Europe has few aquatic snake species, all in the natricid genus Natrix. However, Zaher et al. (2019) found Natrix to be the sister to all New World natricids. Mediterranean Sea Deltas. The Rhone River Delta forms France’s most important wetland, the Camargue, covering about 9,000 square kilometers. The dealt has a hot, dry summer and cool, wet winters. About a third of the Camargue comprises lakes or marshland. Its brine ponds provide one of the few European habitats for the greater flamingo.
Po River Delta – Venice. The Regional Park of the Po River Delta is in the provinces of Ravenna and Ferrara, in the Emilia-Romagna region, and was established in 1988 to safeguard the native flora and fauna of this area. It is a unique environment and was declared a human heritage site by UNESCO in 1999.
Coastal Salt Marshes in northern Europe are extensive, and mudflats occur along the Atlantic Ocean and Europe’s North Sea coastlines. Northern boreal and subarctic peatlands compose more than half of the world’s wetlands. Unfortunately, much of this is at latitudes well above where most snakes can survive. However, there are records of Natrix close to the Arctic Circle.
A collision of continental plates about 12 MYA raised new mountains in central Europe and created the most extensive lake ever known, the Paratethys Sea. This inland sea’s fauna included the smallest known whales. Palcu et al. (2021) estimate the lake once contained over 1.77 million cubic kilometers of water (more than ten times the volume found in all of today’s fresh- and saltwater lakes combined). However, a changing climate caused the lake to shrink at least four times dramatically in its five-million-year life. Water levels and salinity fluctuation resulted in aquatic species passing into extinction. Species that could survive changing salinities repopulated the lake when it expanded. The Paratethys ceased to exist 6.7 -6.9 Ma when erosion formed an outlet.
