Titre
A glitch in the Natrix: cryptic presence of alien grass snakes in Switzerland
Type
article
Institution
UNIL/CHUV/Unisanté + institutions partenaires
Périodique
Herpetology Notes
Auteur(s)
Dubey, S.
Auteure/Auteur
Ursenbacher, S.
Auteure/Auteur
Schuerch, J.
Auteure/Auteur
Golay, J.
Auteure/Auteur
Aubert, P.
Auteure/Auteur
Dufresnes, C.
Auteure/Auteur
Liens vers les personnes
Liens vers les unités
ISSN
2071-5773
Statut éditorial
Publié
Date de publication
2017
Volume
10
Première page
205
Dernière page/numéro d’article
208
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Langue
anglais
Résumé
We report the occurrence of alien grass snakes (Natrix natrix ssp.) in Western Switzerland (Lausanne), at a locality where striped grass snakes, presumably from Croatia (N. n. persa), escaped from outdoor enclosures of a reptile park in the 1970s, within the natural range of the threatened barred grass snake (N. n. helvetica). Three gravid females were captured at the introduction site in 2016: two exhibited colour patterns typical of native N. n. helvetica and the third had an intermediate phenotype. Yet, their neonates featured diverse colour patterns, several typical to N. n. persa. Genetic analyses identified two distinct mitochondrial alien lineages: one specific to N. n. persa/cypriaca and one specific to south-Alpine N. n. helvetica (genetically unrelated to native Western Swiss N. n. helvetica). These results suggest that alien grass snakes of multiple origins have established sustainable populations at the introduction site for the past 40 years, and potentially hybridized and introgressed with the local taxa. Hence, it alarms on the captive breeding practices of potentially invasive reptiles in animal parks, and adds to a long list of uncontrolled herps’ introductions, a major threat to biodiversity in Western Europe.
PID Serval
serval:BIB_0A35B58892F1
Date de création
2017-02-15T14:55:07.866Z
Date de création dans IRIS
2025-05-20T19:28:33Z
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Nom
28020-100639-1-PB.pdf
Version du manuscrit
published
Taille
3.06 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
PID Serval
serval:BIB_0A35B58892F1.P001
URN
urn:nbn:ch:serval-BIB_0A35B58892F15
Somme de contrôle
(MD5):340baf0671e8305255fc59e5e4c13078