New Morocco trip. 18-25 june

[Jürgen Gebhart]

In april-may Morocco is the heaven!

Are you sure???? Is your brain dried out??????

[Gabriel Martínez]

In april-may Morocco is really cool!

[Jürgen Gebhart]

You don`t pictured a Cerastes gasperetti mendelsohni???
Oh, than I spend the night in the Arava desert alone with Budi, who was the third person??? Maybe a ghost????
I pictured a mendelsohni at my last Trip!

(It must be very hot in Spain right now, tried Brain )

ISRAEL ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mario Schweiger]

Hi Gabri,

impressive pictures and videos.
The Cerastes vipera with its blue is phantastic.
The Hemorrhois - for me - is algirus.
In south Morocco they often have round spots. They have been a subspecies of hippocrepis before, Coluber hippocrepis intermedius, because of their resemlance with the horseshoe snake.
See the pic by Ph. Geniez, between Guelmin and Bou Izakarn.

Mario

[Gabriel Martínez]

Hi Mario! I missed your comments This photo is fantastic and show perfect this question. The subadult I found is indeed similar to this snake.

Ph. Geniez saw the video and told me it´s algirus too. I knew there are H. algirus with horseshoe mark (even in Ouarzazate, where H. hippocrepis doesn´t occur), but I didn´t relation this characteristic with the subspecies intermedius, so thanks for the info Mario! Reading Valverde not-publishing data, he wrote about "intermedius" like subspecies of hippocrepis, like subspecies of algirus and like own species.

In south Morocco:

- It´s possible to find H. algirus intermedius with rounded marks in the dorsal area.

- It´s possible to find H. algirus with horseshoe mark

- It´s possible to find H. hippocrepis with supralabial in contact with the eye.

And also it´s possible to find hybrids, so the question between the genus Hemorrhois would need more studies...

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

Interesting + difficult !

[Mario Schweiger]

Gabri,

excuse me for the delay
but I´ve been at the Vienna Nat. hist. Museum the whole last week - to rediagnose all the Eirenis species, they have there in their collection ( a realy hard work ).
Sorry, I have no picture, but in the 70ies and 80ies we found very very pale "horseshoes" in Ouarzazate, resambling the true hippocrepis in everything except the color - but these are algirus now.

@Jeroen:
One reason more to leave Europe

Mario

[Gabriel Martínez]

I´ve been at the Vienna Nat. hist. Museum the whole last week - to rediagnose all the Eirenis species, they have there in their collection ( a realy hard work )

No problem with the delay!!!

Interesting + difficult !

Believe me, there are more difficult species in Morocco to easier species... (Tarentola cf. mauritanica, Ptyodactylus cf. oudrii, Naje haje "legionis", Macroprotodon sp. from western sahara, Bufo/Amietophrynus, Bufo/Pseudepidalea, Salamandra (algira) tingitana, Salamandra of Beni Snassen, Acanthodactylus lineomaculatus = A. erythrurus........................... ). We need a Speybroeck working in Morocco

[Mario Schweiger]

Gabri,
this is Eirenis coronella or Eirenis coronelloides , no lineomaculatus.
To distinguish these two species named first, please see: "Sivan, N. & Werner, Y.L. 2003. Revision of the middle-eastern dwarf-snakes commonly assigned to Eirenis coronella (Colubridae). Zoology in the Middle East 28: 39-59". Sorry, I dont have this paper, I studied it in the NHMW.
Difference are counts of subcaudals and ventrals. Much distribution overlap in Syria, Israel and Jordan.
If coronella, nominat species, ibrahimi is at central Arabian west coast.

Mario

[Gabriel Martínez]

Ok, thanks Mario!!!