Author(s): Marián, M.
Title: Adatok a keresztes vipera (Vipera b. berus L.) somogyi elterjedési viszonyaihoz)
Title: Some data concerning the distribution in Com. Somogy of the Common Viper (Vipera b. berus L.)
Year: 1956
Publication date: 1956-12-31
Volume: 48 (series nova 7)
Pages: 463-468.
Abstract: The Common Viper had been known up to now from one locality in Com. Somogy only. Author shows it from seven further collecting localities. He estabilished the fact that all these are situated in an area situated in an area of about 330 square kilometers. Comparing the snakes collected in the hilly regions of Somogy is longer with those originating from the Carpathians and Transylvania and described by Méhely, some differences can be observed. The head of the male V. berus from Somogy is longer, that of female shorter, the tails being longer in both sexes than in those from the mountains. The appearance of the double row of subocular scales, reported as rare in in literature, is rather frequent in the specimens examined. The generally known sexual dimorphism concerning color cannot be estabilished. The males have the same brown color as the females. The var. prester occurs in a rather high percentage. Seventeen of the 31 specimens belong to the var. prester, whilst six were young snakes of prester parents which would have blackened later. One may also meet with wholly melanotic specimens, the color of which is coal black, with the exception of the few white spots of the supralabials and the gular and abdominal shields, as also the yellow color of the tail-end. No such melanotic specimens had as yet been found in the plain or hilly areas of Hungary. The collecting localities are situazed at height of 130-160 meters above sea level, in the vicinity of marshy areas among the sand hills of Inner Somogy, where the annual mean temperature is 10.2°C, and the annual mean amount of precipitation 815 mm. the characteristical habitats of the common viper in Somogy are: the common brake (Pteridium aquilinium) facies under deciduous trees, the drier parts of alder and willow groves, and the dried up sedgy tussocks.Subject: zoology
Journal: Annales historico-naturales Musei nationalis hungariciJournal abbreviation: Annls hist.-nat. Mus. nat. hung.ISSN: 0521-4726Publisher: Művelt Nép Tudományos és Ismeretterjesztő Kiadó, BudapestEditor(s): Boros, I.