26/05/2026
Today qualified herpetologists from BION Terrarium Center are conducting fieldwork in the Tarutyne Steppe - one of the largest preserved steppe ecosystems in Ukraine, located in the Bolhrad district of Odesa Oblast, and formerly a military training site.
Oleksii Marushchak and Oleksandr Shorokhov participate in monitoring of herpetofauna in many sites throughout Ukraine. This time they participate in the study of herpetofauna of this steppe reserve. Here are some key notes from what species they found.
Podarcis tauricus, the Balkan wall lizard, was first described by Pallas in 1814. In Ukrainian it is commonly called “Кримська ящірка” - the Crimean lizard - which is a little misleading. The species is distributed across southeastern Europe and Asia Minor: from Bulgaria and Greece through Romania, North Macedonia and Turkey, all the way to southwestern Ukraine, including well beyond Crimea. The Tarutyne Steppe is a perfect example of that. This diurnal lizard reaches a snout-to-vent length of approximately 8 cm, with a tail roughly twice that length. Coloration is bright green in spring, gradually fading to olive-brown through summer, with breeding males developing striking yellow, orange or red underparts and green throats.
BION provides well-trained specialists for monitoring projects of native Ukrainian species, that is just as important to us as working with rare exotics. Understanding what lives in our own steppes - and how those populations are doing - is conservation work that starts at home.
You can discover more about representatives of the Lacertidae family in Responsible Herpetoculture Journal via the link in our profile!
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