Some herpetological observations in NW Spain
12th – 15th of October 2006

During and after a sandy beach ecology symposium which I attended in the city of Vigo (Galicia), I had a little time looking for animals in the northwest of Spain. It was already late in the year and the days were often chilly and/or wet, so I only observed very few species, among which an endemic and recently described species of rock lizard.
On the 12th, we had a symposium excursion. After visiting among others Santiago de Compostela, we visited an old settlement near the sea called Castro de Baroña, where I was able to find Iberian Wall Lizard (Podarcis hispanicus "morphotype 1").
On the 13th, I strawled to the Parque do Castro in Vigo itself together with my colleague Soetkin and we found some Bocage’s Wall Lizard (Podarcis bocagei). On the morning of the 14th, I rented a car and drove inland. After a couple of hours, I arrived at the Laguna de los Peces, near Puebla de Sanabria. After walking around for a bit, somewhat hungover by the final symposium night, I managed to find numerous juveniles and a couple of adult Galan's Rock Lizard (Iberolacerta galani), a species whose description was published not until 2006. Next to the rocks with the lizards, there were some pools with Iberian Water Frog (Pelophylax perezi) in them. Afterwards, I drove back down and found a DOR Seoane’s Viper (Vipera seoanei). The next day I searched the surrounding area, hoping to find a live viper but the weather was not good enough. I drove on to the Cabeza de Manzaneda, hoping to find Iberian Rock Lizard (Iberolacerta monticola cantabrica) but all I found up there was mists and freezing cold, so no more herps.