The conservation status of the world’s reptiles

MB and MR were funded by a grant from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, BC by the Rufford Foundation. North American and Mexican species assessments were funded by the Regina Bauer Frankenberg Foundation for Animal Welfare. Species assessments under the Global Reptile Assessment (GRA) initiative are supported by: Moore Family Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Conservation International, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), and European Commission. Additional acknowledgements are included in the online supplementary material. The assessment workshop for Mexican reptiles was kindly hosted by Ricardo Ayala and the station personnel of the Estacion de Biologia Chamela, Institut de Biologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Workshop and logistical organisation of the Philippines assessments was provided by the Conservation International Philippines Office, in particular Ruth Grace Rose Ambal, Melizar V. Duya and Oliver Coroza. Workshop and logistical organisation for the European Reptile and Amphibian Assessments was provided by Doga Dernegi, in particular Ozge Balkiz and Ozgur Koc. Workshop and logistical organisation for assessments of sea snakes and homalopsids was provided by the International Sea Turtle Symposium and Dr. Colin Limpus (Australian Government Environmental Protection Agency). Special thanks to Jenny Chapman (EPA) and Chloe Schaub le (ISTS). Thank you also to Dr. Gordon Guymer (Chief Botanist Director of Herbarium) for accommodating us at the Herbarium in the Brisbane Botanical Gardens, and Mark Read and Kirsten Dobbs (Great Barrier Reef Marine Parks Association) and Dave Pollard and Brad Warren (Ocean Watch Australia) for institutional support. Mohamed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Conservation International Madagascar and the Darwin Initiative contributed to funding the costs of the Madagascar reptile workshop.Effective and targeted conservation action requires detailed information about species, their distribution, systematics and ecology as well as the distribution of threat processes which affect them. Knowledge of reptilian diversity remains surprisingly disparate, and innovative means of gaining rapid insight into the status of reptiles are needed in order to highlight urgent conservation cases and inform environmental policy with appropriate biodiversity information in a timely manner. We present the first ever global analysis of extinction risk in reptiles, based on a random representative sample of 1500 species (16% of all currently known species). To our knowledge, our results provide the first analysis of the global conservation status and distribution patterns of reptiles and the threats affecting them, highlighting conservation priorities and knowledge gaps which need to be addressed urgently to ensure the continued survival of the world’s reptiles. Nearly one in five reptilian species are threatened with extinction, with another one in five species classed as Data Deficient. The proportion of threatened reptile species is highest in freshwater environments, tropical regions and on oceanic islands, while data deficiency was highest in tropical areas, such as Central Africa and Southeast Asia, and among fossorial reptiles. Our results emphasise the need for research attention to be focussed on tropical areas which are experiencing the most dramatic rates of habitat loss, on fossorial reptiles for which there is a chronic lack of data, and on certain taxa such as snakes for which extinction risk may currently be underestimated due to lack of population information. Conservation actions specifically need to mitigate the effects of human-induced habitat loss and harvesting, which are the predominant threats to reptiles.Esmee Fairbairn FoundationRufford FoundationRegina Bauer Frankenberg Foundation for Animal WelfareMoore Family FoundationGordon and Betty Moore FoundationConservation International, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF)European Commission Joint Research CentreZayed Species Conservation FundConservation International MadagascarDarwin Initiativ

AGE STRUCTURE AND BODY SIZE OF Mertensiella caucasica (WAGA, 1876) (CAUDATA: SALAMANDRIDAE) IN A POPULATION FROM TURKEY

Here we present the age structure of a breeding Caucasian Salamander population from a high-altitude locality (Kazikbeli Plateau, Kurtun, Gumushane; 2213 m a.s.l.). Age structure was analyzed by counting lines of arrested growth (LAG). Endosteal resorption raised difficulties of counting LAGs. Males were found to be average older than females. Range of age was from 5 to 11 years in males, 4 to 8 years in females and 1 to 3 years in juveniles. Snout-vent length (SVL) of each individual was used as body size and mean values were recorded as 64.24 mm in males, 58.45 mm in females, and 44.60 mm in juveniles. Difference of SVL between sexes was found statistically significant. Meanwhile, male-biased sexual dimorphism was calculated (SDI = -0.099). The SVL was correlated with age in both sexes as strongly positive

Level of relics in high-mountain flora of isolated Fisht-Oshten Massif and Chernomorskaya Chain

For the first time the level of relics of the high-mountain flora of the northwestern edge of the highlands of the Caucasus has been established. The Fisht-Oshten Massif and the Black Sea Chain have a uniquely high level of relics - 51.0% (617 species), with a predominance of Tertiary-relic species - Rt - 41.2% (498 species). The second largest representation is a group of Holocene relics - Rx - 7.3% (88 species), the minimum represented Pleistocene relics - Rg - 2.5% (31 species). The relic level of alpine species is one of the highest in the Caucasus and is 52.8% (338 species). Alpine species also have predominance of Pliocene relics - 46.7% (299 species), the number of glacial relics is 2.5% (16 species), the share of xerothermic relics - 3.6% (23 species). In the preservation of relic species revealed general trends, depending on the remoteness of local flora from the main diaspora on the Fisht-Oshten Massif and the modern area of the meadow belt. These trends persist in Tertiary relics, while other patterns are observed for glacial and Holocene relics. The number of glacial relics fades to the west, most clearly it can be seen in alpine species. The number of Holocene relics as much as possible on the edge areas (Fisht-Oshten Massif and Mt. Semashkho) and minimally on the central peaks of the Black Sea Chain, where the Holocene expansion of xerophyte plants was insignificant.</jats:p

Amphibians and reptiles of South Ossetia

For the first time we have summarised the results of the study of batraho- and herpetofauna of the Republic of South Ossetia. We present an Annotated List of species as authentically living in the region, as well as ever mentioned for it in literature, field notebooks, museum collections and our own expeditions in South Ossetia. The batrachofauna of the Republic of South Ossetia counts nine species and the herpetofauna 19 species. It provides a complete inventory of all finds (65 localities). A number of confirmed species have been assigned for the first time in scientific literature for the territory of South Ossetia: Emys orbicularis, Darevskia mixta, Natrix megalocephala, Hierophis schmidti, Pelias dinniki, P. kaznakovi. We detected the morphological specificity of the South Ossetia' populations of Darevskia praticola, D. brauneri and D. caucasica. The Assessment of conservation status has been evaluated for all forms of amphibians and reptiles in the region. According to its results, five amphibian species and ten reptile species are recommended for inclusion into the Red Data Book of the Republic of South Ossetia. The central problem of environmental activities in the Region is the lack of a network of different rank protected areas covering all natural zones and altitudinal belts. The South Ossetian State Nature Reserve is the single protected area of South Ossetia, which provides protection only for three endangered species of amphibians and three species of reptiles

Lethenteron ninae, a new nonparasitic lamprey species from the north-eastern Black Sea basin (Petromyzontiformes: Petromyzontidae)

Lethenteron ninae sp. n., a nonparasitic lamprey, is described from rivers of western Transcaucasia in Russia and Abkhazia. It is distinguished from the other species of Lampetrinae in Europe and west Asia (Black Sea basin) by the combination of the following character states: adults with a dark blotch near the apex of the second dorsal fin; exolaterals absent; posterials either absent or more commonly present in a single incomplete row of 3–7 teeth (a toothless gap in the middle); transverse lingual lamina with 9–15 unicuspid teeth, the median one markedly enlarged; supraoral lamina with two unicuspid teeth separated by a toothless bridge; 1–2 rows of anterials, usually 2; first row of anterials with 5–7 unicuspid teeth; oral fimbriae, 69–99; trunk myomeres in both ammocoetes and adults, 56–62; and in ammocoetes, trunk not mottled and tongue precursor bulb clearly triangular, with a wide base and a pointed apex bearing few cirri.</jats:p

Geobotanical and population characteristics of Arbutus andrachne L. in Abkhazia

For the first time for relic phytocenosis with the participation of Arbutus andrachne L. in Abkhazia, data are provided for the geobotanical characteristics of communities, structure, number, assessment of condition and spatial placement, generative sphere of individuals of all known cenopopulations, as well as considered possible pathways of prokhoresis and modem range of species in Abkhazia, assessing its environmental status.</jats:p

On taxonomic status of shield-head vipers from Turkish Lesser Caucasus and East Anatolia

International audienc