RAUK - Archived Forum - Posts by robpilley:

Hi there

I dont think its surprising that there are so many alien herps knocking around in Essex. Essex is a bit like Miami- it was once (and still is to a degree) the reptile importing centre of the UK.

Having grown up there it always amazed me how many importers and animal dealers (including fish, birds etc) there were in eastern London and out into Essex, especially along the arterial road to Southend.

Its not surprising with so much availability of species that there are so many escapees/ releases in the county over the years.

I was once told of a whole shipment of Phelsumas that broke when it arrived at a shop, resulting in day geckos wandering around Benfleet for quite a few months in the early 1990's.

Rob

Hi Kevin

I was up at the muralis location today in Bristol, despite it being still and sunny (17 degrees C) I only saw a single adult male. I expected to see far more! I visit the gardens quite a bit and know the lizards have been there for a long time. The male I saw was in a totally new location within the gardens today so Im happy to assume that they are found throughout the gardens and walls.

The animals I have seen are very much like those of northern Italy/ Tuscany- green backed males and greenish yellow females.

Let me know if you see any more. The male today was fairly dull so i assume he wasnt in breeding dress yet.

Rob

Hi there Rob

I saw a juvenile female last summer, looked like an animal born in 2007 judging by her size. I assume they must lay their eggs in the flowerbeds/ rockery or at the base of that big wall within the gardens. There is also a spot in the southern part of the garden where there is a raised mound with a bench on it, behind it is an old broken down wall which is south facing. this is where I saw the young female. On a sunny day this wall and surrounding flowerbed/ margin does get very warm as its south facing and I imagine it is an ideal egg cooking spot.

I live just outside of Bristol and have kept a colony of wall lizards in my own garden enclsoures for a couple of years (Roman nigriventris, not related to the Tuscan animals you can see in Bristol) and last year, even with our terrible summer, I still saw babies born outside.

Rob

Hiya,

I agree the animals at the Bristol colony are similar to a lot of the green backed forms in the UK .ie shoreham, ventnor etc. These are Tuscan derived animals from north west Italy, as you head further south the animals get darker and the green less extensive (more spotting as opposed to being green backed). These latter animals are what were formerly described as true nigriventris, as opposed to the northern tuscan animals which were called bruggemanni.

To my mind none of the english colonies are derived from the southern nigriventris and more likely to be a mix of the northern tuscan green backed animals and ssp. maculiventris mixes (many of which were imported in great numbers during the late 70's).

Rob

Hi all

ive just returned from a quick work trip to Istanbul. I saw plenty of Podarcis siculus (hieroglyphicus) and was also told of a giant green lizard that occurs there. Does anyone know which species this is (presumeably a L trilineata subspecies of some kind).

Cheers

Rob

Thanks for the reply David

I was told by a local biologist/ ornithologist that he had seen lizards to nearly 50cm total length, and this to me sounds like a trilineata ssp. I asked him to collect some for me for photographing but as yet am still waiting. He also said he has pics of them already, I await his email copies of these. Incientally we were based on the european side.

Rob