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The natural history of the island of Alonissos in the Northern Sporades is briefly described. The existing herpetological literature is presented and the new finds listed, namely Pelophylax ridibundus, Testudo marginata, Telescopus fallax and Zamenis situla. A melanistic snake, presumably Hierophis caspius, was also found. A total of 13 species of amphibians and reptiles has been reported for Alonissos.

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The Greek lizard fauna consists of 26 species from which 5 are monotypic and the other ones are represented by a total of 86 subspecies. Five species and 61 subspecies are endemic of Greece. A checklist including the geographical distribution of each taxon in the Greek region is presented.

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The Sporades are one of the most biologically important archipelagos in the Aegean Sea (Greece) and have received priority conservation over the last 50 years. However, despite numerous early efforts, its herpetofauna is only partially described, resulting in many distributional gaps that have prevented adequate understanding and management of the resident species communities. We review one century of bibliography from the Northern Sporades and combine this information with a review of museum specimens and insights from numerous extensive field surveys over the last near-decade to provide for the first time a comprehensive picture of the reptiles and amphibians of the archipelago. We report here on 26 new island records and find that the herptile communities of the region are largely derived from the herpetofauna of the nearby Thessaly mainland, with only a few introduced taxa. There is also a small but significant set of endemic taxa in the archipelago. Island species richness declines with decreasing island size and increasing duration of island isolation. Herptile communities on smaller islands are progressively nested subsets of the communities on larger islands. The presence of reptile species depends sensitively on the condition and management of native ecosystems. While non-aquatic species maintain largely healthy populations, most populations are under pressure from the combined effects of rampant tourist development, the destruction and degradation of rare wetland habitats, and the abandonment of traditional agricultural landscapes. We provide recommendations regarding sustainable management of the local reptile and amphibian populations.

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This note presents photographic material and a detailed description of a concolor morph in Podarcis erhardii (Bedriaga, 1882) and the first published record of this morph on Alonissos. Data on the observation and a short review of the literature are also given.

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Der Artikel beschreibt die griechische Insel Alonnisos als liebenswertes idyllischen Urlaubsziel für Naturfreunde abseits der großen Touristenströme. Eine Bildserie zeigt die ganze Variationsbreite der Färbung und Zeichnung von Podarcis erhardii ruthveni, und als „Bonbon“ wird noch ein Dolichophis caspius präsentiert. 80 % der beobachteten Eidechsen wiesen deutlich sichtbaren Milbenbefall auf. GUNTRAM DEICHSEL nimmt im Anhang Stellung.

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This article describes Alonnisos as a lovely and idyllic holiday destination for people interested in nature away from the crowd. An extensive series of pictures shows the whole range of variations in the colouring and marking of Podarcis erhardii ruthveni, and as a highlight a Dolichophis caspius is presented. 80% of the lizards observed displayed clearly visible mite infestation. GUNTRAM DEICHSEL comments on this observation in the appendix.

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This article describes Alonnisos as a lovely and idyllic holiday destination for people interested in nature away from the crowd. An extensive series of pictures shows the whole range of variations in the colouring and marking of Podarcis erhardii ruthveni, and as a highlight a Dolichophis caspius is presented. 80% of the lizards observed displayed clearly visible mite infestation. Guntram Deichsel comments on this observation in the appendix.

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Wall lizards of the genus Podarcis (Sauria, Lacertidae) comprise 17 currently recognized species in southern Europe, where they are the predominant nonavian reptile group. The taxonomy of Podarcis is complex and unstable. Based on DNA sequence data, the species of Podarcis falls into four main groups that have substantial geographic coherence (Western island group, southwestern group, Italian group, and Balkan Peninsula group). The Balkan Peninsula species are divided into two subgroups: the subgroup of P.taurica (P. taurica, P. milensis, P. gaigeae, and perhaps P. melisellensis), and the subgroup of P. erhardii (P. erhardii and P. pelo- ponnesiaca). In the present study, the question of phylogenetic relationships among the species of Podarcis encountered in the Balkan Peninsula was addressed using partial mtDNA sequences for cytochrome b (cyt b) and 16S rRNA (16S). The data support the mono- phyly of Podarcis and suggest that there are three phylogenetic clades: the clade A (P. taurica, P. gaigeae, P. milensis, and P. melisell- ensis); the clade B (P. erhardii and P. peloponnesiaca), and the clade C (P. muralis and P. sicula). By examining intraspeciWc relationships it was found that extant populations of P. erhardii are paraphyletic. Furthermore, subspecies previously deWned on the basis of morphological characteristics do not correspond to diVerent molecular phylogenetic clades, suggesting that their status should be reconsidered. The distinct geographic distribution of the major clades of the phylogenetic tree and its topology suggest a spatial and temporal sequence of phylogenetic separations that coincide with some major paleogeographic separations during the geological history of the Aegean Sea. The results stress the need for a reconsideration of the evolutionary history of Balkan Podarcis species and help overcome diYculties that classical taxonomy has encountered at both the species and subspecies level.

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The Aegean wall lizard Podarcis erhardii, is widely distributed across the islands of the Aegean Sea and has emerged as an important model for studying the evolution of life histories under a diversity of ecological and isolation conditions. While we have a relatively good understanding of the ecology and life history of the species, the parasite communities of the taxon remain almost completely unknown. Quantifying the composition of these communities in P. erhardii is not only important for autoecological reasons, but also because inter-island comparisons of the parasite communities of this host can shed light on the factors that structure parasite diversity in general. Here we investigate the gastrointestinal parasite communities of P.erhardii ruthveni populations occurring on 17 islands of the Sporades group in the NW Aegean Sea. We dissected the GI tracts of 118 lizards and all helminths encountered were identified and recorded. In all, 8 species of helminthes were found, 1 Trematode (Paradistomum mutabile), 1 Cestode (Oochoristica sp.) and 6 Nematodes (Parapharyngodon micipsae, Parapharyngodon bulbosus, Parapharyngodon echinatus, Spauligodon sp., Abbreviata sp., and Skrjabinelazia sp.). The prevalence, mean intensity, and mean abundance of infection were respectively 61%; 5.74 (± 11.43; range 1-90); and 3.5 (± 9.3; range 0-90). The Brillouin’s index of diversity was 0.048 (± 0.13; range 0-0.6). These values were lower than those obtained for P. erhardii from Cyclad Islands, and suggest that the investigated populations (i) harbour only impoverished helminth communities relative to other mainland and insular lacertid populations; (ii) persist on the non-herbivorous diet. These features can probably be best attributed to the insular conditions related to the trophic availability and the long periods of isolation of these island lizard populations.