In order to stop the decline of Hungarian meadow viper Vipera ursinii rakosiensis, in 2004 MME BirdLife Hungary together with national parks and Budapest Zoo started a complex conservation programme, supported by the European Union LIFE-Nature fund. The Hungarian Meadow Viper Conservation Centre was established with 16 adult individuals, collected from six different populations. By 2013 the number of vipers bred reached c. 1700 individuals. First reintroductions took place in March 2010, with 30 adult snakes released into a reconstructed habitat in Kiskunság National Park. By 2013, a total of 240 snakes had been released into three locations. Snakes were released by relocating the animals in the artificial burrows they used in the semi-natural terrariums at the Hungarian Meadow Viper Conservation Centre. At the release sites vipers were recorded 255 times during post-release monitoring, and 69 individuals were identified. Eighteen of the observed ΘΘ were gravid, and ten juvenile or subadult individuals were documented. In order to develop a remote-tracking method, pre-programmed radio-tags with a detection range of 200-300 m were surgically implanted into the abdomens of 16 vipers. These tags also operated as temperature loggers, recording data every 5 minutes for one year. Zoos play an important role in communicating the results of this captive-breeding and release programme. Exhibits of live Hungarian meadow vipers are located at Budapest Zoo and Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria, and there are information points about the species located in all Hungarian zoos.
Characteristics and heritability analysis of head scales of the Hungarian meadow viper (Vipera ursinii rakosiensis, Méhely 1893) Bálint Üveges'-*, Bálint Halpern^, Tamas Péchy^, János Postad István Komlósi bstract. The objective of our research was to determine the heritability of head scale numbers of Vipera ursinii rakosiensis. 430 specimens (177 males and 253 females) were included in the analysis, most of which were born and raised in the Hungarian Meadow Viper Conservation Centre between 2004 and 2008. Due to the controlled breeding conditions, the dams of the offspring were known, and the sires were known in 51% of the cases. Only the ancestors of the wild caught specimens were unknown, but these animals were included as parents in the analysis. Photographic identification was used to identify and characterise the specimens, the majority over consecutive years. We counted the following scales: loreal-, circumocular-, apical-, and crown (intercanthal-and intersupraocular-) shields, as well as presence-absence data of other characteristics which are detailed further in the article. The variance and covariance components were determined via the restricted maximum likelihood method. The repeatability animal model consisted of the year of birth and the sex of the snakes as fixed effects, the dam as permanent environmental, and the animal as random effects. Heritability values varied between 0.32 and 0.70. We also report scale numbers and statistics of differences between scale numbers of sexes.
The Meadow and Steppe viper, Vipera ursinii-renardi complex is a well-studied group that is divided into several morphological subspecies. In this study, we combine the analyses of two mitochondrial genes with 9 microsatellite markers to compare both phylogenetic signals. Whereas the signal is similar between both genomes within most subspecies, the relative relationships between subspecies are more differentiated. Moreover, the nuclear phylogenetic reconstruction supports genetic homogeneity within V. u. macrops (in contrast to mtDNA). Both genetic portions show an unexpected differentiation between a population from Bistra Mountain and other V. u. macrops populations. Globally, the microsatellite markers suggest high genetic diversity in most subspecies, even in V. u. rakosisensis which is highly threatened; only V. u. macrops showed a limited genetic diversity. Within lowland subspecies, the differentiation between populations is globally limited compared to the distance between them (except in some populations of V. u. moldavica). The limited differentiation might be the consequence of a recent isolation (few decades) of previously large populations. Nevertheless, the only way to maintain this genetic diversity and to avoid an increase in genetic differentiation between populations in the future is to recreate suitable habitats and reconnect the populations.
During a continuous population study of Vipera ursinii rakosiensis, 79 specimens were measured in the field, between 1993 and 1997. Body length and body mass of six juveniles were compared to those of 43 more specimens which were kept during their first winter in terraria. Significant differences were found in favour of the juveniles kept in captivity, whereas a comparison with earlier data from 1953 showed a strong decline in juvenile body mass. Based on body size, three age classes could be distinguished in the study population. The annual activity and reproductive cycle of the Hungarian meadow viper is described for the first time. A comparison to other European populations of Orsini′s viper revealed a remarkably higher clutch size in Vipera ursinii rakosiensis, which is explained by the larger body size of females in the particular population.
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