NORTHERNMOST FINDING OF THE DALMATIAN WALL LIZARD, PODARCIS MELISELLENSIS BRAUN, 1877 AND ITS PROPOSED CONSERVATION STATUS IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Podarcis melisellensis (Braun, 1877), also known as the Dalmatian wall lizard, is distributed along the karstic coast of the Adriatic Sea. On its most recent global distribution map (Ajtic et al. 2009), it occupies the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, from the parts of extreme Northeast Italy (Monfalcone) along southwestern Slovenia, Croatia, southern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH e.g. 2 the Moraca valley to Kolasin in Montenegro (Jelic et al. 2012; Tiedemann & Henle 1986; Gasc et al. 1997; Ajtic et al. 2009). The Dalmatian wall lizard has a high vertical distribution spanning from the coastline up to 1400 m above sea level (a.s.l). However, the majority of the population is located below 1000 m a.s.l (Gasc et al. 1997; Ajtic et al. 2009). The variety of habitats in which P. melisellensis can be found is large: from dry habitats, sparse and degraded forests, vineyards and olive groves to open slopes with tall grass, rocky meadows and pastures. It is also present in ruderal communities: road edges, cliffs, embankments, roadsides and gardens. As shelters they rather use holes and vegetation rather than cracks and crevices of rocks (Tiedemann & Henle 1986; Arnold 1987; Jelic et al. 2012). On global scale and in Croatia, the species is considered Least Concern (LC) according to IUCN criteria (Ajtic et al. 2009; Jelic et al. 2012). The same category was suggested for populations in the entity of Federation of B&H (Skrijelj et al. 2013). However, B&H has no conservation status for any reptile species.