Kos

[Andre Schmid]

Yesterday I come back from our Holidays on Kos. My main goal was to find a ottoman viper on the island...but I failed. This was not my only fault...I had a black Platyceps in my hands and lost it ( )....at a one day trip to Kalymnos, so no second chance

But it was a nice trip with some new species for me and we ( I and my girlfriend) had a nice time with great greek food on a sunny island

Here some pictures:


































Take a look at my homepage (only in german language) for the full report:

http://www.viperas.de/Kos15.html

I hope you like it

[Mario Schweiger]

Good report, Andre!
Your Mantis is Empusa frenata.
The Green toads on that islands are Bufotes variabilis (if you accept this splitting).
Very interesting, but not clear for me, is your Dolichophis caspius. From Kos (only jugularis is known?) or Kalymnos?

[Andre Schmid]

Thanks!

Good report, Andre!
Your Mantis is Empusa frenata.
The Green toads on that islands are Bufotes variabilis (if you accept this splitting).

Thanks for the infos...than another new species for me

Very interesting, but not clear for me, is your Dolichophis caspius. From Kos (only jugularis is known?) or Kalymnos?

As far as I know Kos is known for both Dolichophis species, caspius and jugularis (but I´m no expert) ? Found this "caspius" in Kos near Tigkaki. Thes specimen nearly has 1,4 m...all other Dolichophis this size I saw (most DOR´s) were totally black like typical jugularis....also the 2 youngsters I found are turning black with maybe 50 -60cm:

[Maykel van Gent]

Good report, Andre!
Your Mantis is Empusa frenata.

Empusa fasciata, I think. Never heard of frenata.
Nice close up of the ?robberfly?
that butterfly like thing in your report is very cool. When you see it fly, it is so clumsy, yet elegant and adorable. They are Nemoptera sinuata.


Cool pictures . And greek food is very good!

[Mario Schweiger]

Empusa fasciata, I think. Never heard of frenata.

Thanks! Dont know, why i always say or write frenata

[Neil Rowntree]

Nice report, some cool species.

I had a black Platyceps in my hands and lost it

That's half the fun isn't it? Stressing about the one(s) that got away...!

[Niklas Ban]

Yesterday I come back from our Holidays on Kos. My main goal was to find a ottoman viper on the island...but I failed. This was not my only fault...I had a black Platyceps in my hands and lost it ( )....at a one day trip to Kalymnos, so no second chance

I think I don't have to look at your other pictures, no viper = not worth to look at..


Apart from the nice herppictures, the owl and the insects are great! Good job

[Bert Vandebosch]

I had a black Platyceps in my hands and lost it ( )....at a one day trip to Kalymnos, so no second chance

Ai Ai Ai you should have stayed longer, the island is worth it!
Nevertheless a very nice report and beautiful pictures!

Very interesting, but not clear for me, is your Dolichophis caspius. From Kos (only jugularis is known?) or Kalymnos?

already in 2006, Matt Wilson and also some Dutch people described both species of Dolichophis for Kos for the first time. This year Matt and Carl confirmed it again. In Kalymnos only caspius has been found so far... I saw one caspius on Kalymnos this year.

What is more ambitious, is trying to find vipers on Kos. Schneider reports one specimen from Kalymnos in 1983 (PDF-144 in the database)
But I couldn't find any reliable records for Montivipera on Kos:
Chondropoulos lists in his checklist (PDF-1742) the following reference: (NILSON & ANDREN 1986; AD obs., outskirts of Kos town/4.8.87)
Please help me out: what does that "AD" mean? Additional data? Autor data? so obs. from Chondropoulos himself?
If you check the NILSON paper (PDF-7536): on figure 31, Kos is pointed out for a locality data but in the text it actually gives the reference: Grillitsch &Tiedemann (PDF-3128).
They state in the same year 1986: "Auf Grund mangelhafter faunistischer Kenntnis über dieses Gebiet sind trotz der bisher erfolglos verlaufenen Versuche, die Bergotter auf Kos und Rhodos aufzufinden, noch weitere Neumeldungen dieser Viper für dem asiatischen Festland unmittelbar vorgelagerte Inseln
zu erwarten."
So actually nobody ever really found them there?

Still Andre, I love it, you made it your main goal to find them on Kos!!!

There are probably a lot of things we can still discover on that island. Hemorrhois nummifer is by my knowledge only known from a specimen that was first wrongly determined as a young Elaphe quatorlineata long time ago. Trachylepis aurata is so called known from one museum specimen, collected maybe 100 years ago. Pelobates needs a bit more confirmation. Eirenis might be present, etc....

[Andre Schmid]

So actually nobody ever really found them there?

A german fieldherper told me that he saw two xanthinas many years ago (8-10years) on Kos island, one DOR and one alive in a stone wall between fields. His dates were also published in a dissertation "Phylogenie und Phylogeographie eurasischer Viperinae unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der orientalischen Vipern der Gattungen Montivipera und Macrovipera" from (now I guess) Dr. N. Stümpel.:

http://digisrv-1.biblio.etc.tu-bs.de:80 ... B60EB1AB73

[Peter van Issem]

Hi,

ok folks, the ,german Fieldherper´is me. I was some times on Kos and Samos islands. On Kos in 2002 (two times), and 2003. We found a lot of the species there, but unfortunely a lot of DOR. H. jugularis we found only one dead speciemen. An adult with very bloodred belly. Never seen such an beautifull speciemen like this. An adult +/- 150 cm D. caspicus also only as an DOR between some fields in the Kos town area. But the target was the Ottoman Viper Montivipera xanthina. The first trip bring nothing but the 2nd was good for an live specimen. An adult 100 cm male. Typical coloration and patter for the ,nothern form, of xnthina. In 2003 we found the 2nd one. Again a DOR on an sandy way in the same area we spoted the first one. I have now scanned the slides. Not the best quality but better than nothing to show up the ,,Phantom``. After this I was never there. All trips was to other locations in Europe or SE Asia.

1,0 M. xanthina, Kos Greece , 2002

V.xanthina-Kos-tot.jpg (92.66 KiB) Viewed 11432 times