fieldherping.eu

Between 29.april and 05.may, men and 2 friends spent in the area east of Alexandroupoli for 4 days, and then two days close to Lake Volvi, outside Thessaloniki. We where lucky to encounter a group of german herpers and Marius and his sister from Rumania, who also where in the area, and we owe them all great thanks for both hints, tips (and beer) and and not least letting us photograph some of your findings. A great thanks to "ze germans" Michael, Alexander, Rainer, Hans Peter (and off course Jörg!! Really sorry I forgot to write you name) and the rumanians Marius and Olimpia. The trip would be a bit more boring without you.

A usual I will not bore you to much with writing. In Thrace our herping was done east of Alexandroupoli, and in Dadia Forest. And the rest was around Lake Volvi and surrounding areas.

Hope you enjoy the pictures



Bombina variegate, Dadia Forest


Bufotes viridis, Evros


Pelobates syriacus, Evros


Pelphylax ridibundis (?), Evros


Hyla arborea, Evros


Rana dalmatina, Evros


Emys orbicularius, Evros


Testudo greaca ibera, Dadia Forest


Lacerta viridis, Evros


Natrix tesselata, Dadia Forest


Natrix tesselata, Dadia Forest




Platyceps najadum, Dadia Forest




Malpolon insigitus, Mount Chortiatis


Elaphe sauromates, Evros


Dolicophis caspius, Evros




Zamenis longissimus (found by "ze germans"), Dadia Forest




Vipera ammodytes, Dadia Forest


Vipera ammodytes, Lagkadikia


Vipera ammodytes, Lagkadikia










Montivipera xanthina

The list of our findings was as follows :

1.Salamandra salamandra (larvae)
2.Lissotritin vulgaris

3.Pelophylax ridibundis
4.Pelophylax cf. bedriagae
5.Hyla arborea
6.Pelobates syriacus
7.Bufo bufo
8.Bufotes viridis
9.Bombina variegate
10.Rana dalmatina

11.Mauremys rivulata
12.Emys orbicularis
13.Testudo hermanni
14.Testudo greace

15.Pseudopis apodus
16.Laudakia stellio
17.Hemidayctylus turcicus
18.Lacerta viridis
19.Lacerta trilineata
20.Ophisops elegans

21.Typhlops vermicularis

22.Elaphe sauromates
23.Natrix tesselata
24.Natrix natrix
25.Dolichophis caspius
26.Platyceps najadum
27.Malpolon insignitus
28.Vipera ammodytes
29.Montivipera xanthina

1 species missing.. will come back with an update as soon as my brain start to coorperate

I really like the first Platyceps picture! Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

Just a couple of observations.

The first Malpolon is obviously a baby, but also obviously a baby female, as you can see by the colours/markings of the head (!) and the body.

The second Malpolon is bigger, sure, but it's a male. Almost completely uniformly coloured head and totally uniformly coloured body with no hint of markings/design.

The baby longissimus.
(Almost) no hint of yellow pigment: I would say it's grey/blackish and whitish.
An axanthic specimen?

On the contrary, I've found in Italy a baby longissimus (unfortunately DOR) which was extremely pale in colour and of a beautiful straw yellow colouration with just a little darker pigmentation/markings.
It's the only one I saw with this colouration: never seen before or after something like that (neither in nature nor in books or on the web).
But in the same area I found a straw yellow very pale adult...

Awesome pics!!!

Beautiful pictures and beautiful species!
Thanks for sharing! Makes me a little jealous

Lovely pics mate!

The N. tesselatta in the water and the first najadum pic are simply stunning!

@Ruggero, in Krk I found a similar juvenile of Z. longissimus. This is the grey form, you also know from Cres. A friend of mine breeds animals from the Loire vally, which also show the same colouration and juvenile colours.

cheers Kai

Kai Kolodziej wrote:
@Ruggero, in Krk I found a similar juvenile of Z. longissimus. This is the grey form, you also know from Cres. A friend of mine breeds animals from the Loire vally, which also show the same colouration and juvenile colours.

cheers Kai

Thanks Kai: I suspected this fact, but I was unsure...

Beautiful as always Thor!

Thanks all!

It was for sure a great trip, with some good findings!

Very nice trip report and photos, Thor!
It was really an enrichment to meet you norwegian guys and to herp with you (and also to drink a beer with you after that )

It will take some time unti I also post some photos, because I still need time to look through them! I began a new job and have little time at the moment..!