by Mario Schweiger » Wed Jun 10, 2009 8:46 pm
Peter,
I also think it´s a young (subadult) L. viridis.
Why?
First: Only 4(5) greenish lacertid species should occur in this part of Albania:
Lacerta trilineata
Lacerta viridis
Lacerta agilis bosnica?
Podarcis melisellensis
Podarcis tauricus.
Podarcis tauricus:
The dorsal scales should be larger on the flanks than on the back. Here NO.
The nostril should have contact to the rostrale. Here NO.
In all Podarcis the scales on the tail should get continously shorter to the tail tip (in ALL Podarcis). Not really good to see, but doesn´t look like here in this specimen.
Lacerta trilineata:
Scales of the temporal region should be smaller and much more.
Also altitude and description of habitat doesn´t really point to trilineata.
Lacerta viridis:
dorsal scales of the neck small and roundish, more back elongated and keeled (good to see at the right top corner of the first picture). YES
Dorsal scales around body of nearly equal size. YES
Head proportions look also like viridis.
For agilis the head looks "to long". And agilis should have easy to see keeles on the distinct elongated dorsal scales. Lateral scales should be larger than dorsal scales.
So my conclusion: LACERTA VIRIDIS
Mario