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The article briefly examines the main historical stages of the formation of the turtle system from the first classifications (the 18^th century) to the present day: the pre-evolutionary (? – 1766 – 1870) and evolutionary (1871 – present) ones, and, as part of the latter one, the traditional (1871 – 1975) and phylogenetic (1975 – present) ones.

Anoles (Anolis Daudin, 1802) are a large genus of recent Neotropical lizards characterized by high morphological diversity, rapid microevolutionary processes, and disappearance of the autotomy plane in the distal caudal vertebrae during ontogeny. Tail radiographs of 15 species of anoles from the herpetological collection of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg) were examined to reveal autotomy in the tail regions where the autotomy planes were lost. In two species, namely, A.

This study aimed to clarify the nature and extent of the contact zone between subspecies of the sand lizard Lacerta agilis chersonensis and L. a. exigua in the Central Chernozem Region. Based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) marker analysis, the boundary of their ranges in the studied area is located in the western part of the Kursk region, specifically within the Solntsevsky and Manturovsky districts. No mixed populations were found; the distance between the closest localities of the eastern and southern subspecies was 16 km.

This report details the discovery of 51 individuals of the dice snake Natrix tessellata (Laurenti, 1768) in the Perm region during 2019–2024. The aim of the study was to confirm the species identity of these findings and to assess the stability of the corresponding population. The methods included morphological analysis, electronic tagging using radio-frequency microchips (RFID), and molecular genetic analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene.

The article presents data on the dynamics of the erythrocyte content in the blood of the larvae of the brown frog Rana macrocnemis at stages 23–46 of their development (according to Gosner) in the highlands (Burshi village, Republic of Dagestan: 42°01'N, 47°03'E; 2250 m asl). Significantly high activity of erythropoiesis was revealed in the larvae of Rana macrocnemis.

Since 2019, single individuals of the dice snake Natrix tessellata (Laurenti, 1768) have been repeatedly found in the Kama Cis-Urals. The lack of data on the thermobiology of the species in atypical conditions determined the purpose of this work – a comparison of the most important thermobiological characteristics of the water snake from the Lower and Middle Volga region, as well as the Kama Cis-Urals.

Currently, there is an unacceptably high rate of decline in the biodiversity of vertebrates, and, first of all, amphibians. This situation requires emergency measures to save the endangered species of these animals. One of such measures is the development of assisted reproductive technologies, including cryopreservation and cryobanking of reproductive cells (sperm and oocytes). However, cryopreservation technologies, successfully used for banking sperm, have not yet been adapted for cryobanking amphibian oocytes.

A method has been developed for creating artificial nesting sites for the Far Eastern turtle during the period of high water content of the Amur River in its breeding areas. The Far Eastern turtle is listed in the Red Books of the Russian Federation and Khabarovsk Krai. Among the factors limiting natural reproduction are high and prolonged floods on the Amur River. Artificially created sites above the zone of coastal flooding by natural waters provide turtles with conditions for successful reproduction.

We analyzed karyotypes of most toad species of the family Bufonidae inhabiting the Palearctic (6 genera, 29 species). All diploid species had 11 pairs of chromosomes. In most of them (Bufo, Bufotes and Barbarophryne) the nucleolar organizer (NOR) was located on the 6th pair and only in a few species of the genus Bufotes on the 5th, Strauchbufo – on the 4th, Epidalea – on the 11th, and Sclerophrys – on the 10th.