Snake ID

[Gerald Ochsenhofer]

During the mail-exchange with the finder (he also mentioned this number), i also came across the Street (1979) reference on wikipedia. The book is available on the Natural History Museum of Vienna and i tried to look the "120cm" up, but i didn't find anything there (measurements are provided at page 168). The largest specimen Street refers to had 92cm and was from Russia (but no reference mentioned).

So I don't know wherefrom those 120cm are coming... (given I read the book properly and didn't overlook anything...).
Also the "Handbuch" says 92cm max.

[Berislav Horvatic]

So, it's quite a mess with this alleged 120 cm Bulgarian specimen? (There is a splendid,
even more adequate German word for that: Durcheinander.) Let's leave it at that.
But never mind, what we are after at the moment is the alleged cca. 150 cm Austrian
specimen. I don't quite understand the secretiveness surrounding this fresh case. I never
asked for names or the precise locality, just for the circumstances of the find.

[Mario Schweiger]

Bero,

this snake was found in the house and put on the branch for photo.
Finder thought Z. longissimus, but was not sure because of its head shape.

[Berislav Horvatic]

Thanks, Mario, now I understand. Whoever was able to catch the snake and put it on a tree, would
also be able to measure it. However, if the person thought it was just a Zamenis longissimus, then
there would be no strong motivation to do so.

[Mario Schweiger]

Bero,
I'm the same
Why measuring a snake that might be close to record or even a record specimen?
Its just an old animal, having enough of food, have seen no enemies and had a lot of sex (I hope so )
Example: a decapitatet girondica in Tuscany: no head, but approx. 95 cm.

[Berislav Horvatic]

Bero,
I'm the same
Why measuring a snake that might be close to record or even a record specimen?
Its just an old animal, having enough of food, have seen no enemies and had a lot of sex (I hope so )
Example: a decapitatet girondica in Tuscany: no head, but approx. 95 cm.

Now I don't understand any more...
A Zamenis longissimus of some 1.5 m TBL is rather big, but still within the normal limits,
so I would not be particularly tempted to measure it or report on the find (unless I were
part of a team doing some field research, in which case one measures just everything.)
But a Coronella austriaca of 1.5 m TBL is something totally breathtaking and simply
deserves to be measured and recorded, just as a Hierophis gemonensis of that length
would.
Or did you mean that you just don't give a damn for any world record in size of animals,
snakes in particular?

[Ruggero M.]

Bero,

this snake was found in the house and put on the branch for photo.
Finder thought Z. longissimus, but was not sure because of its head shape.

This fact sounds a bit strange to me.
If I understand something of snakes, I notice at once that the colour of that snake is not the colour of an aesculapian snake.
If I do not understand of snakes, I cannot notice head shape differences between Coronella and Zamenis.

So: why head shape was so "relevant" for the person (clearly a layman) who found that snake?

If you look the head of this snake you can notice something strange, and so I've tried to magnify the head.

big.jpg (19.29 KiB) Viewed 4918 times

Really strange... Artifact or actual head shape? The rostral crushed like a "leaf"?

Anyway, my personal opinion is: Coronella austriaca (with crushed rostral? with a head tumor?) 80-90 cm long...

P.S. If we agree that the snake is a Coronella austriaca, the problem of its actual lenght is a minor problem. We (or the person who found the snake) could put a ruler near the branch and calculate with good approximation the lenght of the snake! Unless the tree has in the meanwhile been cut off!

[Berislav Horvatic]

Thanks, Ruggero. I agree with everything you wrote.

[Gerald Ochsenhofer]

At the moment we are waiting for an answer of the finder (OT: is it actually correct english to use "finder" and "findings" ? On german I would use "Finder" and "Funde". Example: "Interesting finding" ["Interessanter Fund"]?), which will hopefully include a picture with a ruler. If there won't come anything, then the next thing I'm going to do is to delete the 120cm on Wikipedia.

[Gerald Ochsenhofer]

To be really honest, I'm not getting it completely (even though i like the wordplay ). What's wrong about the german "Finder"?