Ophisops elegans

[Ilian Velikov]

Hello,

Does anyone know to what subspecies is the european O.elegans assigned? Bulgarian populations are said to be O.e.ehrenbergii but in other literature european form is O.e.macrodactylus!?

[Mario Schweiger]

Hello Ilian,

all in Europe (including the only in political Europe: Lesbos, Rhodos, etc.) and western Turkey living O. elegans are all ssp. macrodactylus.
Since the revalidation of this ssp. and description of ssp. basoglui, ssp. ehrenbergii is restricted to Syria and adjected areas.
See: Baran & Budak (1978): Anadolu´dan yeni bir Ophisops elegans (Lacertidae, Reptilia) formu hakkinda.- Ege Üniv. Fen.Fak. Dergisi, Bornova, (B) II, 2: 185 - 192.
PDF-0480 in database

Mario

[Ilian Velikov]

Hello Mario,

Thank you for the answer! I asked because in both "Amphibians & Reptiles In Bulgaria" by V.Beshkov and K.Nanev (2006) and "Biserkov, V. (Editor), 2007. A Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Bulgaria. Sofia, Green Balkans, 196 pp." it is written that Bulgarian Ophisops is ssp. ehrenbergii and I was wondering why!

[Nikolay Tzankov]

Hallo Ilian,
I think you need to check again "Biserkov, V. (Editor), 2007. A Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Bulgaria. Sofia, Green Balkans, 196 pp."
page 97.
N/

[Ilian Velikov]

Hello Nikolay,

I did check again and you are right! The field guide says it's ssp. macrodactylus! When I first wrote this I was refering to "Beshkov.V, Nanev.K,2006. Amphibians and Reptiles in Bulgaria".