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Southwest Iberia 2017/18

PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 5:06 pm
by Laura Bok
Hey everybody,

this year, Bobby and I said goodbye to 2017 and hello to 2018 during a trip to the Southwestern Iberian Peninsula. The region was suffering from a severe months-long drought during our visit, and so the desired amphibian-frenzy did not happen. Instead, we enjoyed the sun and spring-like weather for a full week, but fortunately were still lucky enough to find quite some amphibians. The always hardy Fire Salamanders in particular did not mind the unfavorable conditions and were encountered in some of the weirdest habitats...
Bobby´s report can be found here:
https://www.herpsafari.nl/tripreports-e ... sw-iberia/
The Flickr-album is available here:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsm9kva3A

Cheers and enjoy!
Laura
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Re: Southwest Iberia 2017/18

PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 7:31 pm
by Rafa Carmona
Thanks for sharing great trip report

Re: Southwest Iberia 2017/18

PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 8:15 pm
by lakiere pieter
Cool findings and pictures. I always love chameleons.

Re: Southwest Iberia 2017/18

PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 9:33 pm
by Rafa Carmona
The Almonaster la Real area is good for Vipera latastei

Re: Southwest Iberia 2017/18

PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 10:34 pm
by Kevin Byrnes
The tree that the toad is sitting on looks rather familiar.

Re: Southwest Iberia 2017/18

PostPosted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 8:12 am
by Ruggero M.
Little annotation: the two Malpolon you have found are both females. I write this because, even if almost nobody specifies the sex of the photographed specimens, Malpolon is one of the few species of colubrids (as far as I know the only one in Europe) in which the two sexes looks "completely" different in colour and mainly in markings. And those differences are well present in hatchlings too, even if less evident as it's the case of adult or subadult snakes.
In the second specimen you have found (the bigger one, probably found under a stone) the typical body markings of females are very strongly represented.
A male would have been almost uniform in colour with a black saddle on the neck...

Re: Southwest Iberia 2017/18

PostPosted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 4:18 pm
by Michal Szkudlarek
Ruggero Morimando wrote:Little annotation: the two Malpolon you have found are both females. I write this because, even if almost nobody specifies the sex of the photographed specimens, Malpolon is one of the few species of colubrids (as far as I know the only one in Europe) in which the two sexes looks "completely" different in colour and mainly in markings. And those differences are well present in hatchlings too, even if less evident as it's the case of adult or subadult snakes.
In the second specimen you have found (the bigger one, probably found under a stone) the typical body markings of females are very strongly represented.
A male would have been almost uniform in colour with a black saddle on the neck...

Is my Malpolon male or female?
Image

Re: Southwest Iberia 2017/18

PostPosted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 4:34 pm
by Ruggero M.
Michal Szkudlarek wrote:
Ruggero Morimando wrote:Little annotation: the two Malpolon you have found are both females. I write this because, even if almost nobody specifies the sex of the photographed specimens, Malpolon is one of the few species of colubrids (as far as I know the only one in Europe) in which the two sexes looks "completely" different in colour and mainly in markings. And those differences are well present in hatchlings too, even if less evident as it's the case of adult or subadult snakes.
In the second specimen you have found (the bigger one, probably found under a stone) the typical body markings of females are very strongly represented.
A male would have been almost uniform in colour with a black saddle on the neck...

Is my Malpolon male or female?
Image


It's a young male.
40-60 cm long?

Re: Southwest Iberia 2017/18

PostPosted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 4:50 pm
by Michal Szkudlarek
Ruggero Morimando wrote:
Michal Szkudlarek wrote:
Ruggero Morimando wrote:Little annotation: the two Malpolon you have found are both females. I write this because, even if almost nobody specifies the sex of the photographed specimens, Malpolon is one of the few species of colubrids (as far as I know the only one in Europe) in which the two sexes looks "completely" different in colour and mainly in markings. And those differences are well present in hatchlings too, even if less evident as it's the case of adult or subadult snakes.
In the second specimen you have found (the bigger one, probably found under a stone) the typical body markings of females are very strongly represented.
A male would have been almost uniform in colour with a black saddle on the neck...

Is my Malpolon male or female?
Image


It's a young male.
40-60 cm long?

I dont remember, it was 5 years ago. Moreover the snake was in bush so it was hard for me to assess its length.

Re: Southwest Iberia 2017/18

PostPosted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 7:38 pm
by Jeroen Speybroeck
Sweet report, nice little getaway!