Viperine Snake (Natrix maura)

From the series “Watch out what you find when flipping over logs or rocks” - this snake from the Colubridae family was sitting near the shores of a lake in the Algarve region.
It is probably a Viperine snake - my initial assumption was a Ladder snake (Zamenis scalari), but that assumption was shaky.

comments (4)

Ferdy Christant

Lion

I'm not a snake expert either but on most photos of Zamenis scalaris I'm seeing a clear dark band across the length of the body that seems to be lacking in your photo. My guess is that this might be Natrix maura, check out this highly similar observation in the same area:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/10095641 Posted 2 years ago
1. pysailor
  
  Lion
  
  Yes, very good point, thanks!
  I will update the identification accordingly. Posted 2 years ago
2. 1. Ferdy Christant
    
    Lion
    
    Welcome, and thanks! Posted 2 years ago

Calbost Niel

Lion

Great find Posted 2 years ago

The Viperine water snake

"Natrix maura" is a natricine water snake of the genus "Natrix". Its common name is viperine water snake or viperine snake. Despite its common names, it is not a member of the subfamily Viperinae. This nonvenomous, semiaquatic, fish-eating snake was given its common names due to behavioural and aesthetic similarities with sympatric adder species.

Info 5 0

Similar species: Snakes And Lizards

Species identified by pysailor