Timon lepidus/nevadensis??

[GertJan Verspui]

Hello, just returned from a trip, at a certain point I woke up at the eastern higher parts of Sierra the segura, east of Cazorla and found many Timon, most of them were grey, but there was also some green involved, I did not see a big male, so I could not figure it out by the enormous head size...

They looked more like lepidus to me despite the grey color

some pics..

Not in situ

In Situ

female, not in Situ, closer to cazorla then the other 2 juveniles

Thanks, Gert Jan

[Mario Schweiger]

Hi GertJan,

hard to say with the young ones, but the adult is lepidus!
Nevadensis has inverted color (grey/brown with green markings)
http://vipersgarden.at/cascade/species.php?cat=2&subcat=27&subcat3=Timon+nevadensis

Mario

[GertJan Verspui]

Thanks Mario, the female was the reason to think lepidus also.

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

That is, if you accept morphology to provide 100% sure ID

However, as more often than not, Mario is right, also when you look at the molecular data.
http://vipersgarden.at/PDF_files/PDF-5063.PDF

Note that this 'species' is not accepted by all experts.

[Peter Oefinger]

However, as more often than not, Mario is right, also when you look at the molecular data.http://vipersgarden.at/PDF_files/PDF-5063.PDF

According to the map in that paper, in the Cazorla area it is lepidus (Nr. 7 in the map).
The subadult specimen also look like lepidus for me, because the margins of the light spots are very dark.
For comparison - see here:
http://lacerta.de/AS/Bildarchiv.php?Spe ... 03&Regio=Süd-Ost Spanien.
The third picture shows a typical subadult nevadensis.

[Mario Schweiger]

The third picture shows a typical subadult nevadensis.

Are you sure, Peter?
Although Cazorla is a lepidus spot?
For me, looks like most subadult lepidus in "the rest of Iberian peninsula"

[Peter Oefinger]

At Cazorla, I only have seen a juvenile Timon - so I cannot judge.
This is the map of the Miraldo-paper combinded with Google Earth:

This is a typical subadult nevadensis in the Alicante area:

and another one:

The pattern is less contrasting than at lepidus. And the lapial scales show the white-brown stripe pattern which doesn't exist a lepidus, I think.