Crete is the largest of the Greek islands, sporting a rich history and dramatic landscapes. Six different mountain groups cut through the island from west to east, creating deep gorges and plains in their wake, and the karstic landscape is home to numerous appropriately labyrinthine cave systems. The history of the island is expansive, perhaps best famed for the Minoan palace at Knossos, but extending back further than the Neolithic.
Many millions of years of isolation from the mainland have resulted in a distinct absence of large mammals (such as bears and wolves) and venomous snakes. Various sources attribute this to Hercules who, in order to honour the birthplace of Zeus, rid the island of any harmful creratures. Luckily, he didn't pay much mind to the smaller fauna, so Crete has a varied endemic suite of invertebrates and a few mammals (including the Cretan Shrew and Cretan Spiny Mouse).
In June 2023, we visited the north of the island, staying in Bali, and made a number of excursions to locations within about an hour’s radius, mostly visiting caves. Details of the cave visits and their fauna can be found in a separate report here.
DAY 1: BALI
After a two hour flight delay, we arrived late at night; between the airport and the accommodation I saw only a large woodlouse (Armadillo officinalis) and a House Gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus). However, we were greeted at our accommodation by a lovely Green Toad (Bufotes viridis), and a quick nose about produced an adult Nezara viridula, a lot of snails and slugs, and plenty of ants.
On our first day, we took a walk into Bali in the morning. This touristy town consists of wide roads flanked by dry vegetation, with some pine trees and cultivated plants. I had been expecting somewhat of a lack of insect life in the more urban area, but on the fringe of road verges just outside the main town there was a lot of Wild Carrot (Daucus carota) growing.
Within five minutes I had seen both Graphosoma italicum and G. semipunctatum, the latter in a range of different colour morphs – some with dark edges and dark markings, some with virtually no markings at all. Proceeding further down the road, the sheer number of shieldbugs all over the developing seeds of the plants was amazing. My eye was immediately drawn to some small orange shapes, which looked up close like dwarf Graphosomas. These took little searching to identify as Tholagmus flavolineatus, a delightful species. It also seemed to be a first for the island on iNaturalist, though doubtless recorded there before in a more official capacity.
On the flowerhead next to them I was doubly astounded to find one of my target species: Ancyrosoma leucogrammes. I think half an hour may have been my shortest time ever into a holiday to find a target species, although this one isn’t particularly rare so the bar was set a bit low. They are absolutely fabulous looking though!
Above: Tholagmus flavolineatus and Ancyrosoma leucogrammes
Other species on the flowerheads included the very common Oedemera murinipennis, the longhorns Chlorophorus sartor and Stenopterus creticus, some dark buprestids, the small ladybird Parexochomus nigromaculatus, and a female European Dwarf Mantis (Ameles spallanzania).
On the way back, we found Carpocoris mediterraneus and at least two species of Eurydema, E. ornata and E. eckerleini. These ones had a huge amount of variation, from dark red to white and yellowish; we saw four species in all, with the addition of E. spectabilis and another mystery Eurydema later on. E. spectabilis and E. eckerleini were a bit difficult to separate, but I'm fairly sure I saw both - I used this paper as a general guide to the dorsal markings.
After spending the morning perusing road verges and occasionally stopping to look at the sea, we decided to take a trip to one of the several caves we had planned: Doxa Cave, Marathos. We stopped at a little nature park called Voulismeno Aloni, which is a medium-sized sinkhole at the base of Mount Stroumboulas. On the way down into it, the first thing we saw was a lovely silphid beetle wandering along a wall; Ablattaria laevigata. A large black Burrowing Shieldbug (Cydnus aterrimus) crossed my path out in the open. When I looked closer, I saw he seemed to be missing both of his antennae. Hopefully he would be able to get along fine without them. Because of the round shape of the sinkhole, the acoustics inside were slightly warped; somewhere behind where I was crouched was a large nest of bees or wasps, presumably in the face of the cliff, the humming magnified into a slightly menacing, reverberating buzz that went right through me.
There were a lot of lygaeid bugs around the area, common across everywhere we'd been so far. These were primarily the large red Spilostethus pandurus and Lygaeus equestris, the latter of which is pictured below.
I noted around 12 species of butterfly on the first day. These were all common species on the island; Clouded Yellow (Colias crocea), Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra), Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina), Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera), Oriental Meadow Brown (Hyponephele lupina), Large White (Pieris rapae), Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria), Geranium Bronze (Cacyreus marshalli), Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus), Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) and Two-tailed Pasha (Charaxes jasius) the lattermost species I sadly only saw from a distance.
Above: Meadow Brown, Oriental Meadow Brown, Common Blue, Small Copper
DAY 2: KOURTALIOTIKO GORGE
We started the day by visiting Kourtaliotiko Gorge. This was a hugely popular location and we struggled to find parking, but once we were there and wandering down a dusty, stony track it was immediately worth it. On the sides of the track were clumps of large thistles (Onopordum?) being visited by a wide variety of insect life, virtually none of which I had seen the previous day. Most obvious of this insect assemblage, landing on the flowerheads heavily and flying back off them with a deep, humming buzz, was Europe’s largest hornet: Megascolia maculata. I had been hoping to see these for years, and it was worth the wait – they were simply incredible. Larger thistles are apparently a particular favourite of theirs, which is very probably because they're one of the only flowers large enough to support their immense weight.
The second most noticeable insects on the thistles were great numbers of extraordinarily large weevils, which I believe were Larinus latus. They were carrying on as weevils normally do, mating, sitting on top of each other, and bumbling about all over the thistle heads, getting in the way of the other pollinators and generally having a pleasant time in the sun. It was very interesting how they managed to avoid the long, needle-like spines of the thistles, when I had seen several other beetles impaled on the ends, victims of presumably botched landings or errant gusts of wind.
Also present were two species of longhorn beetles, Purpuricenus desfontainii, fiery orange-red with incredibly long antennae, and the more familiar Stictoleptura cordigera. The endemic Cretan Rose Chafer (Protaetia cretica), pure matte black, was also visible on the flowerheads, among other smaller chafers of the Oxythyrea genus and large Saddleback Crickets, Uromenus elegans or similar. There was also a distinctive mirid bug, maybe Deraeocoris rutilus, which was very flighty and prone to dropping as soon as you looked at it.
Above: Purpuricenus desfontainii
Saddleback crickets and Cretan Rose Chafer
Above: Mylabris kodymi
Down in the depths of the gorge, there was flowing water and a small weir, and some other tourists wading and swimming in the river. Frogs, possibly Pelophylax cretensis, could be heard from certain angles, though I didn’t see any. I sat on the bank in the shade, watching the mountain behind and occasionally rolling a rock or photographing a butterfly. So far, I had been doing well on the Nymphalidae front, with four of Crete’s distinctive browns photographed quite nicely. I had seen Cretan Small Heath (Coenoynpha thyrsis) on the way down, and the fourth species, the Cretan Grayling (Hipparchia cretica) was very obliging as it came down to drink at the river, chasing his reflection in the camera and strutting about flashing his orange forewings. On the way back, I found an equally obliging Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius) feeding on one of the thistles.
Under the rocks in the river were a number of small freshwater crabs, Potamon hippocratis. These were juveniles sheltering under rocks, and their carapaces were only about the size of a €2 coin. Adults are much larger, and tend to be burrow-living, so we may have found them further up or down the river where the sediment was softer. This species, alongside others in its genus, is heavily threatened by climate change.
The vertebrate highlight of this particular excursion was undoubtedly the vultures. Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus) are very common on Crete, which hosts the largest insular population in the world (X). They came in to land on the cliffs occasionally, resting on the rock ledges. One individual was sat at the mouth of a small cave on a very sheer part of the top of the cliff. At one point, this particular vulture seemed to be looking down at the steady stream of people crossing the river, and I had a peculiar feeling that it could see us all perfectly well from its position over half a kilometre away. What an incredible view of the landscape it must be from all the way up there. It was also interesting to consider that there must be enough carrion to support such a large population - the considerable numbers of goats are an invaluable resource in this regard, as Crete has very few species of large mammal.
DAY 3: CHAINOSPILIOS
On our way to Chainospilios, we stopped at the side of the road to do a bit of sweep netting, in a little meadow filled with tall grass and wildflowers and I very soon found a Eurygaster (probably E. maura) at the top of a grass stem. I also saw a Great Green Bush-cricket (Tettigonia viridissima), a large and impressive orthopteran . There were also two other Deraeocoris species, which seemed to be the common D. scach and D. ruber, although I am more sure about the former than the latter.
The day was hot, 30 degrees or so. There were a lot of butterflies flying around, and plenty of smaller stuff on the wing. There were also hundreds of honeybees everywhere. I spotted a fantastic large jewel beetle, black with orange markings, Ptosima undecimmaculata. When we reached the entrance to the cave, which was so out of the way I didn’t see it and walked straight past, I thought the habitat looked very suitable for Calosoma sycophanta, which I had been rather hoping to see. We saw none, but upon flipping an old sign Tom found several Lymantria dispar larvae, Calosoma’s favourite prey. Alongside the caterpillars were several scorpions (Euscorpius candiota).
On the way back down the road again, I glimpsed a yellow and black flash on a small thistle and found that it was a fantastic female Napoleon Spider (Synema globosum).
Tom, who was ahead of me on the path, saw a large Balkan Whip Snake (Hierophis gemonensis). Unsurprisingly, I failed to see it – the curse of never being able to see snakes abroad evidently hadn’t lifted.
Great Green Bush-cricket, Brachycerus undatus, Ptosima undecimmaculata, Synema globosum, Euscorpius candiota.
We took a short night walk around Bali when it got dark. It was surprisingly tough to find things at night, particularly compared to the south of France at the same time of year. A Rhinoceros Beetle (Oryctes nasicornis) buzzed past our heads as we left, and I caught the longhorn beetle Xylotrechus stebbingi in a hand-grab as it whizzed past my ear. I also removed a slug from the road which transpired to have only one eyestalk.
As we made up the hill, I heard a Scops Owl (Otus scops) calling from very close by. Walking ahead, it continued for a few minutes and then stopped, at which point I thought it had seen me first and cleared off. I heard Tom say ‘Look up!’ from on the road behind me, and I looked up to see the owl looking down at me from the top of a telegraph pole.
We stopped to let a car pass, only to realise we were standing either side of a large and very handsome Tanner Beetle (Prionus coriarius) in the road.
There was a distinctive lack of moths; during June I would have expected a lot more moths feeding on flowers during the night in southern Europe. We also saw our second Green Toad.
DAY 4: BALI NIGHTWALK
We had a bit of a relaxed day the following day, staying in Bali and doing some touristy things. Aside from some Bee-wolves on the beach, we saw no notable wildlife until we did another night walk. After our rather tough nightwalk previously, I had suggested we do some mountain roads to up our chances of potential snakes, mammals and invertebrates. That morning, around our hotel I had found a mysterious small scat, which looked reminiscent of marten or possibly hedgehog, so I was keen to see any potential mammal fauna in the area.
As we left Bali, passing the occasional stray cat, we rounded a bend going quite slowly, and a small dark lump became visible in the road. We approached, and it unfurled and was joined by a second animal – both looked briefly at the car, flashing white chests, then disappeared through a fence and away: Stone Martens (Martes foina), probably youngsters. I was elated to have seen not one, but two, alive and in such a comparably urban area to where I had been expecting to see mammalian life. Since the more typical view of martens in Europe is flattened on the road, it was refreshing to have seen some alive and kicking.
We stopped at the side of the road and went a little way along a track – here it was bats galore, and I bitterly resented not packing the bat detector (thinking it wouldn’t fit in my bag and I wouldn’t use it much). Adding to the high-pitched twitter of the bats flying past our ears was the deep, churring call of Nightjars (Caprimulgus europaeus) resonating around us. A Scops Owl flew slowly over my head, landing in some trees on the other side of the valley and contributing to the harmonisation.
Aside from the martens, wildlife in the torchbeam was again rather limited – there was virtually none of moth life I might have expected here in June; whether this was normal or a product of the poor moth trends elsewhere in Europe I wasn’t sure. I saw a centipede dragging some thistle pieces down a crack – what it thought it was doing with that I have no idea, and it shimmied away when I made a careless movement. We also saw an unusual mouse in a quarry area by the side of the road, which was very pale with a brown stripe down the middle. Thinking of Cretan Spiny Mouse, I attempted to follow it into a bush, but it quickly disappeared into the depths and I was unable to find it again.
We headed back into the urban area, where I found a Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) caterpillar feeding on fennel at the side of the road. Unlike the British subspecies, which is very fussy and only feeds on milk parsley, continental Swallowtails feed on a variety of umbellifers. Eggs are laid singly on foodplants. In the road I also found a large and very frantic Ocellated Skink (Chalcides ocellatus) which I subsequently relocated to some scrub. Keeping our noses to the floor after this so we could help any others we found up the kerb, a car pulled up beside us and the driver asked if we were searching for a missing dog.
We also had a quick poke around the dump, which was slightly unsavoury and only produced a cat, a very large Brown Rat, and an extraordinary number of black cockroaches.
DAY 5: KARAVOSTASI BEACH
In the evening, we took the little train tour in Bali to Karavostasi beach, where there is a little scrubby headland that juts out. For some reason, this tiny area was particularly diverse – perhaps being on a hill means that more insects can see it from further away. There were Egyptian Locusts (Anacridium aegyptium), more Purpuricenus desfontainii, more Graphosoma (of both species) than I’d seen anywhere else, and some other unusual shieldbugs I hadn’t seen elsewhere in the local area. These included some particularly huge Nezara viridula form torquata, Acrosternum millierei, and Eurygaster integriceps.
The blackish Eurydema pictured below I thought was probably E. oleracea, but when I put it on iNaturalist it sparked a debate among potential identifiers, who concluded that it was potentially not E. oleracea, but did not suggest an alternative. It was also not identified with any certainty by experts over on Twitter either, and wasn't able to be keyed out. It was probably still the classic Cabbage Bug in a slightly unusual colour form, but perhaps it was a species from Turkey or North Africa which had somehow found its way over, or even something more exciting...
Above: Nezara viridula form torquata
Above: P. desfontainii, G. semipunctatum, Polistes sp., Acrosternum millierei, Eurydema spectabilis, Deraeocoris scach and a very handsomely-marked Carpocoris mediterraneus.
Above: The mystery Eurydema.
Above: Eurygaster integriceps top view
Above: Eurygaster integriceps bottom view
The Eurygaster were particularly beautiful, very smooth textured and fairly uniformly coloured in brownish red tones. They could be seen readily in the tops of grasses at the side of the road. Clearly they weren’t safe from the dreaded tachinids either, as one had a red egg stuck to it. I also saw the spiders Thomisus onustus and Thyene imperialis, both of which were incredibly striking. It was a good time of year and area for salticids, as we also noted Philaeus chrysops, Menemerus semilimbatus, and Plexippus paykulli.
Above: Thomisus onustus
Above: Egyptian Locusts
Above: The small, noisy cicada Oligoglena carayoni.
To round off the day, we tried another night walk on the other side of one of the mountains, next to the Monastery of Timios Prodromos, Attali. Sadly, the perfect-looking long, winding track that leads up into the side of the mountain was fenced off, so we prowled around the road instead. There were lots of antlions flying, and a single mammal, a cracking little Northern White-breasted Hedgehog (Erinaceus roumanicus). Another path we tried to take at the far end of the lower car park was blocked by some unfriendly goats, which tried to chase us away in the dark. This was a particular disappointment, as I believe that path looked extremely promising.
DAY 6: PREVELI PALMS
The morning of our final full day on Crete was spent at Preveli beach, a shingly and sandy beach adjacent to an area of palm forest, cut in two by a small stretch of river and a lagoon. It was a fairly steep walk in places from the top of the cliff, although not a particularly long one, and 30 degrees in the blazing sun made it somewhat gruelling. I saw a large dark dolphin (or very small whale) on its own in the sea. Once down on the shore, the river was nice and cold by comparison, full of frogs and terrapins - the latter of which was pleasing to see as being the native Balkan Terrapin (Mauremys rivulata). I also spotted a rather tolerant Green Lizard, who stopped just long enough for a photo before shimmying away over the crackling dead palm leaves.
The palm forest was a little confusing – there was a sign next to the path which said that entry to the forest was prohibited, but there was an open path through which everyone was using. Perhaps it meant that you couldn’t go off the paths, although everybody was doing that as well.
The palm forest was a strange place, quite unique in its appearance and feeling - the air was hot and very still, and had there not been other people there as well it would have been extremely quiet, save for the rustle and whisper of the palm fronds. The Cretan Date Palm, which this forest is comprised of, is one of only two native palm species in Europe, the other being the European Fan Palm (Chamaerops humilis). The Cretan Date Palm was named theophrasti by Greuter (1967) after Theophrastus, the ancient Greek philosopher sometimes dubbed the 'father of botany', who recorded the existence of palm trees in Crete in 400 BC.
Above: Cretan Date Palm Phoenix theophrasti.
Insect life was a bit thin on the ground in the heat of the day; there was a single Swallowtail flitting around the beach, and Violet Dropwings (Trithemys annulata), among skimmers and other dragonflies, flitted along the banks of the river.
Above: Some sort of skimmer (Orthetrum sp.) and Violet Dropwing
We decided to make one final return to the beach at Karavostasi in the afternoon, where I had found Eurygaster integriceps the day before. I stopped at the top of the hill in order to find some more Eurygaster, trying to get underside shots of both male and female, before winding slowly down the hill towards the beach. We stayed until the evening, when nearly everyone else was gone, finding an enormous earwig (Labidura riparia), and a velvet ant (Mutilla quinquemaculata) which came out for a wander fairly promptly after the beachgoers had departed.
This was a roundup of the general terrestrial invertebrate fauna, skipping over the interiors of the caves we visited and their subterranean inhabitants (detailed in the adjacent blog post Caves of Crete). As we were driving back towards Chania, we saw a dead Cretan Badger (Meles canescens) on the central reservation just past Rethymno, which in itself was probably quite a lucky sighting, albeit a slightly sad one.
Crete was a fascinating island with a lot to explore. As we left, I was entranced by the high mountains in the distance, driving home the enormity of the island and the diversity of habitats it supports; the inevitable thoughts about all the places and wildlife we did not see on this trip start to filter through, so that the trip is inevitably ended by planning another to fill in all the gaps.
Shieldbugs:
• Acrosternum millierei
• Ancyrosoma leucogrammes
• Carpocoris mediterraneus
• Cydnus aterrimus
• Eurydema eckerleini
• Eurydema eckerleini
• Eurydema ornata
• Eurydema sp.
• Eurydema spectabilis
• Eurygaster integriceps
• Eurygaster maura
• Graphosoma italicum
• Graphosoma semipunctatum
• Macroscytus brunneus (dead, TBC)
• Nezara viridula
• Piezodorus lituratus (dead, TBC - not sure about this one)
• Tholagmus flavolineatus
Butterflies:
• Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra)
• Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)
• Cretan Small Heath (Coenonympha thyrsis)
• Cretan Ringlet (Hipparchia cretica)
• Geranium Bronze (Cacyreus marshalli)
• Large White (Pieris brassicae)
• Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
• Oriental Meadow Brown (Hyponephele lupina)
• Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius)
• Swallowtail (Papilio machaon)
• Two Tailed Pasha (Charaxes jasius)
• Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera)
Mammals:
• Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus)
• Cretan Badger (Meles canescens) DOR
• Northern White-breasted Hedgehog (Erinaceus roumanicus)
• Stone Marten (Martes foina)
Also seen were numerous bats of at least two different species flying, and one roosting horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus sp.)