Статьи

Histological features of the skin of Salamandrella keyserlingii males are analyzed as depends on the seasonal cycle phase. Skin areas from the middle of the tail’s right side (caudal skin, CS), the center of the throat sac (throat skin, TS), and the middle of the back (dorsal skin, DS) were examined.

Data on the status of the populations of Testudo graeca Linnaeus, 1758 on the Primorsky lowland of Dagestan are given. The research was conducted in 2014 - 2018. Over the past few decades, the range of this species on the Primorsky lowland has reduced by nine or more times. Viable populations were preserved on the coastal dunes and semidesert-steppe landscapes in the vicinity of the Aji Lake (1,300 hectares) and along the fringes and outskirts of the forest in the Samur River delta (2,100 hectares).

Widely distributed reptile species are characterized by reproductive plasticity, which may also appear as variations of the reproductive cycles. To understand the specificity of the male reproductive cycle of Zootoca vivipara in the Asian part of its range, males from the Tomsk population (the southeast of the Western Siberia) caught from April till July 2017 were studied (n = 27).

The Caspian whipsnake was described by I. I. Lepyokhin (1771), possibly from the Western Kazakhstan. The species name caspius was assigned to the snake by J. F. Gmelin (1789). Based on our own and literature data, modern habitats of the Caspian whipsnake are given in the Western Kazakhstanian and Atyrau regions of Kazakhstan – from 48°47.305' N and 47°22.559' E (in the north) to 46°56.536' N and 49°18.177' E (in the south).

The long-term dynamics of size and weight characteristics and body condition of Pelobates fuscus metamorphs in five local populations of the Medveditsa river floodplain (Saratov region) are analyzed. The limits of changes in body length, live and dry weight, and the body condition index (W/SVL) of males and females were established. In 2009 - 2018 the size and weight parameters of the P. fuscus metamorphs had a significant level of interannual variation.

The paper presents materials on the reproductive biology of the hyrcanian meadow lizard, Darevskia praticola hyrcanica from a typical locality (the Gadasygahi Natural Boundaries, Talysh Mountains, Astara administrative district of Azerbaijan). Animals were caught in the first decade of May, 2016. After being caught, the adult lizards were kept in groups (one female and two males) in our laboratory until oviposition. Females with a body length of 45.8 - 60.6 mm were laying eggs from May 28 till June 20.

Lantz’s newt, or the Caucasian smooth newt (Lissotriton lantzi), is an endemic species of the Caucasus. The distribution and abundance of this species are decreasing, especially on the periphery of its habitat. The paper presents the results of our study of reproduction, growth and development of Lantz's newt in artificial conditions. Eight couples of animals were caught on the Strizhament Mountain (the Stavropol region, Russian Federation) in 2015 and 2016.

The results of our study of the hemoparasites of the lake frog inhabiting the North-Western Ciscaucasian reservoirs are presented. It was found that the parasites are represented by three species, namely: the sporozoa Hepatozoon magna and Dactylosoma ranarum, and Microfilaria. Differences in the erythrocyte morphology of the lake frog when infected by sporozoa were identified. Dactylosoma ranarum does not alter the size of the erythrocytes affected.

The present study was conducted to research the herpetofaunal in the Bagh area (the central part of State of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan). It lasted from May 2015 till November 2016. As a result, 5 specimens of the Western-Himalayan endemic wolf-snake species Lycodon mackinnoni were recorded by visual encounter. These findings were new for the habitat of the species and for the specific composition of the ophidian fauna of both the Azad Kashmir area and Pakistan in the whole.

Morphological features of the dorsal (DS), throat (TS) and tail skins (caudal skin, CS) were examined in the aquatic- and terrestrial-morphotype females of Salamandrella keyserlingii. Using histological and statistical methods, the presence of the stratum corneum of the epidermis, the fullness degree of the mucous glands, and the development of the subdermal connective tissue were estimated.