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Unmanned aerial vehicles (colloquially known as drones) equipped with a high-definition camera have a wide range of applications in biological research. In this article we report on our experiences using a drone to explore the surface of hard to access small islands in the North of Ibiza (Balearic Islands, Spain) for possible occurrences of lizard populations. On one of these small and unnamed islets that we call “Escull a Punta de Llevant” we detected a hitherto unknown population of Podarcis pityusensis.

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Hemorrhois hippocrepis arrives at the beginning of the twenty-first century to the Pityusic Islands, like an invasive species and it has placed the endemic lizard Podarcis pityusensis at serious risk of extinction in the two major islands. It makes urgent to have an estimated population density of lizards in the various islets of the Pityusas. It has been used personal field notes with the indications that allow us to estimate the population density in the different visits realized to the islets from 1979 to 2024.

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In this study we compile data regarding lizard densities of the island populations of the Ibiza wall lizard, Podarcis pityusensis, which can serve as a baseline for future research and control of the invasive snakes, and in particular the horseshoe whip snake Hemorrhois hippocrepis, in the Pityusic Islands. Special attention has been given to the correct official spelling of 96 locations of which 89 are real rocks, islets and islands. For each island a short description, toponymy, faunal and floral aspects and some herpetological history is given, and a lizard density value was assigned. The results are very disturbing, with two confirmed- and three most likely extinct island populations of Podarcis pityusensis, and we call for coordinated action.