Natural History and impacts of an invasive snake: the horseshoe whip snake, Hemorrhois hippocrepis (Linnaeus, 1758), on Ibiza

2021

The island of Ibiza, located in the Balearic Islands (Western Mediterranean), has remained free of introduced snakes for millennia, unlike the majority of Mediterranean islands. But in 2003, with the Mediterranean garden fad, the entrance of old olive trees to the island became common, and three snake species appeared on Ibiza, traveling as stowaways inside the trunks of the olive trees. The most successful invader was the horseshoe whip snake (Hemorrhois hippocrepis). This PhD dissertation studies the natural history of the invasive population and compares it to the source population’s, in the southern Iberian Peninsula, in order to acquire knowledge that helps fighting against the invasio…