Sicilian Eryx and how to find them

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

This is a spinoff of this thread => viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2152

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

I would ask, if you have ever used any method of sampling for this particular type of fossorial snakes and night? Or how would you act.

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

I would say flipping flat rocks and other stuff, especially in morning and late afternoon in (late) spring. Look for structured but rather open habitat with rather loose soil (some trees, stones, shrubs, but not closed forest). They have been found crossing roads etc. at night, but I imagine this is more rare(?). Usually more common/abundant at lower elevation (coastal areas and river dunes). The question may be - should we think of its habitat in SE Europe or rather of that in N Africa ? No idea of that's much different, but I'm guessing it's more sandy.

Let's ask something else - who around here has found/seen more than 10 individuals in her/his lifetime? 20?

Alessandro, do you know the exact spot where this animal was found? Is it reliable? Is it a place where goods have been brought in from N Africa (building material etc.)? You don't have to write it down here, but this would be an attractive challenge to go there with a dedicated team. Obtaining a DNA sample of that animal would be great in order to find out if it's more related to N African populations, although an non-native origin is probably likely to show the same thing.

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

And to answer my own question - I have only seen 6 so far...

Never visited some of the islands which are supposed to have higher abundance of them (Lesbos, !!!Amorgos).
http://vipersgarden.at/PDF_files/PDF-2186.pdf

"Found to be very common and widespread during May with twenty individuals being found,
usually under large rocks. In June only one specimen found, most of the rocks turned being too hot
underneath to be used by snakes as cover. Largest specimen found 58cm total length, average total
length of adults found being 42cm. Extremely docile. During two cloudy days in May several
specimens were found active during midday. Although predominantly nocturnal, diurnal activity in
this species has also been noted by Clark (1986b)."

So more diurnal activity than I thought?

[Alessadro Barra]

This he found a colleague in a beach at night, by accident. And the cases in which were found in Sicily are those reported historically and this precisely. As for the area, I'd like to report it, but if they are dealing with other people and may be bothersome. I know they are back to look for it all over the area for days, day and night. But was not found no trace...

[Carl Corbidge]

We did quite well on Ios in June last year, 4 crossing roads at night and another freshly dead, Liam flipped one in the open habitat you describe, next to a wall. On Corfu we had one out on the sand at about 10am. Equals 6 living 1 dead.

[Thomas Bader]

An interesting topic. I (our group) found quite many Eryx jaculus, so some stories about it.
1. It started in Corfu, where Eryx was only known from the Korrision area, which is a very sandy area in the south of Corfu. We searched quite often around the lake an turned really every single thing laying around in the sand – on the last day we found the chapel from the literature record, which was absolutely not in the sandy area but in a fertile terrace slope and here under a larger stone with a mouse hole we found the huge snake. Some years ago we received another record (photo) of a juvenile sand boa from nearly the top of the Pantokrator, the highest mountain on Corfu, found at night crossing the road. The first record was a coincidence and the snake was believed to occur only in a single lowland area – everybody searched there near the beach and now we received a record of the highest mountain – nobody had expected this – no information about the habitat. Not many records, most from Korrision area.
2. Peloponnes: One single record in rather high elevation near Megalopoli (under a stone) in a moist orchid meadow with deep dark soil. Afterwards (some might know this place) several sand boas (maybe 8) in a vine yard on the Mani peninsula within one or two hours, also deep soil (no sand) at low elevation – all under stones. Sand boas used to be quite common here (pers. Comm. Egerer, who lives here). Poaching is a problem!
3. South Turkey: 2 sand boas near ponds under stones, grazed area with medium soil, no sand, quite deep soil, one of them angry biting!
4. Jordan: Big sand boa in a valley on a slope under a stone, valley bottom with deeper soil, slope quite karstic
5. Georgia: About 6 sand boas in a grass steppe slope medium – deeper soil, but affected by sheep grazing , all under stones
Resume: Eryx jaculus is not a typical sand dweller (although maybe a possible habitat), but occurs mainly in areas with medium or deeper soil, where agriculture is possible, where digging is possible, where mice occur. It is mainly nocturnal, during the day hiding under stones or subterraneous. In some areas are high densities, in many areas rare or very hard to find – only single records by chance.
The name sand boas for the genus also includes a minor number of typical sand dwelling species (eg Eryx jayakari), but for many of them they are steppe dwellers (Central Asia).
PS all our records in May! In June no records...

[Mario Schweiger]

one road killed (found at 6:42 a.m.) on June 13th, 2008 west of lake Volvi, Greece. Habitat beside the road: fields and pastures.

in SW Turkey we found them in the Lyciasalamandra antalyana habitat under rocks, but also dwelling through the pine needles.

[Rémon ter Harmsel]

On Peleponnese found several around olive plantations at about sealevel.
Would be very interesting to find out if there really are viable populations on Sicily!