The Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, in the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, was instituted in 1918, being the first national park in Spain and one of the older of all Europe. Today, this protected area is included in the Pyrénées – Mont Perdu World Heritage Site togheter with the Pyrénées Occidentales National Park on the French side. Since 1997 it also belongs to the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Ordesa-Viñamala. The scenario of the National Park is dominated by some of the most typical glacial formations, like the cirques, and by the canyons made by the never-ending flowing of the streams on the limestone. Here, hikers and naturalists have the great opportunity to enjoy a spectacular view of raging waterfalls and vertiginous cliffs, crossing black pine and beech woodlands up to the high-altitude pastures. Within the park borders visitors can also enjoy to see some rare and fascinating mountain species. Besides of golden eagles (Aquila crysaetos), bearded vultures (Gypaetus barbatus) and pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica), which are a common view, there are some small animals usually going unnoticed by visitors, but even much more unique: in fact, Pyrenees are home of some endemic amphibians and reptiles as the pyrenean frog (Rana pyrenaica), the pyrenean brook salamander (Calotriton asper) and the pyrenean rock lizard (Iberolacerta bonnali), which are the authentic treasures of these breathtaking cliffs.

Black pines and cliffs

Brujàruelo valley

Calotriton asper

Calotriton asper

Cliffs

Cliffs

Cliffs from the beech wood

Cola de caballo

Hiker on a bridge

Hikers and cola de caballo

Iberolacerta bonnali

Ordesa valley

Pinguicula longifolia

Pinguicula longifolia

Pinguicula longifolia

Pinguicula longifolia

Rana pyrenaica

Rana pyrenaica

Rana pyrenaica

Waterfall and hikers

Many thanks to Salvador Carranza, Elena Gómez-Diaz and all the people of the Don Simon Drinking Team for their lovely company and patience while waiting for my endless photo sessions and snail’s pace walking.

The Nyungwe National Park, in Rwanda, embraces the largest forest patch still surviving in East Africa, an area of approximatively 970 square kilometers of endless high-altitude, mountainous rainforest, ranging from 1600 to 2950 meters of altitude and continuing to the adjacent Kibira National Park in Burundi. The forest lays on the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the Great Rift Valley, which includes also the Rwenzori mountain range in western Uganda and Congo and the Lendu Plateau in eastern Congo. Due to its extension and conservation status, Nyungwe represent one of the most important sanctuaries for the endemic fauna and flora of the Albertine Rift and offers a shelter for an impressive number of animal and plant species, even if anthropic pressure, in a highly populated country as Rwanda, is a constant threat. Here, together with Thomas Doherty-Bone, a young expert herpetologist, I’ve been assigned to continue the survey of the poorly-known herpetofauna of the forest, headed by Michele Menegon ( MTSN – Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali ), with the supervision and backing of WCS ( Wildlife Conservation Society ).

In the following gallery you will find some of the pictures I take during a month spent chasing herps up and down the wet, steep and breathtaking –in all senses!- Nyungwe Forest National Park.

Amietia angolensis

Amietophrynus sp.

Army ants

Arthroleptis eggs

Arthroleptis sp.

Arthroleptis sp.

Arthroleptis sp.

Arthroleptis sp.

Bigugu orchid

Bugs

Bugs

Bugs

Bugs

Bugs

Bugs

Bugs

Bugs

Bugs

Bugs

Bugs

Chamaeleo ellioti

Chamaeleo ellioti

Chamaeleo rudis

Field survey

Forest crab

Hyperolius sp.

Hyperolius sp.

Hyperolius sp.

Hyperolius sp.

Hyperolius sp.

Hyperolius sp.

Into the forest

Into the tent

Lake Kivu

Lepidothyris hinkeli

Leptopelis sp.

Leptopelis sp.

Leptosiaphos sp.

Phrynobatrachus sp.

poacher trap

Rhamnophis ethiopissa

Rhampholeon adolfifriderici

Rhampholeon adolfifriderici

Rhampholeon adolfifriderici

The camp-site

The camp-site

The forest

The forest

Thelotornis sp.

Many thanks to Thomas Doherty-Bone, Michele Menegon, Nerissa Chao, Martin Sindikubwabo, Daniel Niyonsaba, Jeremy Nzarora, Mika Nsanzimana and all the other people of the WCS and National Park staff.

It’s summertime in Europe, fields are exploding their best color ever and insects are at their greatest number. Everywhere crickets and grasshoppers defend their territories and eat tons of leaves… except one. Camouflaged among the long-leaved herbs, there’s a creature very similar to a grasshopper, but much more lethal: the Predatory Bush Cricket (Saga pedo). Equipped with strong mandibles and sharp spikes all along its legs, Saga pedo is a real danger for any grasshopper passing by. She’s waiting, she desn’t move and keeps her front legs wide open like in a false friendly embrace. It will not pass so much time before a grasshopper like a Dociostaurus maroccanus will pass near, unaware of that odd spiny herb perching over. The hunt is short, the spiny legs set off and soon the grasshopper is embraced by death. Saga pedo then begins to eat the prey using its strong  razor like mandibles. The peculiarity of Saga pedo doesn’t end with her carnivorous diet. Even the breeding physiology of this species is unique: males are barely “known to exist” by scientist (a single specimen have been found in Switzerland in 2008) and the populations are usually composed by females that breed by parthenogenesis. Basically, they produce eggs that will give birth to clones of the mothers. But that’s not all! Since this species is strongly related to grasshopper abundance and humidity, the eggs cannot hatch every year. They have to wait for the best times, a year with a particular explosion of grasshoppers for example. The female then deposit her eggs deep underground, using her sword-like ovipositor like a probe. In this way the eggs will resist to cold-weather and dryness, until a particularly rainy spring. The eggs can resist up to four years underground before hatching in small replicas of the adult. But the life of this Arthropod remains seasonal, and the adult females will die soon after depositing a few dozen of eggs. Once again the nature, even our “neighbouring” nature, can be addictive and unique. The photos of this article, for example, has been taken in a small field just over the last buildings of a big city, very close to human settlements.

Many thanks to Francesco Tomasinelli for helping us in making these pictures.

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.

with the contribution of Emanuele “Juza” Affaticati

According to recents IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) reports, alien species are one of the main causes of biodiversity loss, together with global warming and habitats jeopardizing. Globalization helped many species to spread out of their native home. Today there are hundreds of dramatic case stories including plants and animals, but the world-wide invasion of the Louisiana crayfish is one of the most impressive. Introduced throughout Europe from the southern USA to be farmed and then served as a dining delicacy in restaurants, the Lousiana crayfish (Procambarus clarkii), is now one of the most successful invaders of freshwater habitats. This big (old males can reach 20 cm in body lenght), aggressive and adaptable crustacean colonized, with the help of humankind, all the continents of the planet except Antarctica and Oceania and, day after day, its range still grows. In Europe it was firstly introduced in Spain in the ’70s, to offset the depletion of the native stocks, doomed by the crayfish plague, vectored by the fungus Aphanomyces astaci. But the resistance to this deadly plague is not its only key to the success. It is also able to dig holes in banks to shelter during winter and dry seasons, and females use these burrows to spawn more than one thousand eggs every year. Moreover, it’s very resistant to pollution and bad water quality and it can survive out of its element for long periods, marching for extraordinary distances to reach suitable places to live. And every small native organism can be threatened by this adaptable crustacean: it eats not only the acquatic vegetation, including rice, but also amphibians eggs, tadpoles and even adults. Also, the native crustacean populations are severely damaged when they come in contact with this species, due to direct competition and disease transmissions. Now the Louisiana crayfish is widespread in Portugal, Spain, France and Italy and there are small populations in Germany, Great Britain and Balcans. But recent observations confirmed that, at least in these last countries, the Procambarus march is slowing, while in other countries it forges ahead without rivals.

Procambarus11

Procambarus12

Procambarus13

Procambarus14

Procambarus15

Procambarus16

Procambarus17

Procambarus18

Procambarus19

Procambarus21

Procambarus22

Procambarus23

Procambarus24

Procambarus25

Procambarus26

Procambarus27

Procambarus28

Procambarus29

Procambarus31

Procambarus32

Procambarus33

Procambarus34

Procambarus35

Procambarus36

Procambarus37

Procambarus38

Procambarus39

Procambarus41

Procambarus42

Many thanks to Elisa Riservato, Emanuele “Juza” Affaticati, Marco Di Domenico, Elena Gagnarli, Francesca Gherardi, Laura Aquiloni, Sara Fratini.