THE NATIONAL RED LIST OF NORTH MACEDONIA

European Ratsnake

Zamenis situla

Macedonian

Леопардов смок

Albanian

Bolla laramane

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Not evaluated Data deficient Least concern NEAR THREATENED Vulnerable Endangered Critically endangered Extinct in the wild Extinct
NE DD LC NT VU EN CR EW EX
Taxonomy
Assessment info
Population
Habitat and Ecology
Threats
Use and Trade
Conservation Actions
Bibliography

Taxonomy

Scientific name

Zamenis situla

Authority

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms

Elaphe situla (Linnaeus, 1758); Elaphe situla Engelmann, Fritzsche, Günther & Obst, 1993

Assessment info

IUCN Red List Category and Criteria

NT

Date assessed

November 2019

Assessors

Sterijovski, B.

Arsovski, D.

Reviewers

Tomović, L.

Contributors

/

Facilitators

Hofman, M.P.G.

Justification

The Leopard Snake displays quite а limited area of occupancy (AOO = 256km2) in North Macedonia. Several threats (habitat loss, modification and conversion, as well as wildfires) were observed across its distribution range, likely promoting the fragmentation of its populations. Nevertheless, this species is quite elusive thus this AOO is likely an underestimation. Its extent of occurrence (EOO) of 10.668km2 implies the Vulnerable category, but national populations may benefit from regional rescue effects from Greece and Bulgaria via the valleys of rivers Vardar and Strumica, respectively, so we propose downlisting it to the Near Threatened category. Globally/in Europe this species has been assessed as Least Concern.

Population

Current population trend

Decreasing

Description

In North Macedonia the population size is not accurately determined. Although generally it is considered common (Böhme et al. 2009), existing threats in North Macedonia, particularly habitat degradation and destruction are likely causing population reductions.

Habitat and Ecology

System

Terrestrial

Habitat and Ecology

Typically, in fairly dry, stony habitats such as dry-stone walls or old ruins; can also be found along warm forest edges. Diurnal but during warmer parts of the year may be nocturnal, often attracted by warm stony surfaces or asphalt roads. Mating occurs between March and May and the female usually lays a clutch of eight eggs in July (Speybroeck et al. 2016).

Use and trade

Use and trade

Leopard snakes are considered particularly charismatic and beautiful, and are thus often spotted as captive-bred by hobbyists and distributed within the hobbyist community. There has been one case in a pet shop in Strumica, claiming they were selling a corn snake.

Threats

Threats

It is mainly threatened by habitat loss due to intensification of agricultural practices and infrastructure development for tourism and urbanization. As is the case with most snake species in North Macedonia, it is often persecuted by humans. On the other hand, the charismatic nature of this species makes it very susceptible to overexploitation by hobbyists. Additionally, as a sometimes crepuscular/nocturnal species it is attracted to warm asphalt roads leading to increased road mortality.

Conservation actions

Conservation actions

It is listed on Annex II of the Bern Convention and on Annex IV of the EU Habitats Directive. It appears on the list of nationally protected wild species.

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 /.

Particip.2017. ‘Strengthening the capacities for implementation of NATURA 2000’ .MoEPP. 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.

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

Böhme, W., Lymberakis, P., Ajtic, R., Tok, V., Ugurtas, I.H., Sevinç, M., Crochet P.-A., Corti, C., Haxhiu, I., Sindaco, R., Avci, A., Crnobrnja-Isailovic, J., Kumlutaş, Y. 2009. Zamenis situla. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . .p /.

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.

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.