Eryx jaculus in Sicily!

Eryx jaculus in Sicily!

Postby Bobby Bok » Thu Dec 31, 2015 12:19 am

Wouter brought this to my attention and after having seen it making the news on Facebook as well, I thought it too good not to share! What an exciting discovery!

http://www.fupress.net/index.php/ah/art ... 7170/16642
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Re: Eryx jaculus in Sicily!

Postby Tom Hoogesteger » Thu Dec 31, 2015 12:49 am

:o Exciting news, thanks for sharing!
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Re: Eryx jaculus in Sicily!

Postby Mario Schweiger » Thu Dec 31, 2015 8:44 am

Bobby Bok wrote:Wouter brought this to my attention and after having seen it making the news on Facebook as well, I thought it too good not to share! What an exciting discovery!

http://www.fupress.net/index.php/ah/art ... 7170/16642


not really new, but nobody believed it at the first findings :(
http://fieldherping.eu/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2152&hilit=eryx&start=10#p20916 and ff.

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Re: Eryx jaculus in Sicily!

Postby Maarten Gilbert » Thu Dec 31, 2015 10:38 am

Very interesting! Hopefully the proposed genetic study will shed some light on the origin of these animals.
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Re: Eryx jaculus in Sicily!

Postby Berislav Horvatic » Thu Dec 31, 2015 4:22 pm

Anyone heard anything reliable about the Eryx jaculus allegedly found on a beach in Montenegro?
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Re: Eryx jaculus in Sicily!

Postby Jeroen Speybroeck » Thu Jan 07, 2016 3:14 pm

The origin of the species on Sicily may relate to an ancient introduction.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... f-war.html

At first, this seemed far-fetched, but if the species is really restricted to the area where it was now found, an introduction seems likely? Genetics will have to tell us if the Greek snake throwers collected there snakes at home or in northern Africa ;) .
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Re: Eryx jaculus in Sicily!

Postby Berislav Horvatic » Thu Jan 07, 2016 9:18 pm

Regarding this issue I have a few "theoretical" questions, so I decided to open a new
thread in the "Theoretical Section" rather than "polluting" this one with a digression:
viewtopic.php?f=43&t=2382
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Re: Eryx jaculus in Sicily!

Postby Robert Madl » Fri Jan 08, 2016 10:14 am

Here is a video of the Sicilian "viper" and courageous firefighters:

https://www.youtube.com/results?q=TVAlf ... +la+vipera
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Re: Eryx jaculus in Sicily!

Postby Berislav Horvatic » Fri Jan 08, 2016 10:11 pm

Maybe one should read a "second opinion" as well:

Snakes on a …. boat? I don’t think so …
http://rogueclassicism.com/2016/01/01/s ... -think-so/

Here are the links to the published papers:
http://www.fupress.net/index.php/ah/art ... 7170/16642
http://www.thebhs.org/index.php?option= ... &Itemid=35

Anyhow, what's the origin of the name Eryx jaculus, rendered as "javelin boa" in English?
"Jaculus" in Latin means "thrown, darting", and "jaculum" is a technical term for the spear
that is hurled, not thrusted:
https://books.google.hr/books?id=EokSAA ... um&f=false
So, the English "javelin boa" would be an apt translation, but to what do both "jaculus" and
"javeline" refer regarding the actual behaviour of the animal in question? Do they THROW
themselves on their prey? This particular boa? Any boa?
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Re: Eryx jaculus in Sicily!

Postby Ilian Velikov » Mon Jan 11, 2016 6:59 pm

Berislav Horvatic wrote:"Jaculus" in Latin means "thrown, darting"


Berislav Horvatic wrote:Do they THROW
themselves on their prey?


Yes, you could say that. They would stay hidden in the sand with just part of their head out and "dart" and strike their prey and very quickly "throw" and wrap themselves around it...But anyway it's just a name :roll: and even if they didn't do that it wouldn't be the first time a species was named "incorrectly". Anyway, you might wanna open another thread for this one as well...
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