Four-lined snake

The species is distributed in Italy, the entire west coast of the Balkan Peninsula, the western half of Greece and many of the Greek islands, Northern Macedonia and the southwestern corner of Bulgaria. In Bulgaria, the species is found only in the Petrich-Sandanski valley, the valley of the river Strumeshnitsa and the southern half of the Kresna gorge. In the flat parts of the Petrich-Sandanski valley the species is almost destroyed due to the large share of arable land and has remained mainly at the foot of the surrounding mountains and some island-located rocky hills. Up to 600 m above sea level was discovered in the Kresna gorge. Outside Bulgaria it is also found at higher altitudes.

The dorsal side of an adult Four-lined snake is yellow-brown with four dark brown (to black) longitudinal lines. The head above is brownish. There is a dark (up to black) stripe from the eye to the back corner of the mouth. In young individuals, the back is light, with large transverse dark spots. There are one or two longitudinal rows of smaller spots on the sides of the body. The head has contrasting spots in the occipital region and a pronounced dark stripe from the eye to the back of the mouth. The abdomen is light with dark spots (sometimes merging with two longitudinal stripes) or brownish with whitish spots. At a length of more than 50-60 cm the color begins to change – the spots become lighter and longitudinal dark lines appear, which are initially broken. One-meter specimens are usually completely striped, but the spots are still visible. It reaches 180 and rarely up to 200 cm in length. Copulation is in May. In the second half of June – early July lays from 5 to 14 eggs. The young hatch after 1.5 – 2 months. They become sexually mature in the third or fourth year. The Four-lined snake is a daily active and non-poisonous species. It feeds mainly on birds and their eggs, less often on rodents, and sometimes on newborn rabbits, hedgehogs and newly hatched land turtles. It hunts on the surface, in hollows or in rodent holes. The species climbs trees very well. It suffocates its victim by wrapping itself around. The species inhabits mainly low-stemmed forests and shrubs in rocky and other places with well-developed microrelief, on sun-lit slopes. Loves dry and rocky terrain, with well-developed microrelief.

Unknown.

The Four-lined snake is a protected species included in Annexes 2 and 3 of the Biodiversity Act (BDA) and Annex II of the Bern Convention. The species is also included in Annex II and Annex IV of Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (Habitats Directive). The Four-lined snake is part of the Red Data Book of Bulgaria (2015) with category “Endangered” (EN) and also included in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species with category Near Threatened (NT).

*Note: For the description of amphibians and reptiles is used information from: Golemanski, V. & al. (eds). 2015. Red Data Book of the Republic of Bulgaria. Vol. 2. Animals. BAS & MoEW, Sofia [English ed.: ISBN 978-954-9746-22-8 (IBER – BAS), 978-954-8497-18-3 (MoEW)]; Biserkov, V. (Editor), 2007. A Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Bulgaria. Sofia, Green Balkans, 196 pp.; the website of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).