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I I I T Amphibians and Reptiles of the British Isles

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I I I T Amphibians and Reptiles of the British Isles I t I I PROVISIONALATLAS T OF THE t AMPHIBIANSAND REPTILES I OF THE BRITISHISLES T I I Editedby I HenryR.ARNOLD I I BiologicalRecords Centre, Monks Wood ExperimentalStation, I Abbots Ripton, I Huntingdon. I 10-7 a l.J t \J I r 'i lJi-:i l'! i$ ff !'t;: rfr:lf 'iTf{iAL f CLtj,OC; T 1^;..-. iit, ..iEitvicf l!)l:,1-.i.ii:i' i i""1t,,-lrt.rii'O rltf $ B'.SiJ i lt'-it;:. i.il'!tiut. I Mli.r-c lij jA LI.i2d oQg II.ISTITUTEOF T'iiPAtsgTRIAL i. _:QLO{3Y Li":itiAtiY (;i.i:{\/{(:e 10 JULt979 Sole A!.nc:' E.W. Cla$ey Ltd. r.s.B.N 0 900848 68 5 Printed bv the Office Se i.es of the Natunl Envircnnent Reearch Council I I INTBODUCTION Thisprovisional atlas oJ the amphibiansand reptiles of the Britishlsles is the {irstof a series I whichwill coverthe smallergroups of animals. Distributionmaps of the Britishherpetofauna were previously published by Taylor(1948,1963). T Hispioneer activity laid the loundationsfor the presentwork. and his records have been trans- terred to the data store which is its basis, Taylor's mapswere, however, lar from complete,so the BiologicalRecorda Centre, in 1966, I decidedto launcha recordingscheme to coverthe country as evenlyas possible.The majority ol post 1960 recordson the mapswhich follow are the resultof that scheme,but we havealso been ableto includedata primarily collected for otherpurposes during the period.Froml968-1971, I Dr A S Cookeof MonksWood ExperimentalStation coordinated a nationwidesurvey of the breedinqsites of the CommonFrog and the CommonToad which yielded much new information; K. Corbett and other membersof the British HerpetologicalSociety made detailed studies of the I rare species,the NatterjackToad, Sand Lizardand the Smooth Snake. The distributionof the rare speciesis now well known, but ior the commonerspecies the position is lesssatisfactory though much improvedsince Taylor's mapswere published.l\,4ap 1 I sho!/swhere no recordinghas been done and recordsare still neededlrom thes€areas Any recordthat lills in a gapon oneof the mapswill be gratefullyreceived by the BRCand the I followinobrie{ notes are included as an aid to the identificationoI the species. T I T I T I I I I T I NOTESON THE IDENTIFICATIONOF SPECIES I There are twelve indigenousspecies of amphibiansand reptileson the mainlandof Britain: thrde newts,two roads, one froq, three lizardsand thrce snakes.Several alien specieshave been introduced,and two, the Marsh Frog and the Edible Frog, are now establilhedand maps showingtheir dkribution are included. I Al the amphibiansbreed in water and haveaquatic larvae(tadpoles)- The adults rarely venture far from water andwhen thev do thev tendto remainin moisthabitats. The reptilesbreed on land,either by layingesss, or by givingbirth to liveyoung, and in genebloccupy a much T greatervariety of habitatsranging from upland moors ro coastaiplains. While the maiority of reptilesand amphibiansare widespreadand often locally common, three species(the NatteriackToad, the Sand Lizard and the Smooth Snake)are now uncommon and restrictedto certain limited I loca ities and will requirestrong conservation measures if they are to survivein Britain. For thib reason,those who know the preciselocalities of thesespecies are urged not to disclosethem to otheB as the information could fall into the handsof unscrupulouscollectors with unfortunate resultsfor the species. I I 1. The Warty or Great CrestedNewt (Tritutus cristatus (Laurenti)),ihe Smooth Newt fr, vulgar3 (L-)) and I the PalmateNewt fl: helue,/cus(Razoumowski)). The Warty Newt is the larqestEuropean newt with a total lenqth of up to l62mm. for the female,the male usually being smaller.The skin is soft and warty, brown aboveand orangespotted black below During the T bre€dinsseason the malesdevelop a high denticulatedcrest along the back and tail. The Smooth Newt is not dissimilarto the Warty Newt, but is smaller{about 70-80mm}, the warts are absentand the male{ crest h much les developed.The PaimateNewt is the smallestEuropean species, typically 60-80mm. lts skin is smooth and the tall ends in a small thread. During the breedinOseason males develop black webbing bdtweenihe toes T anda low unbrokencrest. I 2. The NatterjackToad (Bufo calanita Laurenti) and the Common road (Bufo bufo (L.ll The noticeablerough, warty and rather dry skin of the toads distinguishesthem from the froge. The Natterjack is the smaller{up to 75mm)and in Britainpossesses a diagnostic yeltow median line down the back.lt never I iumps, but runs and crawh. The Common Toad qrowsup to 95mm and is usually qreyishon the upper parts with backish warts. lt usually crawls,but with intermittent clumsy iumps, T 3. The Common Frcg (Rana tenporcria L.), the Edible Frcg (R. eclulenh L.) and the lvla6h Frog lR. .idibunda Pallasl. I The fi4arshFroq, which was lntroduced into Kent in 1935, ls the larqestofthe three, typicalty 80-84mm but may exceed100mm. lt hasa longersnout and hind limbsthan the EdibleFrog and although !€ry variableis usuallylight or dark brownwith or withoutblack soo6. The EdibleFrog, probably first introducedinto Norfolk in 1837, is about th€ samesize as the Common Fros {60-80mm) but hasa narower he6d (the spacebetween I the eyes beinq only haif the width of the eyes,compared to a distanceequal to their width in the Common Frog). They are usually greenerand lessbrown than the Common Frog. I 4. The Slow Worm (Ansuh f.asilis L.) ihe Common tiza'd (Lacetta vivipan Jacquin) and the Sand Li?ard I T I I The SlowWorm is a leglesslizard, resembling a smallsnake. lt is about300mm in lengthand the extremesmooth n€ssof the scalessives it a hi6ly polithed appea1nce.The adult Sand Lizard can be sepatatedtron the Comnon LizarclW its larsersize (190-220mm compared to 150-180mm),and by its boldefmarkings which include I 'Arabic writing',black and white spots, and in the matesthe brightyeltow.green on the flanks.tmmature specimens canbe difficultto distinWishfrom CommonLizards and identificationmay haveto be confirmedby the scatation I of the headand vent. 5. The GrassSnake lNatrix natrix (1.)), the Smooth Snake(Coronetta austtiaca Laurenti) and the Viper or I Addet \viperc berus lL.ll. The GrassSnake, our largestsnake, typically 1000-15000mm in lensth,is associatedwith wateror damphabitats. It is olivebrown or greenw th blackspots and is at oncedistinguished by the distinctye low, white or orange col ar behindthe head.The Viper,our only venemousreptile, is typically450 550mmin length.lts colouration I s variedbut it can alrnostinvariably be identifiedby the darkzlgzag line down the middleof the backand the dark mark nqson the flanks. The Smooth Snakek int€rrnediatein size betweenthe other two species,but is slrnmer n appearancethan the Viper.lt is generallybrownish-khaki with dark brownmarkinss and derivesits I name from the absenceof a central keel to the dorsalscales. I I I ACKNOWIEDGEMENTS We would like to thank the hundredsof natL.rratists,of many dive*e disctptines,who contibuted and the targe number of membe6 of the pubiic who herpedbv wriring in. we are particulartysratefut to the schoorchirdren I of lreland: those in Northern tretandwho made a speciatsurvey of the Common Frog orqinised by the Education Departmentin connectionwith National Nature Week in 1963: and those in rhe Bepubtic who recordedthe I CommonFros. Common Lizard and SmoothNewt at the behestol An ForasForbartha Teoranta during European We are also most qrateful to Cot_Taytor, Dr Cooke and rhe British HerpetotogicatSociety for the data they so I generouslvmade availableto os, and ro the membersof the tan namedfor providingthe notes on the identificarion I t I REFEf,ENCES Taylor,RH81948.ThedistributionofreprilesandamphibiaintheBritishtsteswithnotesonspecresrecen.y t introduc€d.B.it. J. He|pet..1.1-38_ Tavlof,BH.R'r963.ThedistributionofamphibiansandreptiresinEfgrandandwares,scorrandaodrrerandand I the Channellsles: a revisedsurvey. Brit. J. Herpet..3,95-j15. I I I INDEX The numberssiven after €ach€ntry aro the map num&rs. I Anguisfragilis t0 I 2 3 T 11 6 I 5 I 12 12 I '14 3 I Newt, GreatCrested I 8 I I 6 I 10 Snake,Grass 14 I 1l 2 7 I 8 I I I I I T I T I I I l. I BECORDS RECEIVED I I I I I I I I t I I t T t I I T I 2. BUFOBUFOIL) T I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 3. I T I I I I t I I I I I I I T I I I I RANAESCULENTA L I T I I T I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 5. I RIOIBUNDA I I I I ;$.{i_'.r._ T t: I I I I T I I I I I I I I 6. I I t I I I - .-t'l .r.. 1 ii..'."6;T..:ilr I -l'{ ir. -.. i I i l^. o I I I I I I I I I T T *',I ^s 7. l* TRITURUS CFISTATUS #": I T I 8 T 9t I I '.=:,t I '1; .-3 I T I I I I I I I I I I a. I TRITUFUS HELVETICUS I I I I I I t I I I I t I I I I I T I 9. TFITURUS I VULGANIS(L) I '*"" t I '* T 'iii I I i. .,r' " l,:.! I I I I I I I t I I I I I 10. ANGUIS FRAGILISL I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 11. t CORONELLA I I I I .ii-i.{,,.;r I -.i: I ii- I i ii .1'r-(. I I I I I I I I I I I I t I I t I I I I I I I I I I I I I o1234 ,t - I 't3.
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