Herpetological trip to northern Morocco
December 25th 2019 – January 1st 2020
Unless specified otherwise, all pictures (c) of Jeroen Speybroeck.
Going back for some repeat Turkish winter salamander fun looked slightly more expensive than flights to Morocco, so it was time to admire some North African amphibians, the main gem obviously being the North African Fire Salamander
Salamandra algira. I teamed up for the third time this year with Loïc van Doorn. Four subspecies occur in Morocco. Winter can be hit and miss: without rain, nights can be very cold. This is particularly tough for taxa restricted to higher altitude, such as the 2019 described
Salamandra algira atlantica. Furthermore, we were not too optimistic about finding the rare
Salamandra algira spelaea, as none of my herping friends had even ever found larvae of this taxon.
Besides salamanders, I wanted to try to find the other Moroccan amphibian species I had not seen so far, with main focus on Moroccan Midwife Toad
Alytes maurus and Moroccan Spadefoot Toad
Pelobates varaldii. The former seems not always easy to find, especially in December, but of course we would give it a go. Late winter can be not too bad for reptiles, but December can be slow. Most of the northern reptile species we had seen already in Europe, with the peculiar Checkered Worm Lizard
Trogonophis wiegmanni being our sole real (and realistic) reptilian target.
sites of observation, with a lot of back-and-forth for decent mander weather
December 25th
Christmas day. A calm airport and a pleasant flight with AirArabia brought us swiftly from Brussels to Tanger. Arriving by late afternoon, we headed east towards Tetouan. A futile first stop in an open pine forest served to stretch our legs, but nothing more. After checking in to our hotel and dinner, we headed into the nearby hills after dark. Temperatures were weirdly high during the first couple of days of the trip, going well above 20°C during the day and allowing T-shirt herping into several hours after dark. Throughout the trip, we did not have any rain, but rains of the preceeding days had still left us with some moisture. First stop was a lovely brook valley. It was not going to be easy to find that midwife toad, but this site was the one I had the highest hopes for. Much to my surprise, Moroccan Midwife Toad
Alytes maurus was the first species of the trip, spotted eyeshining on the upper bank of the brook. Great start! The site also had Berber Toad
Sclerophrys mauritanicus, Moroccan Painted Frog
Discoglossus scovazzi and North African Water Frog
Pelophylax saharicus. Then, already a first subadult North African Fire Salamander
Salamandra algira tingitana. Moving on to a very nearby forested slope, we found another 10 fire salamanders, including a weird looking male. Even after the rains of the past week(s), there was no water here whatsoever, hinting that viviparity also may occur in the southern clade of
tingitana. This hypothesis was also not rejected by our findings in the midwife toad brook, with larvae and tadpoles of several amphibian species, but no salamander larvae. As our finds came in more quickly than expected, we decided to go north to try to find some salamanders of the northern viviparous
tingitana clade, and soon found a female and two tiny juveniles. After that, it was already late, so we headed back to our hotel to start early towards the next salamander subspecies the next day.
a lucky first find – Moroccan Midwife Toad Alytes maurus
Berber Toad Sclerophrys mauritanicus
North African Fire Salamander Salamandra algira tingitana - southern clade female
North African Fire Salamander Salamandra algira tingitana - oddly coloured southern clade male
North African Fire Salamander Salamandra algira tingitana - same
North African Fire Salamander Salamandra algira tingitana - northern clade female and juvenile
December 26th
After a very successful first night, we were feeling lucky as we checked some sites for
Salamandra algira splendens. Now that
Salamandra algira atlantica has been chopped off of this subspecies, its range has become somewhat smaller, including a fairly large portion of the Rif mountains where friends previously had some nasty experiences with weed farmers. Luckily, we knew of a site in the allegedly safer western area where this taxon occurs in decent abundance. Unfortunately, this beautiful spot which hosted hundreds of larvae, got a warm and dry wind in the evening, limiting our sightings of adult salamanders to that of a single animal retreating out of our grasp before we could get it for photos. A juvenile Southern Smooth Snake
Coronella girondica was the only noteworthy find of the night.
Southern Smooth Snake Coronella girondica - © Loïc van Doorn
Moroccan Painted Frog Discoglossus scovazzi
December 27th
Although our misfortune with
splendens did not really help, we decided to have a go at the ultimate rarity anyway. At least, we might get an idea about the habitat of the range-restricted
Salamandra algira spelaea of Beni Snassen. So, avoiding the aforementioned sketchy part of the Rif, we headed south. Stopping near Fez, we had some fun in the warm spring-like sun, finding Banded Lizard-fingered Gecko
Saurodactylus fasciatus, Tangier Worm Lizard
Blanus tingitanus, Spur-thighed
Testudo graeca and our first Checkered Worm Lizards
Trogonophis wiegmanni.
Spur-thighed Tortoise Testudo graeca
found two worm lizard species together underneath the same stone – © Loïc van Doorn
Checkered Worm Lizard Trogonophis wiegmanni
Tangier Worm Lizard Blanus tingitanus
By the time it got dark, we found a bed for the night along the northern side of the Beni Snassen massif. Fairly dense mist along the way, although none of it was around at higher elevation. After checking numerous waterbodies, including the tiniest and filthiest the area had to offer, we gave up and headed back down. Or did we not? Already a long way down, we decided to go back up and check one last valley. We discovered a picture-perfect brook containing a lot of larvae. This got our blood boiling. A little further down, wet farmland grass as well as bramble shrub brook banks offered us the impossible – four females and one male
Salamandra algira spelaea! This taxon may be generally rare, but this spot surely has to host a healthy population.
Loïc and the holy grail
Salamandra algira spelaea
Salamandra algira spelaea
Salamandra algira spelaea
December 28th
Closeby coastal flipping for some reptiles delivered surprisingly poor results, with just some common gecko species to be added to our findings (North Morocco Lizard-fingered Gecko
Saurodactylus mauritanicus and Moorish Gecko
Tarentola mauritanica). By nightfall, we reached Tazekka National Park, a nice limestone mountain ridge in the northern tip of the Middle Atlas. Only a single
Salamandra algira atlantica was to be found in the not too cold but very dry (as in: crispy grass under our feet) night.
Salamandra algira atlantica
December 29th
A long and adventurous off-road drive in search of Tazekka caves with salamanders with a lot of red pigmentation. We found a cave, but after a refreshing subterranean swim-and-crawl trajectory of about 100m, we hit a dead end without salamanders. Stunning drive and sites, though.
© Loïc van Doorn
© Loïc van Doorn
© Loïc van Doorn
As our salamander hunts gave variable results, I wanted to hit another main target species first, as we drove west to Maâmora forest. Temporary ponds here are known amphibian hotspots, eventhough several of those hinted to me by friends were dry this time. In the end, however, we found what we came for, with Moroccan Spadefoot Toad
Pelobates varaldii, and some additional species like Sharp-ribbed Newt
Pleurodeles waltl, African Green Toad
Bufotes boulengeri and Stripeless Tree Frog
Hyla meridionalis.
Moroccan Spadefoot Toad Pelobates varaldii
Moroccan Spadefoot Toad Pelobates varaldii
African Green Toad Bufotes boulengeri
Stripeless Tree Frog Hyla meridionalis
December 30th
Hoping to get at least some reptiles too, we drove a long way south for some prime flipping options. Alas, also here not much to be found. Luckily, some chameleons to ease the pain.
Mediterranean Chameleon Chamaeleo chamaeleon
Mediterranean Chameleon Chamaeleo chamaeleon
December 31st
With two nights left, we were still longing for some more red in our salamanders, so we went all the way back east for a second go at Tazekka. Thorough daytime prospecting followed by hitting each suitable water body one after the other after dark delivered.
North African Fire Salamander Salamandra algira atlantica
North African Fire Salamander Salamandra algira atlantica
skin detail of male – © Loïc van Doorn
North African Fire Salamander Salamandra algira atlantica
January 1st
A second cave attempt, with just one additional salamander to be found. Then we did another long drive back west.
Still didn’t have any
splendens in front of our lenses, so with a seemingly suitable weather forecast, we went up the same hill again. No warm wind now, but windless and cool, which delivered ten salamanders. Would love to see this place with some rain… The very last salamander we found was also the nicest of the trip. Exhausted, but very pleased, we went off to bed for an early morning flight back home.
North African Fire Salamander Salamandra algira splendens
North African Fire Salamander Salamandra algira splendens
North African Fire Salamander Salamandra algira splendens
North African Fire Salamander Salamandra algira splendens
North African Fire Salamander Salamandra algira splendens
Epilogue
Some weird warm weather, but hard work payed off. Wouldn’t have minded a few more reptiles, but the main target were amphibians. Very happy with the easy
Alytes, the
spelaea luck, and the red
splendens from the last night. A destination worth revisiting!
Species list
1. North African Fire Salamander
Salamandra algira - 15
tingitana, 5
spelaea, 6
atlantica, 10
splendens
2. Sharp-ribbed Newt
Pleurodeles waltl
3. Moroccan Midwife Toad
Alytes maurus
4. Moroccan Painted Frog
Discoglossus scovazzi
5. Painted Frog
Discoglossus pictus
6. Moroccan Spadefoot Toad
Pelobates varaldii
7. African Green Toad
Bufotes boulengeri
8. Spiny Toad
Bufo spinosus
9. Berber Toad
Sclerophrys mauritanicus
10. Stripeless Tree Frog
Hyla meridionalis
11. North African Water Frog
Pelophylax saharicus
12. Spur-thighed Tortoise
Testudo graeca
13. Bibron’s Agama
Agama impalearis
14. Mediterranean Chameleon
Chamaeleo chamaeleon
15. Banded Lizard-fingered Gecko
Saurodactylus fasciatus
16. South Morocco Lizard-fingered Gecko
Saurodactylus brosseti
17. North Morocco Lizard-fingered Gecko
Saurodactylus mauritanicus
18. Moorish Gecko
Tarentola mauritanica
19. Simon’s Small Lizard
Mesalina simoni
20. Maghreb Wall Lizard
Podarcis vaucheri
21. Large Psammodromus
Psammodromus algirus
22. Checkered Worm Lizard
Trogonophis wiegmanni
23. Tangier Worm Lizard
Blanus tingitanus
24. Southern Smooth Snake
Coronella girondica
