Lacerta-viridis-bilineata_4

Description:

Lacerta viridis Laurenti, syn: Seps viridis Laurenti,, Lacerta bilineata (?)EN: European green lizard, DE: stliche SmaragdeidechseSlo.: zelenecDat.: Aug. 7. 2017Lat.: 46.36038 Long.: 13.70285Code: Bot_ 1079/2017_DSC02767Habitat: former pastures delimited by dry stony walls, now partly overgrown with bushes and trees; slightly inclined mountain slope, southeast aspect; calcareous, rocky, colluvial ground; mostly sunny, relatively warm place; near inhabited cottage; average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, elevation 600 m (1.970 feet), alpine phytogeographical region. Place: Lower Trenta valley, between villages Soa and Trenta, right bank of river Soa, near Trenta 2b cottage, East Julian Alps, Posoje, Slovenia EC. Comment: Lacerta viridis is among the largest reptiles living in Europe. It can be more than 40 cm long. Two thirds of the body represent its tail. The reptile is in most cases spotted (but not too often) during immovably basking in the sun, usually on rocks or tree stumps. Its bright, vivid color helps to detect it from far. But to come close to it seems almost impossible. The animal is very timid and very fast. It disappears in a fraction of second. It feeds by insects, wherein practically no insect is fast enough to escape its attack. I can hardly imagine how to observe it from close or take close-up pictures in free nature. Picture #4b. demonstrates the closest distance I have been able to photograph it ever (with 105 mm lens).Recently, during works near my water cistern my son spotted one large, mature male animal with intensely blue throat. The color is most apparent during mating period. The animal immediately tried to escape into nearest dark - actually in a slit between my concrete water cistern and its slightly opened concrete cover and fall into water. We rescued it from the cistern and finally got an opportunity to make some pictures of it from close.Taxonomy of this species is still unsettled. Apparently 'former' Lacerta viridis represents two distinct species, namely Lacerta viridis and Lacerta bilineata. New Lacerta viridis is supposed to live in the eastern part of old fashioned Lacerta viridis distribution area and Lacerta bilineata in western part of it. Extreme northeast Italy and west Slovenia (including Trenta valley) are supposed to be a narrow region, where bot new species live together and/or hybridize. Unfortunately, both are so similar that they cannot be distinguished by morphology. Only molecular analysis can separate them. Hence my pictures may easily show Lacerta bilineata instead of Lacerta viridis. Be that as it may, they would not be different in either case (quite funny to me).However, to some researchers the differences between both species seem only weakly supported by genetic data. Some authors claim both cannot interbreed (hence supporting two species), others claim the opposite (hence supporting a single species). Most of them agree that further studies are needed to resolve this dilemma.According to The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Lacerta viridis is marked by LC (Least concern) (Ref: 2). However, it is protected in Slovenia and on the Red list. The species seems to be extinct in Poland.Protected according to 'Uredba o zavarovanih prosto iveih rastlinskih vrstah'Ur.l. RS, t. 46/2004. Enlisted in the Slovene Red List of rare and endangered species, marked by "V" representing a vulnerable species.Ref.:(1) Fauna Europas, Bestimmungslexikon, George Westermann Velag, Braunschweig (1997), translated to Slovenian, Mladinaka Knjiga, Ljubljana (1981), pp 243(2) www.iucnredlist.org/details/61530/0 (accessed August 24. 2018)(3) www.waza.org/en/zoo/choose-a-species/reptiles/lizards-and... (accessed August 24. 2018)(4) U. Joger, M. Veith, T. Amann, Phylogeographie und genetische differenzierung im Lacerta viridis/bilineata komplex, Mertensiella, 13; 60-68, (2001) www.researchgate.net/publication/291038490_Phylogeographi... (accessed August 23. 2018)