Thrace, Greece - may 2016

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Thrace, Greece - may 2016

Postby Thor Hakonsen » Fri Jan 20, 2017 4:49 pm

I was 100% percent sure I already had posted this short story here, but obvioulsy not. A great thanks to the herpers here that gave us good hints and tips before our trip.

The first week of may, men and som friends spent in the vicinty of Alexandropoulis in north-eastern Greece looking for Europes largest viper species, the Ottoman Viper (Montivipera xanthina)

We was in this area from sunday to thursday, the last day we spent stopping several places on our way to the airport in Thessaloniki, which is around 3 hours drive from Alexandropoulis.
As usual(?) we did not exactly have luck with the weather. We had nice weather the first and the last day, with rain and lower temperatures in between. But anyway we found some nice animals in the area. Here is some pictures from the trip.


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As usual there was plenty of these large legless lizards (Pseudopis apodis)


There was also plenty of the two species of tortoises that live in this area. I guess we saw in excess of a 100 specimens in total of Testudo hermanni boettgeri and Testudo graeca ibera, with the Spur-thighed Tortoise as the most common with perhaps 10:1

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Testudo graeca ibera

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Testudo hermanni boettgeri


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Testudo hermanni boettgeri


Near waters we also saw many Mauremys rivulata


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A bit higher up in the forests we also found Bombina variegate and Bufo viridis


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We also met with some german and austrian herpers/birders that gave me a tip about a road that should be full of amphibians at night time, one of them being Pelobates syriacus which I had never seen before.. I drowe up and down this road and only saw one animal, luckily this was the target species.


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Pelobates syriacus


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Not everything exiting in Greece has a vertebrae :)


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The grass snake is as always present in these areas (Natrix natrix persa)

For the first time when herping around the Mediterraen sea we was able to get close to, and photograph Montpellier Snakes.. I've been 4 trips and seen many, but the have alwasy escaped any contact at all - I havent got any chance to photograph them. This time we got close to no less than 4 specimens. 2 juveniles and 2 adult.


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Malopolon insignitus, juvenile


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Malpolon insignitus, adult


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The last day, on the way to the airport I also met this beatiful Caspian Whip Snake in a dry riverbed close to Thessaloniki


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Dolichophis caspius

And we also got lucky with our target species - the Ottoman Viper. We found in total 7 specimens, unfortunatly the ones we got to photograph was rather small and in pre-shed..


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Montivipera xanthina

All in all a great trip - but need to go back and photograph a large and newly-shed one :)
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Thor Hakonsen
 
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Re: Thrace, Greece - may 2016

Postby Ruggero M. » Fri Jan 20, 2017 6:48 pm

As regards the Malpolon: the first 2 pictures are of females (the markings/colours on the lips are typical).
The second and third specimens are males.

You wrote about youngs, but no specimen seems to be very young in your pictures, considering the proportions of the head vs body. The females are smaller, sure, but they remain smaller in this species. I would rather say "subadult" females... 55-70 cm big? ;)
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Re: Thrace, Greece - may 2016

Postby Jürgen Gebhart » Fri Jan 20, 2017 8:26 pm

Looks like a successful Trip! Congrats!
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Re: Thrace, Greece - may 2016

Postby Thor Hakonsen » Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:15 pm

Ruggero Morimando wrote:As regards the Malpolon: the first 2 pictures are of females (the markings/colours on the lips are typical).
The second and third specimens are males.

You wrote about youngs, but no specimen seems to be very young in your pictures, considering the proportions of the head vs body. The females are smaller, sure, but they remain smaller in this species. I would rather say "subadult" females... 55-70 cm big? ;)


Hi Ruggerio,

I'm definatly no Malpolon-expert - but If I should try to remember the size of the two photographed specimens of the smaller ones, I would say that the smallest was under 50 cm. The biggest a bit above 50. Compare size to the gravel in the pictures.

Me calling them juveniles is probably just confusing the definintion of the term juvenile.
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Re: Thrace, Greece - may 2016

Postby Ruggero M. » Sat Jan 21, 2017 2:49 am

Thanks Thor! :)
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Re: Thrace, Greece - may 2016

Postby Thor Hakonsen » Sat Jan 21, 2017 10:57 am

Jürgen Gebhart wrote:Looks like a successful Trip! Congrats!


Yes, absolutely!

But, I did not get the chance to photograph Xanthinas after shed, so I will be going back this spring :) And we will also put a bit more effort in finding ammodytes in the same area.
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Re: Thrace, Greece - may 2016

Postby Michael Wilms » Tue Jan 24, 2017 9:22 am

Very nice, Thor! :D
I like your photos!
Looks like a successful trip, especially for the weather you describe!

And I look forward meeting you there this year! ;)
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