Albinism in Two Snake Species Recorded from Slovakia

Simona Gezova, Peter Drugac, Adrian Purkart, Daniel Jablonski

Abstract


Vipera berus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Zamenis longissimus (Laurenti, 1768) are two of five snake species occur naturally in Slovakia. They are common snakes in the country but it is rare to see albinotic individuals in these species, in general. There has been a lot of observations but no evidence of albinotic V. berus in Slovakia and adjacent countries do exist. Most records of albinotic V. berus come from Nordic countries whereas albinotic Z. longissimus has been observed in Slovakia and in surrounding countries. Mostly albinotic juveniles are found in the wild; in terms of Z. longissimus mainly adults were recorded with good health condition. Herein, we describe three albinotic juveniles of these species and we discuss their rarity in nature.

Keywords


Colubridae; Viperidae; Zamenis longissimus; Vipera berus; color aberration; first record; Central Europe

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.30906/1026-2296-2018-25-1-79-82

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