THE NATIONAL RED LIST OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Smooth Snake

Coronella austriaca

Macedonian

Планински смок

Albanian

Gjarpri I zi

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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

Coronella austriaca

Authority

Laurenti, 1768

Synonyms

Coluber laevis Hermann, 1804

Assessment info

IUCN Red List Category and Criteria

LC – Least Concern,

Date assessed

November 2019

Assessors

Sterijovski, B.

Arsovski, D.

Reviewers

Ajtic, R.

Contributors

/

Facilitators

Hofman, M.P.G.

Justification

Although the species exhibits a limited area of occupancy (AOO; 964km2) in North Macedonia and the quality of its habitats are decreasing, it is still very widely distributed across the country, and is likely the most adaptable Macedonian snake species, thus its populations are likely not fragmented. Additionally, it is present in all neighboring countries, which can facilitate rescue effects. Macedonian Smooth snakes are assessed as Least Concern. Globally and in Europe, this species has been assessed as Least Concern.

Population

Current population trend

Stable

Description

In North Macedonia the population size is not accurately determined. Common in the southern parts of its global distribution (e.g. Macedonia; Crnobrnja-Isailović et al. 2017). Seemingly more common above 600 m a.s.l. in open forests areas. Several monitoring studies (using line transects, Buckland et al. 1993) conducted during the past four years in the frame of EIA activities in the Strumica, Radovis, Shtip and Dojran regions suggest that this species’ population trends across North Macedonia are stable.

Habitat and Ecology

System

Terrestrial

Habitat and Ecology

It is found in moorland, rocky coastlines, open woodland (deciduous, coniferous and mixed) and scrubland, hedgerows, woodland edges, heathland, rocky areas, subalpine and open areas with sparse vegetation. Most common in upland or montane areas and generally in hilly terrain (Speybroeck et al. 2016; Crnobrnja-Isailović et al. 2017). Between two and 19 fully formed young (3.9 on average) are born at the end of August – October (Crnobrnja-Isailović et al. 2017).

Use and trade

Use and trade

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

Threats

Threats

It is often confused for the adder and persecuted by humans as a venomous species. Higher altitude populations can be affected by warming temperatures. Wildfires and road mortality also affect this species.

Conservation actions

Conservation actions

It is listed on Annex II of the Bern Convention and on Annex IV of the EU Habitats Directive.

On National level it is on the list of 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 /.

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

Pharmachem. 2018. The Study on Biological Diversity in the Area of Sasa Mine – Makedonska Kamenica. Pharmachem Skopje. 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.

Buckland, S. T., Anderson, D. R., Burnham, K. P. and Laake, J. L. 1993. Distance Sampling: Estimating Abundance of Biological Populations Chapman and Hall. London. .p /.

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

Crnobrnja-Isailović, J., Ajtic, R., Vogrin, M., Corti, C., Pérez Mellado, V., Sá-Sousa, P., Cheylan, M., Pleguezuelos, J., Westerström, A., De Haan, C.C., Tok, V., Borczyk, B., Sterijovski, B., Schmidt, B., Borkin, L., Milto, K., Golynsky, E., Rustamov, A, Nuridjanov, D., Munkhbayar, K., Shestopal, A. & Litvinchuk, S. 2017. Coronella austriaca. 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.