Herpetology Notes, volume 11: 303-305 (2018) (published online on 19 April 2018)

Rediscovery of the grass snake (Natrix natrix) on the island of Karpathos, Greece

Sergé Bogaerts1,*, Frank Pasmans2 Dino Protopapas3, Panayiotis Pafilis4 and Petros Lymberakis 5

The grass snake, Natrix natrix (Linnaeus, 1758) has above 22 degrees Celsius. The hardboard was part of a broad Palearctic distribution stretching across Europe a small rubbish tip at the border of the town Olympos. to Mongolia and the Middle East (Uetz et al., 2017). The tip is situated on a southeast-facing slope with On the Greek mainland, N. natrix is widespread and the town of Olympos above and agricultural fields one of the most common snakes (Valakos et al., 2008). below. The presence of water is due to an old irrigation The species is also found on several Ionian and Aegean system created to water the fields which are now islands (Chondropoulos, 1989) and may even occur on largely abandoned. The animal very quickly turned very small islets (Mossman et al., 2016). Karpathos is into defensive behaviour, producing yellow-brown part of the Dodecanese islands and is situated between excrement and after that turning backwards with an Crete and Rhodes. Thanks to its long isolation (Kokkalas open beak, while protruding its tongue and rolling its and Doutsos, 2004) Karpathos hosts a very interesting eyes to a corner. There were no indications of recently herpetofauna characterized by several endemic taxa. consumed prey items. Total length of the snake was 66 Nevertheless, there is only a single record of N. natrix cm (SVL 55 cm, TL 11cm). The ground colour was from Karpathos, dating back to the early sixties (15 greyish-brown. It did not show the typical yellow white April 1964; Pieper, 1970) regarding a specimen of about markings that form a collar at the neck, although this 70 cm, found between Spoa and Mertonas. Since then, particular region was lighter coloured. Small black bars numerous field trips during the last two decades failed with dark brown edges marked the lateral and dorsal to verify the presence of this species on the island (e. g. sides, and small black markings were present on the Broggi, 1994; Adamantopoulou et al., 1999; Cattaneo, head. The colour of the eye was similar to that of the 2010). As such, its current occurrence on the island body. Ventralia were not counted, dorsalia were 19 in remained uncertain for a long time. We here report three mid body. recent sightings of N. natrix from Karpathos. The second snake was recorded on video in July 2016 The first sighting was on the 6th of March 2017 around near Mertonas (35.5811°N, 27.1680°E). The animal 18 hrs, just before sunset. An adult male N. natrix (Fig. was found accidently by a couple of irrigation workers. 1) was found under a piece of hardboard (35.7455 °N, They, later, contacted one of us (Dinos Protopapas) and 27.1767 °E). The animal was cold, but active, and gave him a copy of the video. The snake was found had probably been basking as day temperatures rose close to a church and a small spring that irrigates the few scattered houses forming the village Mertonas at an east-facing slope. The third observation was a juvenile snake found dead on 12 October 2017 on the way to Broukounda (a small 1 Lupinelaan 25, NL-5582CG Waalre, The Netherlands church northwest of Avlonas, 35.7961°N, 27.1680°E). 2 Laboratory of Veterinary Bacteriology and Mycology, Faculty The picture (Fig. 2) of the animal send to us shows of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Belgium clearly the yellow coloration in the neck, which is 3 Management Agency of Karpathos and Saria, Diafani, almost absent in the adult individual found in March. Karpathos, Greece Our three findings, combined with the report of Pieper 4 Section of Zoology and Marine Biology, Dept. of Biology, (1970), suggest grass snakes could be widespread on the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece 5 Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete, island of Karpathos, but are probably rare as since Pieper Irakleio, Greece (1970) no reports have been made until now. Similar to * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] our specimens, the specimen described in Pieper (1970) 304 Sergé Bogaerts et al.

Figure 1. Natrix natrix, adult male, found under a piece of card board near Olympos (6 March 2017).

Figure 2. Natrix natrix, juvenile, found dead northwest of Avronas (12 October 2017). Rediscovery of the grass snake on the island of Karpathos, Greece 305 lacked the typical stripes of the subspecies “persa”. Cattaneo, A. (2010): Osservazioni sui rettili delle isole egee di However, on the nearby island of Rhodes also unstriped Karpathos e Kasos (Dodecaneso Meridionale) (Reptilia). animals are found along the typical “persa” phenotype Naturalista sicil., S. IV, XXXIV (1-2): 29–47. Chondropoulos, B.P. (1989): A checklist of Greek reptiles. 2. The (Bader et al., 2009). snakes. Herpetozoa 2: 3–36. The diet of N. natrix is strongly based on amphibians Hutinec, J., Mebert, K. (2011): Ecological partitioning among dice (Kabisch, 1999; Hutinec and Mebert, 2011). The only snakes (Natrix tessellata) and grass snakes (Natrix natrix) in amphibian with high population densities on the island southern Croatia. ������������ 18: 225–233. is the endemic Karpathos Salamander (Lyciasalamandra Kabisch, K., (1999): Natrix natrix (Linnaeus, 1758) - Ringelnatter. helverseni) that probably comprises a main food item, In: Handbuch der Reptilien und Amphibien Europas, Band since it co-occurs in Olympos and Mertonas, and 3, Schlangen II, p 513–580. W. Böhme (Ed.). Wiesbaden, Germany, Aula Verlag. probably also in Avlonas. The only other amphibian Kokkalas, S., Doutsos, T. (2004): Kinematics and strain present is the Karpathos Water Frog (Pelophylax partitioning in the southeast Hellenides (Greece) Geological cerigensis) but this species has almost disappeared in Journal 39: 121–140. Olympos where the first snake was found, apart from Mossman, A., Culhane, K., Miller, Z., Brock, K., Pafilis, P., occasional sightings by local people (pers. comm.). Donihue, C. (2016): An extreme new record of Natrix natrix Until the river bed was altered to an unpaved road some (Linnaeus, 1758) from a Mediterranean islet in Greece. 25 years ago, a small permanent river flowed through Herpetozoa 29: 107–109. Pieper, H. (1970): Neue Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Herpetofauna Olympos, which supported a population of P. cerigensis der südägäischen Inseln. Senckenbergiana biologica 51: 55– (pers. obs. by Dinos Protopapas). 65. The aquatic habitats on the Aegean islands are under Uetz, P. Freed, P., Hošek, J. (eds.): Natrix natrix.����������� � huge pressure because of overpumping and massive Database. Available at: http://reptile-database.org. Accessed on tourism (Catsadorakis and Pargamian, 2007; Broggi 1 December 2017. .org, accessed May 17, 2017 and Grillitsch, 2012). Thus, the insular populations of Valakos, E.D., Pafilis, P., Sotiropoulos, K., Lymberakis, P., N. natrix are facing critical risks (Broggi, 2000). Further Maragou, P., Foufopoulos, J. (2008): The Amphibians and Reptiles of Greece. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main. studies that will clarify the taxonomic status of the Karpathos population, and also propose measures for its conservation, are required.

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