THE NATIONAL RED LIST OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Eastern Montpellier Snake

Malpolon insignitus

Macedonian

Длабокочелен смок

Albanian

Biroja

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Not evaluated Data deficient Least concern NEAR THREATENED Vulnerable Endangered Critically endangered Extinct in the wild Extinct
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Taxonomy
Assessment info
Population
Habitat and Ecology
Threats
Use and Trade
Conservation Actions
Bibliography

Taxonomy

Scientific name

Malpolon insignitus

Authority

(Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1827)

Synonyms

Malpolon insignitus ssp. fuscus (Fleichsmann, 1831)

Assessment info

IUCN Red List Category and Criteria

NT, B1ab(i,ii,iii)+2ab(i,ii,iii)

Date assessed

November 2019

Assessors

Sterijovski, B.

Arsovski, D.

Reviewers

Tomović, L.

Contributors

/

Facilitators

Hofman, M.P.G.

Justification

The species has likely experienced a reduction in area of occupancy (AOO = 332km2) and extent of occurrence (EOO = 16.693km2) in the recent past (inference), particularly in the active agricultural fields of Polog and Pelagonija regions where it has not been spotted even as roadkill. Populations of the Eastern Montpellier snake are likely well on their way to becoming severely fragmented due to increased development in road infrastructure and the spread of intense agricultural practices in this northern edge of its global distribution range. It has  therefore been assessed as Near Threatened.  Globally and in Europe the species has only been assessed as Malpolon monspessulanus (now split into an eastern and western species, Carranza et al. 2006) as Least Concern.

Population

Current population trend

Decreasing

Description

Where present, it is often the victim of roadkill, which could imply that it is a common species. Recent field observations suggests the populations are decreasing.

Habitat and Ecology

System

Terrestrial

Habitat and Ecology

Found in scrubland with low cover, open spaces, grassland, meadows and sometimes agricultural land. Mostly diurnal, but during hot summer days it can be crepuscular/nocturnal. Mating takes place in May and June and females lay up to 20 eggs (Martinez-Solano et al. 2009; Speybroeck et al. 2016).

Use and trade

Use and trade

Individuals are sometimes spotted as captive-bred by hobbyists and distributed within the hobbyist community.

Threats

Threats

Habitat degradation and wildfires pose a serious threat to this species and as is the case with most snake species in North Macedonia, it is often persecuted by humans. Additionally, as a sometimes crepuscular/nocturnal species it is attracted to warm asphalt roads leading to increased road mortality.  All threats listed for this species are included in the list of priority threats to biological diversity in the “NATIONAL Strategy for biodiversity of Republic of Macedonia” (Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, 2018).

Conservation actions

Conservation actions

It is listed on Annex III of the Bern Convention. Nationally it does not enjoy any status of protection.

Bibliography

Bibliography

Sillero, N., Campos, J., Bonardi, A., Corti, C., Creemers, R., Crochet, P.-A., Crnobrnja-Isailović, J., Denoël, M., Ficetola, G.F., Gonçalves, J., Kuzmin, S., Lymberakis, P., de Pous, P., Rodríguez, A., Sindaco, R., Speybroeck, J., Toxopeus, B., Vieites, D.R., Vences, M. 2014. Updated distribution and biogeography of amphibians and reptiles of Europe. .p 1-31

Micevski, B. 2015. Report of Biodiversity conditions of amphibians and reptiles of Ograzden Mt. 2014-2015 . Skopje . .p/.

Uzunova, D., Kitanova, D., Spirovska, M., Hristovski, S. 2015. Integral Report for the Project implementation. Final report of the project “Ecological data gap analysis and ecological sensitivity map development for the Bregalnica river watershed”. Skopje . .p/.

Sterijovski, B. 2018. Final report for monitoring. Maneko. Skopje. .p/.

Sterijovski, B., Tomović, L., Ajtić, R 2014. Contribution to the knowledge of the Reptile fauna and diversity in FYR of Macedonia. .p 83–92

Uhrin et al. 2016. Distribution updates to amphibian and reptile fauna for the Republic of Macedonia. .p 201-220.

Ministry of environment and physical planning. 2018. National biodiversity strategy and action plan : for the period 2018 – 2023 Ministry of environment and physical planning.. Skopje. .p 183.

Speybroeck, J. Beuckema, W., Bok, B., Voort, J.V.D. 2016. Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc London . .p/.

Carranza, S., Arnold, E.N., Pleguezuelos, J.M. 2006. Phylogeny, biogeography, and evolution of two Mediterranean snakes, Malpolon monspessulanus and Hemorrhois hippocrepis (Squamata, Colubridae), using mtDNA sequences. .p 532–546.

Melovski, Lj., Markoski, B., Hristovski, S., Jovanovska, D., Anastasovski, V., Klincharov, S., Velevski, M., Velkovski, N., Trendafilov, A., Matevski, V., Kostadinovski, M., Karadelev, M., Levkov, Z., Kolchakovski, D. 2013. Regional division of the Republic of Macedonia for the needs of biological databases. .p 81-111.

Martínez-Solano, I., Corti, C., Mellado, V.-P., Sá-Sousa, P., Pleguezuelos, J.M., Cheylan, M. 2009. Malpolon monspessulanus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. .p/.

Gasc, J-P., Cabela, A., Crnobrnja-Isailović, J., Dolmen, D., Grossenbacher, K., Haffner, P., Lescure, J., Martens, H., Martinez-Rica, J.P., Maurin, H., Oliveira, M.L., Sofianidou, T.S., Veith, M., Zuiderwijk, A. 1997. Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles in Europe Societas Europaea Herpetologica & Museum Nationall d’ Histoire Naturelle (IEGB/SPN). Paris. .p 496.