Dead snakes and their stories: morphological anomalies, asymmetries and scars of road killed Dolichophis caspius (Serpentes, Colubridae) from Romania

By

Ile, George-Adelin
Maier, Alexandra-Roxana-Maria
Cadar, Achim-Mircea
Covaciu-Marcov, Severus-Daniel
Ferenți, Sára

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2020-5-14

Original Publication

Subterranean Biology

Volume

33

Pages

77--85

Subjects

asymmetry traits , Conservation , Environment , Morphology , Road mortality

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.33.e51338

 

Abstract

We analysed several morphological characters of 84 road-killedD. caspiusindividuals from different areas of southern Romania. Most presented asymmetries in the total number of temporal scales, the temporal row and the periocular and labial scales. Almost a quarter of snakes had scars, located especially on the head and tail; many individuals had multiple injuries. The lowest rate of individuals with scars was found in the area with the least anthropogenic impact (Danube Gorge). This finding suggests that, in other areas in Romania, the species is threatened and lives in less optimal conditions. The number of individuals with asymmetries and scars differed according to the populated region, sex or size class. Most of the individuals were killed in August, due to the large number of road-killed juveniles.