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Re: Provence, France: May 2011

PostPosted: Tue May 24, 2011 8:30 pm
by Peter Oefinger
Jepp: if there are no herps there still will be orchids ;)
Just two comments: the unknown orchid I would refer to as Orchis mascula, the Dactylorhiza in the forest are D. maculata.

Regards
Peter

Re: Provence, France: May 2011

PostPosted: Tue May 24, 2011 8:48 pm
by Mario Schweiger
Peter Oefinger wrote:Jepp: if there are no herps there still will be orchids ;)
Just two comments: the unknown orchid I would refer to as Orchis mascula, the Dactylorhiza in the forest are D. maculata.

Regards
Peter


Peter, sorry, I cant argue yours on D. maculata.
Looking on the pictures in: Presser, H.: Die Orchideen Mitteleuropas und der Alpen, 2006 - there are NO leafs between the blossoms in maculata!
In the Provence there should be Orchis mascula ssp. olbiensis or Orchis olbiensis, which should have (following Presser) only a few blossoms.
But I´m not sure on both ;)

Mario

Re: Provence, France: May 2011

PostPosted: Tue May 24, 2011 10:57 pm
by Gabriel Martínez
Mario Schweiger wrote:At the time of our visit - after the mating season - all vipers, except gravid females, are hiding and will come out again, when grasshoppers reach a length of min. 16 mm.
Vipers, young and old ones, start feeding around at the middle of July (depending of weather and temperature conditions) first in the year.

Thanks for the info Mario!

Mario Schweiger wrote:Last and this year Jean Pierre and coleguages found subadult Malpolon monspesulanus for the first time in ursinii habitat on Mont Ventoux (1'420 m asl).
Climate change ?

Wow. In Sierra Nevada (Granada, Spain), my friend Juan Pablo Gonzalez de la Vega found a DOR Malpolon (with a Hemorrhois hippocrepis inside) at 2000 msnm or more. But Granada is warm. In Madrid is difficult to find a Malpolon up to 1400msnm. So in Mount Ventoux sounds really strange!! There are many studies because Malpolon males need a large warm season to reproduce (Cheylan et al., 1981; Saint Girons, 1982; Feriche, 1998...) so it´s incredible the adaptation of this warm snake to the cold Mount Ventoux!! I´m sure that when I will visit Mount Ventoux I will see many Malpolon and 0 ursinii! :x (in Mount Hermon, Golan Heights, it´s possible to find Zamenis hoenickeri, Elaphe sauromates, Hemorrhois ravergieri, Montivipera bornmuelleri... and last trip we only found a Malpolon insignitus!!! up to 1600msnm!)

Re: Provence, France: May 2011

PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2011 7:08 am
by Peter Oefinger
Mario: the genre of Dactylorhiza is still confusing for me.
The lip of the unkknown Dactylorhiza looks like fuchsii, the habitus like maculata. Some authors say fuchsii is a subspecies of maculata. When there is taxonomic confusion, I stick to the name of the section, which is Maculatae.
See here: http://www.orchis.de/orchis/scripts/fse ... bildart=pi
http://www.guenther-blaich.de/artseite. ... abs=artlst
On Günthers page there is also a specimen with leafs between the flowers.

The same with the Orchis: mascula, ovalis or olbiensis would be possible, but also taxonomic confusion if ovalis and olbiensis are only subspecies of mascula...
Regards
Peter