TO THE MORPHOLOGY OF GRINNER SERPENTS OF THE MIDDLE VOLGA REGION.
MESSAGE 1. SEX DETERMINATION OF YOUNG SPECIALISTS 

Klenina Anastasiya Aleksandrovna, Candidate of biological sciences, junior researcher, laboratory of herpetology and toxinology, Institute of Ecology of Volga basin of Russian Academy of Sciences (10 Komzina street, Togliatty, Russia), E-mail: colubrida@yandex.ru
Bakiev Andrey Gennad'evich, Candidate of biological sciences, senior staff scientist, laboratory of herpetology and toxinology, Institute of Ecology of Volga basin of Russian Academy of Sciences (10 Komzina street, Togliatty, Russia), E-mail: herpetology@list.ru
Pavlov Aleksey Vladilenovich, Candidate of biological sciences, associate professor, senior stuff scientist, Volzhsko-Kamsky State Nature Biosphere Reserve (1 Vekhova street, Sadoviy village, Zelenodolsk district, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia), E-mail: zilantelan@mail.ru 

598.115.31:591.4 (470.4) 

DOI

10.21685/2307-9150-2019-1-7 

Background. Determine the sex of the studied species was the important tasks of population studies. It is difficult to reliably identify the sex of young snakes without an autopsy: externally males and females differ slightly, and sounding for them is traumatic. The purpose of this study is to develop a method for bloodless determination of the sex of juveniles colubrid snakes, inhabiting the Middle Volga.
Materials and methods. Snakes were captured from April to October 2009–2014 within the boundaries of the Middle Volga region. In the caught specimens we accepted generally signs of external morphology. Measured of newborn snakes were release no later than one day from the moment of hatching. The obtained data were processed in MS Excel and StatGraphics.
Results. To determine the sex of young сolubrid snakes inhabiting the Middle Volga region, external morphological features of adult snakes, whose values do not overlap or barely overlap, are suitable: the number of ventral scales (Ventr.) for the Coronella austriaca and the Elaphe dione and the number of subcaudal scales (Scd.) for the Natrix natrix and the N. tessellata. With the differentiation of gender and age groups according to these characteristics using discriminative analysis, the proportion of correctly classified juvenile individuals ranged from 98 to 100 %.
Conclusions. Non-overlapping values of the meristic signs of the external morphology of adult snakes can be used to reliably determine the sex of juvenile individuals of the corresponding species inside the studied locality. 

Key words

Natrix natrix, Natrix tessellata, Coronella austriaca, Elaphe dione, ventral scales, subcaudal scales, Samara region, gender 

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