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Vipera ursinii
macrops
from Mount Dinara,
Croatia. Photo
credit: Zwentibold
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The Meadow Viper’s
(Vipera ursinii) wide distribution is
heavily fragmented. The small viper is found in Italy, France, Hungary, Romania
and the Balkan Peninsula. And, it is thought to be extirpated from Bulgaria,
the Republic of Moldova and Austria; making it the most endangered viper in
Europe. Its ecology has been studied in several locations but, a population in Romania’s
Danube Delta has been neglected. Alexandru Strugariu and colleagues have now
examined the Danube Delta population and estimate it contains 321 individuals in
a 62 hectare area. Juveniles were present in their sample, and gravid females
composed half the specimens captured. They found microhabitats and activity
patterns varied with age and sex of the individuals and suggest these are
linked to changes in feeding and reproductive activity. Gravid female viper were
active in the early morning, in low areas and in microhabitats that were open with
salt-tolerant vegetation; while non-gravid females were more active during
later hours and only in bush grass habitats that were dense.
The
Romanian Danube Delta population of the Meadow viper coincides with the Danube
Delta Biosphere Reserve so it is at least in part protected. The population is
recognized as V. u. moldavica, a
subspecies known from Romania,
Bulgaria, and Moldova.
Citation
Strugariu, A., S. R. Zamfirescu, I. Gherghel, T.
C. Sahlean, V. Moraru & O. Zamfirescu. 2011. A preliminary study on population
characteristics and ecology of the critically endangered meadow viper Vipera ursinii in the Romanian Danube
Delta. Biologia
66:175-180.Labels: Danube Delta, Romania, Vipera ursinii