Microsoft Word - BN-SC-0201-11 Crnobrnja-Isailovic et al BIOLOGICA NYSSANA 2 (1) September 2011: 81-84 Crnobrnja-Isailović, J. et al. Occurrence of European Adder… 81 Short communication ! Occurrence of European Adder (Vipera berus, Viperidae, Ophidia) on Vlasina Plateau (Southeastern Serbia) Jelka Crnobrnja-Isailović*1, 2, Jelena Dinov3, & Vladimir Ranđelović1 1Faculty of sciences and mathematics, University of Niš, Višegradska 33, 18000 Niš, Serbia; 2Institute for biological research „Siniša Stanković“, Despota Stefana 142, 11000 Beograd, Serbia; 3Biological Society “Dr Sava Petrović “, 18000 Niš, Serbia * E-mail: jelka@pmf.ni.ac.rs Abstract: Crnobrnja-Isailović, J., Dinov, J., Ranđelović, V.: Occurrence of European Adder (Vipera berus, Viperidae, Ophidia) on Vlasina Plateau (Southeastern Serbia). Biologica Nyssana, 2 (1), September 2011: 81-84. The European adder (Vipera berus) is among the most widespread reptile species in Europe, but it’s distribution at the Balkan Peninsula seems to be scarce and fragmented. As going toward the south, specimens were more frequently found in the vegetational zone of boreal forests and high alpine pastures. In the South-eastern Serbia, recent occurrence of European adder was confirmed on the Vlasina Plateau, in June 2010, in a mosaic-complex of peat bogs and marsh vegetation. Recent engagement of ecology students from University of Niš in mapping actual local distribution of adder will help locating key spots for its conservation in this area. Key words: distribution, European adder, Vipera berus, Vlasina plateau ! The European adder (Vipera berus (L. 1758) - Viperidae) is among the most widespread reptile species in Europe (G a s c et al., 1997). Its distribution goes from the contact zone between Pyrenean Peninsula and Central Europe on the West; southern border follows the northern parts of the Apennine Peninsula and highlands of Western, Central, Southern and Eastern Balkans. Eastern part of species area spreads deeply into the Central and Western Asia, over large part of former Soviet republics, with southern border running through Moldavia, Central Ukraine and Southern Russia (N i l s o n & A n d r e n , 1997). The European adder is concerned as boreal relict at the Balkan Peninsula. It was supposed to be widely distributed in lowlands during Pleistocene glaciations, but only isolated refugial mountain populations persisted during interglacial periods, as it is in recent time (U r s e n b a c h e r et al., 2006). Phylogeographic structure of this species undoubtedly points that the Balkan population group was important source of the species genetic diversity, as one of three major mitochondrial lineages probably originated in the Balkans (U r s e n b a c h e r et al., 2006). Despite being evaluated globally as Least Concerned (LC) on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (C r n o b r n j a - I s a i l o v i ć et al., 2008), European adder has been assigned as „scarce“ in Serbia as far back as in R a d o v a n o v i ć (1951) book on amphibians and reptiles of Yugoslavia. National conservation status of European adder in Serbia is defined in Anonymous (2010) as „strictly protected species“, what means prohibition of any collecting, killing or harming of specimens. On that way, detailed 2 (1) • September 2011: 81-84 BIOLOGICA NYSSANA 2 (1) September 2011: 81-84 Crnobrnja-Isailović, J. et al. Occurrence of European Adder… 82 knowledge on distribution of this species in Republic of Serbia is necessary for appropriate design of further national conservation plans. Historical records confirmed presence of European adder in Vojvodina, but restricted on its hilly parts covered with mainly oak forests - Querco- Carpinetum sensu lato (Fruška Gora Mountain and the Vršačke planine Mountain – D ž u k i ć & P u r g e r , 1988) and relatively intact marshy areas (Obedska bara – D ž u k i ć & P u r g e r , 1988). In the Balkan part of Serbia, published historical records of adder’s presence exist for the Avala Mountain (D ž u k i ć , 1972), but there is no confirmation about species recent occurrence there. As far as we know, European adder inhabits the Kopaonik Mountain (C r n o b r n j a & R o h a l j , 1988), the Stara planina Mountain (I v a n č e v i ć et al., 2007) and the Zlatibor Mountain (C r n o b r n j a - I s a i l o v i ć , unpublished data), but many new records are still unpublished or deposited in manuscripts, as well. It is reliable to consider potential presence of this species on all the mountains in Serbia where habitats typical for boreal woods and alpine pastures exist. Specimens were more frequently found in the vegetational zone of boreal forests and high alpine pastures as going more toward the southern parts of the state. In Southern Serbia, communities potentially suitable for the European adder are distributed mostly on the altitudes higher than 1000 m. Intensive degradation of natural potential vegetation communities stretch the area of potential occurrence of this species even more. On the Vlasina plateau potential vegetation is represented by beech forests, but they were quite degraded. However, phytogeographical analysis shows that boreal has made a strong impact on the genesis of the flora and vegetation, which was particularly reflected in the significant presence of peat bogs (R a n đ e l o v i ć & Z l a t k o v i ć, 2010). Presence of European adder on the Vlasina plateau was recently confirmed within UTM square FN03 in the second decade of June 2010 (N42o43’ 9.9“, E22o19’ 59.1“, 1227 m altitude – Figure 1.). One juvenile specimen was found dead on the magistral road, obviously killed by car while crossing the road. According to our knowledge, it was one year old juvenile female (number of supracaudal scales - SC – less than 30), with 187 mm of total lenght (L) and 169 mm of snout-to-vent lenght (SVL). Natural habitat of European adder at the site near village Vlasina Rid is a mosaic-complex of peat bogs and marsh vegetation consisted of associations Equiseto- Scirpetum silvaticae, Deschampsietum caesoitosum, Caricetum gracilis and Caricetum goodenowii (R a n đ e l o v i ć & Z l a t k o v i ć , 2010). Sintopic amphibian species recorded there were Triturus vulgaris, T. alpestris, Bufo bufo and Rana synklepton esculenta, while reptile species detected in the area were Lacerta agilis and Anguis fragilis. Published records of occurrence of the European adder on the Vlasina Plateau, up to our knowledge, are restricted on information occurring in publication of Institute for Nature Conservation of Republic of Serbia (A n o n y m o u s 2006). There was no detailed description of species distribution or about its preferable habitat types within the area of the Vlasina Plateau, that points to the lack of details important for future conservation strategies in situ. Department of biology and ecology of Faculty of sciences and mathematics in Niš is already conducting conservation studies and monitoring in Figure 1. New record of Vipera berus on the Vlasina plateau BIOLOGICA NYSSANA 2 (1) September 2011: 81-84 Crnobrnja-Isailović, J. et al. Occurrence of European Adder… 83 the area, so recent engagement of ecology students there, under the scope of realisation of their master theses, will help facilitation of mapping actual local distribution of the European adder. The main objectives of their research will be evaluation of importance and suitability of different habitats on the Vlasina Plateau for the maintenance of viable populations of the European adder, as well as recording of most plausible threats that occur in the area. Acknowledgements. We are grateful to our colleagues Imre Krizmanić and Danko Jović who kindly provided us information about literature data on herpetofauna of the Vlasina plateau. This work was supported by Faculty of sciences and mathematics of University of Niš, Touristic Enterprise „Vlasina“ and grant 173025 Ministry of Education and Science of Republic of Serbia. References Anonymous, 2006: Predeo izuzetnih odlika Vlasina, studija zaštite, Beograd. Anonymous, 2010: Pravilnik o proglašenju i zaštiti strogo zaštićenih i zaštićenih biljnih vrsta biljaka, životinja i gljiva. Prilog 2. Strogo zaštićene vrste. Službeni glasnik RS br 5/10. Crnobrnja, J., Rohalj, A., 1988: Prilog poznavanju herpetofaune Kopaonika. Zbornik radova BID "Josif Pančić", Beograd: 59 - 76. Crnobrnja Isailović, Jelka, Milan Vogrin, Claudia Corti, Valentin Pérez Mellado, Paulo Sa-Sousa, Marc Cheylan, Juan M. Pleguezuelos, Ljiljana Tomović, Bogoljub Sterijovski, Urlich Joger, A. Westerström, Bartosz Borczyk, Benedikt Schmidt, Andreas Meyer, Roberto Sindaco, Dušan Jelić 2008. Vipera berus. In: IUCN 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.4. . Džukić, G., 1972: Herpetological collection of the Belgrade museum of natural history. Bull. Mus.Hist.Natur. Ser. B, Liv. 27: 165-180. Džukić, G., Purger, J., 1988: Significance of Adder - Vipera berus (Linnaeus, 1758) presence in Vojvodina. Arh.Biol.Sci, 40 (1-4): 13P-14P. 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., eds., 1997: Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles in Europe. Societas Europaea Herpetologica & Museum Nationall d' Histoire Naturelle (IEGB/SPN), Paris, 496 p. Ivančević, B., Savić, S., Sabovljević, M., Niketić, M., Tomović, G., Zlatković, B., Ranđelović, V., Lakušić, D., Ćetković, A., Pavićević, D., Krpo- Ćetković, J., Crnobrnja-Isailović, J., Puzović, S., Paunović, M., 2007: pregled vrsta Stare planine u Srbiji. In: D. Lakušić, A. Ćetković, eds.: Biodiverzitet Stare planine u Srbiji - Rezultati projekta: "P r e k o g r a n i č n a saradnja kroz upravljanje zajedničkim prirodnim resursima - Promocija umrežavanja i saradnje između zemalja Jugoistočne Evrope". - Regionalni centar za životnu sredinu za Centralnu i Istočnu Evropu, kancelarija u Srbiji, Beograd: 159-219. Nilson, G., Andren, C. 1997: Vipera berus. In: 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., eds.: Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles in Europe. Societas Europaea Herpetologica & Museum Nationall d' Histoire Naturelle (IEGB/SPN), Paris: 388 - 389. Radovanović, M., 1951: Vodozemci i gmizavci naše zemlje. Narodna knjiga, Beograd. Ranđelović, V. N., Zlatković, B. K. 2010. Flora i vegetacija Vlasinske visoravni. Prirodno- matematički fakultet, Niš. Ursenbacher, S., Carlsson, M., Helfer, V., Tegelström, H., Fumagalli, L., 2006: Phylogeography and pleistocene refugia of the adder (Vipera berus) as inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequence data. Molecular Ecology, 15: 3425-3437.