A preliminary study of the population ecology of Vipera ursinii macrops from eastern Montenegro

Abstract

Vipera ursinii is the most endangered viper in Europe. According to Nilson and Andrén (2001) the highland V. ursinii populations of Western and Central Balkan peninsula belong to the ssp. macrops. According to same authors (Nilson and Andrén, 1997), V. u. macrops is common in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and probably in Montenegro, rare in Croatia and Albania, and very rare in Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The presence of V. u. macrops on the north-western slopes of Bjelasica Mountain was detected in 1997 (Crnobrnja-Isailovic, 2002), but no data are available as regards ecology and ´ conservation. In this study we present preliminary data on the population ecology of V. u. macrops from the eastern Montenegro (Central Balkans).