small snake from central spain

[atma_weapon]

I have found this small snake (30 cm more or less), do you have idea of what species is it?

thanks.

[FWK]

Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca), harmless. Great shots, thanks for sharing.

[Roman]

Smooth Snake (Coronella austriaca), harmless. Great shots, thanks for sharing.

Close, but from the location I suppose it is more likely the Southern smooth snake (Coronella girondica).


Roman

[FWK]

This is obviously more your territory but I felt it more closely matched austriaca. The maps I have show them well into central Spain. The facial markings are spot on for austriaca and the dorsal pattern seems cleaner than typical for girondica, their pattern seems to break down a bit and sometimes even connect to form bars instead of the two well defined rows of spots this animal has. But all I have are photos and descriptions, I've never seen one of these in person.

[Roman]

The distribution of Coronella austriaca in Spain seems to be a little questionable, at least how far it reaches into Spain (not the distribution to Spain in general). The distribution along the northern coast down to northern Portugal seems to be confirmed, but how far it reaches into central Spain??

That was the main reason why I said it was more likely girondica, I didn’t rule austriaca out completely… ;)


However, from the description in (the German) Wikipedia, the dark band from the corner of the mouth to the eye should continue to the tip of the nose in austriaca. This broad band runs from eye to the corner of the mouth in girondica, the nose is only connected to the eye with a black line. In picture 3 (head from above) it seems to me that the “band” from nose to eye is much narrower and a little lighter as the band from eye to mouth. In austriaca this band should be the same from nose to mouth. So from what I can see here I still think it is more likely a Coronella girondica, but without better (= more detailed) pictures of the head it might also be Coronella austriaca.


Roman