Euro rarest list

[Paul Lambourne]

Just been catching up on some of the trip reports on the forum, and I caught the phrase Europes rarest lizard.. Which got me thinking.. What are the rarest euro herps?

Lizard wise I was thinking raffonei, snake wise I assume algirus..toad is easy with muletensis.. But frogs newts and salamanders are trickier.. Arnoldi.. ??

If anybody has the definitive answer I would be interested.. Or just a general consensus

Cheers

Paul

[Daniel Kane]

Snake-wise algirus is a good shout, but how about a nummifer or modestus ? Very few European Greek islands seem to have confirmed records..

What about Pelophylax cerigensis for rarest frog? As for salamanders, Salamandra lanzai has a small range, but I get the impression it is not rare within it; however then we get into the issue of 'common in a small range vs. rare over a wide range. Who knows... Other opinions would be interesting.

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

1) What is rare? Total number of individual animals is an option, but you are always going to have more individuals of species with a short-lived, high-reproduction strategy. Effective population size (as defined in population genetics) may be more valuable, but is less intuitive to guess.
2) What is Europe?

Daniel, the islands you refer to are outside of Europe. There are no confirmed records for nummifer or modestus in Turkish Thrace. Even then, from the top of my head, these 2 species occur each on 4 Greek islands at least. Nummifer is hard to assess, but modestus reaches good numbers. Algirus most likely has the smallest total individuals number, but it's alien. Unless we question the autochtonous nature of its European population, I'm thinking of Platyceps collaris. Obviously, on the subspecies level there's more going on, with Vipera ursinii rakosiensis not doing so well.

If Pelophylax cerigensis would still be a valid species AND it would be restricted to Karpathos (thus, not include Rhodos populations), it would indeed 'beat' muletensis. This illustrates the relativity of the matter, I guess.

Although non-native, I'm thinking the total number of Chamaeleo africanus surely is lower than that of raffonei. There's also Podarcis levendis.

I guess we all agree endangered matters more than rare. Wouldn't want to dream of what Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans could do to lanzai, aurorae, pasubiensis.

[Ilian Velikov]

Very relative indeed. It's a bit like "the most dangerous snake" in the world.

Unless we question the autochtonous nature of its European population, I'm thinking of Platyceps collaris.

Can you discuss this further? I've never heard/read of any suspicions on this matter, but when I think about it the isolation of this species is kind of weird...And even if it's not autochtonus why isn't it spreading? Surely there's more suitable habitat in the wider area and it's not like the species has very particular prey requirements, etc.

[Mario Schweiger]

Unless we question the autochtonous nature of its European population, I'm thinking of Platyceps collaris.

The European population is its own ssp. _ Platyceps collaris thracius REHAK 1985
http://vipersgarden.at/PDF_files/PDF-6752.pdf

[Ilian Velikov]

The European population is its own ssp. _ Platyceps collaris thracius REHAK 1985

Well, that was ages ago. Most European species probably had different names and/or subspecies, valid or not, at that time, as indeed they do today. That's why I don't care about taxonomy, and I'll leave the argument about validity of names, subspecies, etc. to those who do. I'd be much more interested if anyone has any thoughts on the biology/ecology of the species and why it is so "rare" or restricted in Europe despite the fact that it has pretty similar requirements as the much wider distributed najadum? Also where the doubts about it being autochtonous come from?

[Peter Oefinger]

If you use rare in a sense of "threatened" maybe Iberolacerta martinezricai and the Romanian Eremias populations should be taken into account.

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

If you use rare in a sense of "threatened" maybe Iberolacerta martinezricai and the Romanian Eremias populations should be taken into account.

Not too sure about Eremias, but martinezricai is possibly in numbers even rarer than levendis...?

[Mario Schweiger]

Hi Ilian,

I think, you wrote it by yourself

why it is so "rare" or restricted in Europe despite the fact that it has pretty similar requirements as the much wider distributed najadum?

Maybe some kind of competition with najadum or other species, microclimate, food?
And each species has its geographical limits - sometimes we cant see why just where it is

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

I may have given a different impression but I have never heard of collaris being non-native to Bulgaria. It's just that the distribution is a little odd. However, there are more species with a restricted range in that corner of Europe (Ophisops, xanthina, bedriagae). Rivers may act as biogeo barriers. BTW, too lazy to take the book of the shelf, but I believe there is a gap between najadum and collaris (= an area where neither occurs). Maybe collaris copes not us well with harsh winters. Maybe collaris used to be more widespread and was displaced (cf. relictual distribution of ursinii). Etc. etc. ...