Igor Vilaj

Paula Dvorski

Vilaj, Igor

Dvorski, Paula

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Hyla VOL. 2014., No. 1, Str. 25 - 26 ISSN: 1848-2007 Photo note Vilaj & Dvorski 2014  First record of the erythronotus colouration in a female individual Lacerta agilis (Laurenti, 1768) in Croatia Prvi nalaz erythronotus mutacije kod ženske jedinke Lacerta agilis (Laurenti, 1768) u Hrvatskoj IGOR VILAJ, PAULA DVORSKI Croatian Herpetological Society – Hyla, Lipovac I 7, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia,   *Corresponding author: vilaj22@gmail.com   The Sand Lizard (Lacerta agilis Laurenti, 1768) is a small to medium sized lizard, reaching about 18 cm total length (Edgar & Bird 2005).Two subspecies of the Sand Lizard occur in Croatia. Lacerta agilis argus Laurenti, 1768, is distributed in the Pannonian lowland and Lacerta agilis bosnica Scheriber, 1912 is in southern Croatia (except the Mediterranean coast and all Adriatic islands) (Bischoff 1988; Karaman 1921; Kalayabina et al. 2001; Edgar & Bird 2005; Jelić, 2010).  There are many variations in colour and pattern across the range of this species (Edgar & Bird, 2005). The erythronotus form (Figure 1.) is manifested by a specific dorsal colouration consisting of a reddish stripe as opposed to the typical green or brown colouration with a dark brown stripe (Bischoff 1988) (Fig. 2). It is not unusual, and occurs in many Sand Lizard populations across many countries (Bischoff 1988; Karaman 1921, Vogrin 1999, Borczyk, 2001, Edgar & Bird 2005, Strugariu et al. 2006, Schweiger 2008, Jelić 2010, Burić & Jelić 2011) and it is the most common colour anomaly in some countries (Borczyk 2001). A female L. a. argus erythronotus colouration morph (with one postnasal and two loreal scales as it typical for the argus subspecies as in Bischoff 1988) was found during a herpetological fieldtrip on 30 March, 2014  in a small village called Petrijanec in Varaždin County, Croatia (X:5592051,  Y: 5133845). It was found on the forest edge surrounded by Rubus sp. and Quercus robur, at 190 m above sea level. This is the first record of erythronotus coloration morph in a female Sand Lizard in Croatia and the second record for the morph in the country.  Jelić (2010) found a male of the erythronotus colouration morph in the vicinity of Donji Miholjac.  REFERENCES: Bischoff, W. (1988): Zur Verbreitung und Systematik der Zauneidechse, Lacerta agilis Linnaeus, 1758. Mertensiella 1: 11-30. Borczyk, B. (2001): The effects of flood on an isolated population of Sand lizards (Lacerta agilis L.) in Wroclaw (SW Poland). Herpetological Bulletin 2011 (78): 28-30. Burić, I. & Jelić, D. (2011): Record of Lacerta agilis bosnica (Linnaeus, 1758) erythronotus coloration morph from Zelengora mountain, Bosnia and Herzegovina. HYLA – herpetološki bilten 2011 (2): 23-24. Edgar, P. & Bird, D.R. (2005): Action Plan for the Conservation of the Sand Lizard (Lacerta agilis) in Northwest Europe. Convention on the 25  Hyla VOL. 2014., No. 1, Str. 25 - 26 ISSN: 1848-2007 Photo note Vilaj & Dvorski 2014  conservation of European wildlife and natural habitats, Strasbourg, 11 October 2005. Jelić, D. (2010): First record of the erythronotus coloration morph in Lacerta agilis argus Laurenti, 1768 from Croatia. Natura Croatica 19 (2): 459-462. Kalayabina, S. A., Milto, K.D., Ananjeva, N.B., Legal, L., Joger, U. & Wink, M. (2001): Phylogeography and systematics of Lacerta agilis based on mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences: first results. Russian Journal of Herpetology 8 (2): 149-158. Schweiger, M. (2008): First record of the erythronotus mutation in Lacerta agilis cf. bosnica Schreiber, 1912. Herpetozoa 20 (3/4): 174. Strugariu, A., Sahlean, T.C., Volosciuc – Hutuleac, M.V., Puscasu, C.M. (2006): Preliminary data regarding the distribution of reptilian fauna in Suceava County (Romania). North - Western Journal of Zoology 2 (1): 39-43. Vogrin, N. (1999): First data on the occurrence of Lacerta agilis »erythronotus« in Slovenia. Boletin de la Asociacion Herpetologica Espanola 10: 28-29.        Figure 1. Female Sand Lizard with erythronotus colouration from Petrijanec, Croatia. Slika 1. Ženka livadne gušerice s erythronotus tipom obojenja iz Petrijanca, Hrvatska. Figure 2. The typical female colouration morph from Petrijanec, Croatia. Slika 2. Normalno obojena ženka iz Petrijanca, Hrvatska.      26  

Prvi nalaz erythronotus mutacije kod ženske jedinke Lacerta agilis (Laurenti, 1768) u Hrvatskoj

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