With an astonishing number of endemisms, Socotra is one of the last biodiversity hot-spot of the planet, a tourist heaven for true nature-lovers and a unique meta for researchers. Since 1880 many zoologists have explored Socotra island, everytime coming back with new discoveries. Even today, the amazing biodiversity of the island doesn’t miss the chance to surprise. This year an Italian herpetological expedition described a new and still unnoticed species of gecko, called Hemidactylus inintellectus. Altough this little nocturnal gecko seems to be quite common on the island, herpetologist have always mistaken it with other similar species –that’s why the Italian team called him “misunderstood”-. This new discover rise up the number of reptile species of Socotra to 26, with 23 species endemic of the island. And this is not a mere matter of numbers: when a species has no name it doesn’t exist, and it can’t be protected. That’s why biodiversity assessments are such an essential tool for conservation policies.

Reference: Acta Herpetologica 4(1): 83-98, 2009

1 - Hemidactylus inintellectus

2 - Hemidactylus inintellectus

3 - Hemidactylus inintellectus

4 - Hemidactylus granti

5 - Hemidactylus granti

Thanks to Roberto Sindaco, Cristina Grieco, Elisa Riservato, Ugo Ziliani, Edoardo Razzetti, Mauro Fasola, Caterina Carugati, Francesca Pella, Eleonora Boncompagni, Marco Pavia, Irene Pellegrino, Daniele Pellitteri, Badr Awadh Al-Aseily, Ahmed Adeeb Abdullah, Michele Menegon.

The island of Socotra, by far the largest of the homonymous archipelago off the Somali coast, is a resplendent jewel emerging in the Indian Ocean. Tourism has only recently landed on Socotra and altough the interest on this mysterious place is growing up, most of its secrets remains unveiled. Since centuries, travellers have described this island as a paradise on Earth, but today nothing more than few tales and pictures about the magnificent landscapes and bizarre plants have come back home. While bottle trees and other bizarre plants, such as the Dracaena cinnabari (the so-called “dragon blood tree”), are renowned anywhere in the world, other legitimate dragons go unnoticed: the Reptiles. Socotra is the home of some unique species, with 22 endemisms out of 25 species. Geckos are the most represented reptiles in the island: 6 species belong to the Semaphore geckos (genus Pristurus), 6 to the genus Hemidactylus and 2 to the endemic genus Haemodracon; but there are also other lizards, snakes and a chameleon. They are everywhere, from the high mountains of Haggeher to the desert lowland of the south coast, basking on tree branches as on nearly every rock around – and Socotra is a rocky place indeed! -. And even underground: there are, in fact, five worm-like reptiles, suited to a completely ctonian life. Although the herpetofauna of the island is considered to be relatively well known by scientists, new species have been described up to a few years ago and still most aspects of their life-history remain unknown. Thus, it’s not surprising that there are few images of these reptiles. Except maybe the Egyptian Vulture and some other birds, most of the animals of Socotra still wait to be celebrated. In 2007 and 2008 an Italian team of expert herpetologists started to collect ecological data on the reptile species (amphibians are completely absent from the Socotra archipelago), in the ongoing framework of the “Socotra Conservation and Development Project” (SCDP), with the aim of improving the sustainable development and conservation of the biodiversity of the island. I had the great opportunity to join the team and to dedicate my attention to the most ignored beauties of the island. The pictures you’ll see here are a brief selection of the many I collected during these field-trips (for an in-depth view of my pictures of Socotra click HERE).

1 - Landscapes - Mountains

1 - Landscapes - Sea

1 - Landscapes - Wadis

2 - Flora - Adenium obesum

2 - Flora - Dracaena cinnabari

2 - Flora - Edithcolea grandis

3 - Geckos - Haemodracon riebeckii

3 - Geckos - Haemodracon trachyrhinus

3 - Geckos - Hemidactylus granti

3 - Geckos - Pristurus abdelkuri

3 - Geckos - Pristurus guichardi

4 - Other reptiles - Chamaeleon monachus

4 - Other reptiles - Hakaria simonyi

4 - Other reptiles - Hemerophis socotrae

4 - Other reptiles - Leptotyphlops sp.

4 - Other reptiles - Typhlops socotranus

5 - Other animals - Hottentotta socotrensis

5 - Other animals - Monocentropus balfouri

5 - Other animals - Nephila sumptuosa

5 - Other animals - Phrynicus heurtaultae

5 - Other animals - Socotrapotamon socotrensis

6 - Italian team - Mapping

6 - Italian team - Measuring geckos

6 - Italian team - Which species?

Thanks to Elisa Riservato, Roberto Sindaco, Cristina Grieco, Marco Pavia, Irene Pellegrino.