and garrigue habitat: very oddly, this beautiful and rich habitat is totally lacking of Pseudopus!

secondary road.jpg
A typical secondary road in the center of Cres island...

secondary road snake.jpg
...habitat of E.quatuorlineata (in situ), H.gemonensis and Malpolon

land5.jpg
The luxuriant south: Cres island from Losinj island

habitat1.jpg
Losinj: habitat of E.quatuorlineata, Z.situla, H.gemonensis and Malpolon. Pseudopus is incredibly common here

habitat3.jpg
Typical construction of the abandoned villages of Losinj

near.jpg
Not far from the village, in the late afternoon

land4.jpg
The "extreme" south: almost a tropical landscape

mainland from.jpg
Mainland Croatia from the village of Loznati, central Cres: an evening view
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Berislav Horvatic » Thu Jun 12, 2014 3:12 pm

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

To the best of my knowledge, the "certain area" is a big stone wall in the place of Osor, and that's it.
There they live happily together with Podarcis melisellensis. The population is very small, very
localized, but thriving successfully.
See PDF No. 0489 in Mario's literature database.
Introduced? Almost certainly. I've heard a story that they arrived from the island of Brač, some ten-odd
years ago, with a load of stones. (If I remember right, Hannes Hill related me this, so maybe he could
say a bit more.)
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Bobby Bok » Thu Jun 12, 2014 8:33 pm

Interesting thread and also very nice to see the habitat pictures of all these species.
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Mario Schweiger » Fri Jun 13, 2014 9:04 am

Nice report showing nice habitats and landscapes.
Dalmatolaceta oxycephala:
Surely introduced!
After the fist sightings and report in/from Osor they have been away for some years and found again maybe 5 years later (dont know the exact timespan now).
Though the area is very small, it doesnt look like, they have been overlooked by a lot of people, searching for them, but "reloaded" to Osor
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Berislav Horvatic » Fri Jun 13, 2014 12:42 pm

Mario Schweiger wrote:After the fist sightings and report in/from Osor they have been away for some years
and found again maybe 5 years later (dont know the exact timespan now).
Though the area is very small, it doesnt look like, they have been overlooked by a lot
of people, searching for them, but "reloaded" to Osor.

?!

Anyhow, my friends (highly qualified) visited the famous wall in Osor on 26 March 2011
and found it swarming with oxys, in peaceful cohabitation with melis. I'm glad to hear
that the colony has persisted up to now, even thrived.
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Gerald Ochsenhofer » Fri Jun 13, 2014 4:00 pm

This reminds me that I forgot to post it, we (some students) were there in April (besides visiting Krk), and found them oxy together with L. bilineata/viridis and P. melisellensis:
https://thxalot.net/v2/index.php/de/toc ... april-2014
sporadic news -> http://thxalot.net/v2/
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Ruggero M. » Mon May 18, 2015 8:18 pm

Some new recent observations.

In this habitat of Lošinj, I saw last year a male Malpolon in courtship over a female Malpolon, but I had no possibility to take pictures.
subadult habitat.jpg

This year, a few days ago, I heard a big snake in the garriga habitat, and when I rushed there I saw only a subadult female quatuorlineata staying motionless in an unusual position: with part of the body "relieved", in the way snakes usually do when they are tormented by intruders. The big snake I heard was obviously not the subadult quatuorlineata for at least 3 reasons: the quatuorlineata was totally motionless, it was too small and (main reason) I heard the big snake run very fast away from the female fourlined snake. And I think it ran "too" fast for being another quatuorlineata specimen...
I could not see what it was, but I think the most probable thing was an attempted predation of a big Malpolon over the smaller quatuorlineata.

Here is the female quatuorlineata
subadult female.jpg


In an abandoned village in Lošinj
gemo in situ1.jpg

I could also see 3 gemo at the same time, two of which in probable courtship, but I had no time to take pictures of this situation

Central Cres, beautiful little female Malpolon captured while crossing the main road
malpolon female.jpg

Not far from the place where I found this specimen, I saw another female of about the same size, but this time freshly hit by a car and severely injured in the head/eye region. Unfortunately, not an unusual event on these roads. :cry:
A beautiful rather big female was seen only for a few seconds rolled up in woody area of Cres, on a sunny spot among trees, but it disappeared incredibly fast, producing a "rapid sound" which could be considered by laymen not typical for snakes, but which I already knew for H.viridiflavus, a species that can be as fast as the Malpolon.

These 2 Natrix were seen in a rather cold and rainy day in a small pool, in an otherwise very dry habitat in the central Cres. When I took the picture, I saw only one specimen, and I noticed the specimen on the left only after having taken the picture! :P
natrix2.jpg


North of Cres: adult fourlined snake, with view of the woody habitat on the background
cervone big.jpg
This specimen was badly wounded in the tail region


Not very far from this place, a baby quatuorlineata was crossing the main road.
baby 4lined.jpg


I saw and photographed other 3 adult quatuorlineata in the central area of Cres, one of which (a male) with a bright yellow belly. It was basking stretched at the edge of a main road.
Here it is
male yellow belly.jpg


During cold and rainy days, in the north of Cres, I had the opportunity to see many snails.
helix.jpg

helix2.jpg

helix3.jpg


An insect simulating death: I know this insect from Italy, but I didn't know its ability of simulating death.
simulating death.jpg


P.muralis in the north of Cres
muralis.jpg


Testudo, always in the north
testudo.jpg


And a baby Telescopus found dead just outside a village
tele.jpg


Habitat where Telescopus baby was found
telehabitat.jpg
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Re: Some pictures from the Cres-Lošinj archipelago

Postby Ruggero M. » Mon May 18, 2015 8:40 pm

P.S. No leopard snakes were seen, neither living nor dead, and some main roads have been enlarged in the meanwhile...
I remember a spring in Cres (may-june) during which baby leopard snakes were one of the most frequent road victims we met (you can see pictures in the previous pages)! :(
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