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New Record of the Sahara Sand Viper, Cerastes Vipera (Linnaeus, 1758), from North-Eastern Morocco

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New Record of the Sahara Sand Viper, Cerastes Vipera (Linnaeus, 1758), from North-Eastern Morocco Herpetology Notes, volume 13: 203-205 (2020) (published online on 01 March 2020) New record of the Sahara sand viper, Cerastes vipera (Linnaeus, 1758), from north-eastern Morocco Abdellah Bouazza1,*, Karim Laïdi2, and Justo Martín3 Morocco exhibits one of the highest diversities of It is found exclusively on sandy soils (e.g., sand dunes reptiles in the Mediterranean Basin (Cox et al., 2006), “Ergs” and sandy coastal areas with Mediterranean and its herpetofauna is probably the most studied scrub) (Wilms et al., 2013). compared to other North African countries (Bons and The known distributional records of the Sahara sand Geniez, 1996; Schleich et al., 1996; del Mármol et al., viper in Morocco range from 0 to 850 m of elevation 2019b). However, there are still some regions that have above sea level, and cover three main areas in the been poorly surveyed, particularly in the north-eastern country’s southern and south-eastern parts, namely Erg part of the country. Recently, increased survey efforts Chebbi, Ergs of M’hamid, and the sandy plateaus of the revealed several new herpetofaunal records from this costal Atlantic Sahara (e.g., Khnifiss Lagoon) (Fig. 1). region: e.g. Daboia mauritanica, Rhagerhis moilensis, Ecological niche-based models showed that C. vipera Myriopholis algeriensis, Lytorhynchus diadema, can be found throughout most desertic Moroccan areas Spalerosophis dolichospilus, Telescopus tripolitanus, with less potentially suitable habitats further north (Brito and Trogonophis wiegmanni (Barata et al., 2011; et al., 2011). Herein, we report a new observation of C. Martínez and León, 2013; Jablonski et al., 2014). vipera about 250 km to the north-east of the nearest The genus Cerastes Laurenti, 1768 (Serpentes: known locality of this species in Morocco. Viperinae) includes four species that are distributed in northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula: Cerastes cerastes (Linnaeus, 1758), C. gasperettii Leviton & Anderson, 1967, C. vipera (Linnaeus, 1758), and C. boehmei Wagner and Wilms 2010. All four species are stout-bodied and, as desert snakes, are characterised by many xeromorphic physiological and morphological adaptations (Schleich et al., 1996; Baha El Din, 2006). The smallest member of the genus is Cerastes vipera (Sahara sand viper), which may reach maximum total length of 53 cm, with an average of 25 - 40 cm (Trape and Mané, 2006). This species is considered monotypic (Geniez, 2018). Cerastes vipera is native to northern Africa and south-western Palestine, where its range covers a wide area of the Sahara, but absent from the northern regions of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. 1 Polydisciplinary Faculty of Taroudant, Ibn Zohr University, Taroudant, Morocco. Figure 1. Known distribution (black dots) of Cerastes vipera 2 N°4, Boulevard de Londres, Casablanca, Morocco. in Morocco (according to Bons and Geniez, 1996; Geniez et 3 Independent environnemental consultant, Seville, Spain. al., 2004; Crochet et al., 2015; del Mármol et al., 2019a) and * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] site of the new observation (white star). 204 Abdellah Bouazza et al. Figure 2. (A) Cerastes vipera specimen (in-situ) found near Bouârfa; (B) habitat where the specimen was observed. On April 27th, 2019 at 6:00 P.M., an adult specimen References (Fig. 2A) was observed beneath a shrub in Bouârfa Baha El Din, S. (2006): A Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of region (32.705°N, 2.324°W; elevation: 1300 m; Fig. 2B). Egypt. Cairo, Egypt, The American University in Cairo Press. The habitat corresponds to a Hamada, characterised by Barata, M., Perera, A., Harris, D.J., van der Meijden, A., Carranza, high, hard rocky plateau, with very little sand, covered S., Ceacero, F., García-Muñoz, E., Gonçalves, D., Henriques, S., by sparse and shrubby vegetation. Climatic data (from Jorge, F., Marshall, J.C., Pedrajas, L., Sousa, P. (2011): New WorldClim database at ~1 km² resolution; Fick and observations of amphibians and reptiles in Morocco, with a special emphasis on the eastern region. Herpetological Bulletin Hijmans, 2017) suggests that the area is characterised by 116: 4–14. a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification Bons, J., Geniez, P. (1996): Amphibiens et Reptiles du Maroc BSk), with mean annual precipitation of 231 mm. (Sahara Occidental Compris) : Atlas Biogéographique. Three syntopic species of reptiles were observed in Barcelona, Spain, Asociación Herpetológica Española. the same habitat, Uromastyx nigriventris, Varanus Brito, J.C., Fahd, S., Geniez, P., Martínez-Freiría, F., Pleguezuelos, griseus, and Hemorrhois sp. J.M., Trape, J.-F. (2011): Biogeography and conservation of Our record represents (i) the first observation of C. viperids from North-West Africa: An application of ecological niche-based models and GIS. Journal of Arid Environments vipera on the steppe of an oriental province and expands 75(11): 1029–1037. considerably the known range extension of this species Cox, N., Chanson, J., Stuart, S. (2006): The Status and Distribution in Morocco, and (ii) the highest altitudinal record of of Reptiles and Amphibians of the Mediterranean Basin. Gland, the Saharan sand viper. The specimen observed in the Switzerland and Cambridge, UK, IUCN. present note displayed typical body colouration as other Crochet, P.-A., Leblois, R., Renoult, J. (2015): New reptile records sand dune populations of the Sahara but differs from from Morocco and Western Sahara. Herpetology Notes 8: 583– those from the coastal areas of south-western Morocco. 588. del Mármol, G.M., Fernandez, B.R., Clerc, S., Håkonsen, T., Therefore, morphological and genetic analyses are Acierno, S., Sassoè-Pognetto, M. (2019a): New cases of needed to clarify the taxonomic status of this species sympatry between vipers in southwestern Morocco. Herpetology in Morocco. Cerastes cerastes and Daboia mauritanica Notes 12: 337–342. have been reported to occur in this region, suggesting del Mármol, G.M., Harris, D.J., Geniez, P., de Pous, P., Salvi, that three species of vipers with distinct biogeographical D. (2019b): Amphibians and Reptiles of Morocco. Frankfurt, affinities may occur in sympatry (e.g., Martínez-Freiría Germany, Edition Chimaira. Fick, S.E., Hijmans, R.J. (2017): WorldClim 2: new 1-km spatial et al., 2016; García-Cardenete et al., 2017). resolution climate surfaces for global land areas. International Journal of Climatology 37(12): 4302–4315. Acknowledgements. We would like thank Fernando Martínez- García-Cardenete, L., Flores-Stols, M.V., Yubero, S. (2017): New Freiría for providing a pre peer-review and helpful comments on cases of syntopy between viperid snakes (Viperidae) in the an earlier version of this manuscript. Atlantic Sahara. Go-South Bulletin 14: 139–141. Geniez, P. (2018): Snakes of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East: A Photographic Guide. New Jersey, USA, Princeton University Press. New record of the Sahara sand viper from north-eastern Morocco 205 Geniez, P., Mateo, J.A., Geniez, M., Pether, J. (2004): The Amphibians and Reptiles of the Western Sahara. Frankfurt, Germany, Edition Chimaira. Jablonski, D., Frynta, D., del Mármol Marín, G.M. (2014): New records of the Awl-headed snake (Lytorhynchus Diadema) from northeastern Morocco. Herpetology Notes 7: 295–297. Martínez, G., León, R. (2013): Redescubrimiento de Daboia mauritanica en la región de Figuig (Marruecos). Boletín de la Asociación Herpetológica Española 24(2): 37–38. Martínez-Freiría, F., Stols, V.F., García-Cardenete, L. (2016): Human-mediated syntopy between Cerastes cerastes and Daboia mauritanica in the lower Drȃa Valley, Morocco. Boletín de la Asociación Herpetológica Española 27(2): 27–30. Schleich, H.H., Kastle, W., Kabisch, K. (1996): Amphibians and Reptiles of North Africa. Koenigstein, Germany, Koeltz. Trape, J.-F., Mané, Y. (2006): Guide des Serpents d’Afrique Occidentale: Savane et Désert. Paris, France, IRD Editions. Wilms, T., Wagner, P., Joger, U., Geniez, P., Crochet, P.-A., El Mouden, E.H., Mateo, J.A. (2013): Cerastes vipera. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T178210A15636436. Available at: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/178210/15636436. Accessed on 10 Decembre 2019. Accepted by Idriss Bouam.
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