Albinism in Two Snake Species Recorded from Slovakia

Taste the rainbow: A review of color abnormalities affecting the herpetofauna of the British Isles

“…Animals exhibiting hypomelanism have their visual acuity significantly affected (Balkema and Dräger 1991), in a similar way to albinistic individuals as a direct result of the absence of melanin, a photo-protectant (Brenner and Hearing 2007). As with cases of albinism, survivability is reduced due to conspicuous coloration (Gezova et al 2018). A hypomelanistic Slow Worm (Anguis fragilis) was discovered in June 2020 during a private reptile translocation at a site in Sussex (Fig.…”

The first findings of a white Aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus) in the Czech Republic

“…U některých nálezů však nelze zpětně stanovit, zda šlo o jedince albinotické či leucistické. Dva případy jsou známy z Rakouska(Erber 1879;Sochurek 1955), dva ze Švýcarska(Frösch 1985;Meier et al 2023), tři ze Slovenska(Balthasar 1935;Gezova et al 2018) a po jednom ze Srbska(Radovanović 1941), Itálie(Ferri & Bettiga 1992), Slovinska(Krofel 2004) a Bosny a Hercegoviny (Čurič 2019). Zde publikované dva nálezy tedy navyšují počet záznamu na třináct (viz Tab.…”

Albinism of Aesculapian snake Zamenis longissimus (Laurenti, 1768) in situ: first record for Bosnia and Herzegovina

“…In Europe, there have been several cases of albino snakes of six different species: Aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus (Laurenti, 1768)), Balkan whip snake (Hierophis viridiflavus (Lacépède, 1789)), smooth snake (Coronella austriaca Linnaeus, 1758), common European adder (Vipera berus (Linnaeus, 1758)), nose-horn viper ( Vipera ammodytes (Linnaeus, 1758)) and aspic viper (Vipera aspis (Linnaeus, 1758)) (Ferri & Bettiga 1992, Happ 1994, Krofel 2004, Gezova et al 2018.…”

“…Since 1879, only nine albino Aesculapian snakes have been reported: three cases from Austria (Erber 1879, Sochurek 1955, Happ 1994, two from Slovakia (Balthasar 1935, Gezova et al 2018, and one each from Serbia (Radovanović 1941), Switzerland (Bruno & Maugeri 1990), Italy (Ferri & Bettiga 1992) and Slovenia (Krofel 2004).…”

“…After determination and measurements, the individual was released back to nature. Most albino snake individuals do not reach adult size due to their vulnerability and exposure to predators (Gezova et al 2018). Albinos have low survival rates and are rapidly removed from the populations as they are conspicuous to predators (birds and mammals) and even to their prey (small rodents, voles, mice, rats, squirrels, birds) (Arnold 2002).…”