The herpetofauna of the Echinades Island Complex, Ionian Islands, Greece, with notes on the ecological peculiarities of its lizard species

Abstract

The near-shore islands of western Greece remain to this day little explored in terms of herpetological research, while most of them have only been occasionally visited in recent years. We conducted several field excursions on 20 satellite islets of the Echinades Island Complex (Ionian archipelago), corresponding to a two-year field study from 2022 to 2023. During the surveys, we documented 39 new island records. We confirmed the presence of six out of the seven previously documented reptiles (Mediodactylus kotschyi, Lacerta trilineata, Elaphe quatuorlineata, Platyceps najadum, Testudo hermanni and T. marginata), and also documented for the first time four additional species new to the island group (Hemidactylus turcicus, Ablepharus kitaibelii, Podarcis ionicus and Hierophis gemonensis). During our field excursions we noticed a peculiar lifestyle concerning arboreal microhabitat preference of gecko species which is briefly discussed.