fieldherping.eu

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

Exciting news, thanks for sharing!

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.

Mario

Very interesting! Hopefully the proposed genetic study will shed some light on the origin of these animals.

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

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 .

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

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

https://www.youtube.com/results?q=TVAlf ... +la+vipera

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?

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 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...