Zootoca vivipara in Trentino

[Ruggero M.]

Gravid females are very easy distinguished from P.muralis specimens.
Not the same thing can be said for not gravid specimens, as the two photographed between Passo Rolle and Malga Segantini: but a gravid female was nearby...


Habitat of the first specimen: Laghi di Colbricon.

Gravid female, at the shore of the higher Colbricon lake

[Ruggero M.]

Two specimens (greenish male ? and a young) photographed on a stone wall between Passo Rolle and Malga Segantini

Nearby was a reddish gravid female (?): at first I spotted a similar "fat" reddish specimen basking among the grass. Later very probably the same specimen went on a stone of the wall, where I could take this picture.

Another small specimen, with regrown tail: at least to me it seems not to be the same small specimen shown above... Note the blackish posterior and tail region, typical of subadult specimens of this species.

[Ruggero M.]

Gravid female basking between Passo Rolle and San Martino di Castrozza.

[Massimo Trentin]

Good shots Ruggero. The greenish male is really nice and the pattern recall the muralis one. But the head shape is quite typical.

[Ruggero M.]

Good shots Ruggero. The greenish male is really nice and the pattern recall the muralis one. But the head shape is quite typical.

It's really so! Thanks, Massimo, for your reply.
I must add that, even if I'm a rather expert herper, I didn't see anything else of reptile life: no snakes, no muralis (!)... nothing at all!
And also seeing the vivapara was not an easy task.

[Thomas Bader]

Dear Ruggero,

very intersting variations of Zootoca. The area is interesting in many ways. First of all it would be highly interesting, if the Zootocas are egg layers or livebearing, or maybe both like in Carinthian areas, where they lay eggs in lower elevations and they are viviparous in higher altitudes.
The second story is the occurrence of I. horvathi in this area, which is quite unknown in many areas of Trentino. However, I guess it could be like in Austria, where the records became more and more only recently, because of confusions with P. muralis. Have you ever searched for this species in the region?
Last year I visited the Val dei Mocheni in Trentino and hiked to the Erdemolo lake in June. I only found many many P. muralis on the way up and one Z. longissimus on the way, no Z. vivipara (although I didn't search a lot). I looks also promising for V. berus.

Lago di Edemolo

[Ruggero M.]

Thanks, Thomas!

Have you pictures of the longissimus you found?

Sorry to admit it, but I'm not very expert or fond of lizards: it's even the first time I hear of horvathi in Trentino, or the fact that vivipara can also lay eggs...
And I'm also very new to Zootoca: but my excursions have all been very high (always over 1600-1800 meters) and I knew I could find there, most probably, only vivipara and/or berus from my readings...


P.S. Incidentally: I've seen on the web some pictures of I.horvathi, and I think I won't be able to distinguish this species from muralis...

[Clive Brignull]

Hi, Thought i would have the same ploblem in Slovenia. Usually the rostral contacts frontnasal (snout) in Horvath's but not in Common wall and is a good indicator. Although they are similar in other ways you can tell difference when both species are present

[Mario Schweiger]

Hi
Here two more easy characters, to distinguish muralis from horvathi:
1) (needs some "knowledge"): horvathis are more "shiny". If you ever have seen these two species, you will recognize it very easy.
2) scale rings on tail: all nearly the "same" width in muralis, while in horvathi there are (at least in the 1st half) wide rings, often followed by a (much more distinct than in muralis) small ring.

Iberolacerta horvathi; Carinthia, Austria

Podarcis muralis; Carinthia, Austria

[Ruggero M.]

Thanks!