1994. Volume 1. No. 2. Contents

THE SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF THE SLENDER RACER Coluber najadum (EICHWALD) FROM SOUTH-EAST AZERBAIJAN, AND SOME REMARKS ON THE HERPETOLOGICAL FAUNA OF THIS REGION

I. S. Darevsky and N. L. Orlov

A new subspecies Coluber najadum albitemporalis ssp. nov. from the maritime lowland of South-East Azerbaijan is described. It differs from the other Coluber najadum subspecies and the related Coluber species in having two bright milky-white spots in the temporary area just behind the head. The existence of endemic forms among South-East Azerbaijan and some other amphibia and reptiles is discussed.

Key words: Reptilia, Serpentes, Colubridae, Coluber najadum albitemporalis, Azerbaijan, taxonomy, endemics.

BIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF Bufo gargarizans CANTOR 1842 ON SOUTHERN SAKHALIN

H.-J. Herrmann and E. Kabisch

In field studies on Bufo gargarizans Cantor 1842, in the south of the Far Eastern island Sakhalin data were obtained about the intraspecific variabllity in pattern, biometrical measurements and ecological conditions of the breeding sites. Detailed investigations about ethology, nutrition, larvae and micromorphology of epithelial structures were carried out under field conditions and in the laboratory. The results confirm the postulation that Bufo gargarizans is a valid species. The special ethological and pattern characteristics of the Sakhalin populations are discussed.

Key words: Amphibia, Anura, Bufo gargarizans, variation, Far East.

DIET OF THE NEW CALEDONIAN GECKO Rhacodactylus auriculatus (SQUAMATA, GEKKONIDAE)

A. M. Bauer and R. A. Sadlier

The diet of the large New Caledonian gekkonid lizard, Rhacodactylus auriculatus is highly varied and most prey items taken are relatively large. In addition to many types of arthropods, this lizard also includes geckos and especially skinks in its diet. It also appears to feed on pollen. Saurophagy in this species was previously predicted on the basis of dental morphology, whereas the inclusion of flower parts in the diet was signaled by observations reported in the 19th Century.

Key words: Gekkonidae, Rhacodactylus auriculatus, diet, saurophagy, pollen.

ON THE POSITION OF THE EPICORACOIDS IN AMPHIBIAN ARCIFERAL PECTORAL GIRDLES

 V. G. Borkhvardt and E. B. Ivashintsova

The data presented reject the idea (Borkhvardt 1993) that pressure of the larval limbs, enclosed in the opercular chambers, determines the arrangement of the epicoracoids in anuran arciferal girdles. According to the new hypothesis, the contralateral epicoracoids of amphibian arciferal girdles occupy different horizontal levels because the muscles of the functioning larval right and left limbs pull them with unequal power. In such a situation arcifery indicates that there are right-handers and left-handers among the amphibians.

Key words: Amphibia, arciferal girdles, epicoracoid position

ECOLOGICAL MECHANISMS DETERMINING STABILITY OF COLOR POLYMORPHISM IN THE POPULATION OF MOOR FROG, Rana arvalis NILSS

V. G. Ishchenko

The distribution and frequency of various color morphs were determined in the population of moor frog, Rana arvalis Nilss, on the Middle Ural. The color polymorphism has been established to correlate with some demographic traits such as migration and the life-span. The relative stability of polymorphism within the population is assumed to be determined by ecological mechanisms, i.e., the dynamics of numbers and spatial and age structure of the population.

Key words: ecology, polymorphism, amphibians, brown frogs.

INDIRECT COMMUNICATIONS AND ITS ROLE IN THE FORMATION OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE IN Varanus griseus (SAURIA)

A. Yu. Tsellarius and Yu. G. Men'shikov

Desert monitors are able to distinguish sex and age of conspecifics by their traces. Probably identification of individuals by tracks is possible also. All individuals make special scent marks regularly. Old monitors and those living for a long time in the particular region mark less intensively than young animals and new settlers. Spatial structure of the population is a mosaic of alternating areas with low density of tracks and areas with high density. The latters were named settlements. The area occupied by a settlement is 2 - 4 km². The permanent information interaction with the neighbours is maintained mostly not by means of direct contacts, but is indirect through traces and signal markings. In the contacts of settled monitors of one settlement the level of aggressiveness is lower than in the contacts of settled animals with strangers. Marking in monitors is probably of double significance. On the one hand it is indirect self-presentation permitting a painless inclusion of the newcomers into the society, on the other hand intensive marking by settlers establishes a signal field specific for the particular settlement, which makes it difficult for strange individuals to take root, and therefore stabilizes the social situation.

Key words: Reptilia, Varanidae, social structure, communication.

METHOD OF THE SIMPLIFIED EVALUATION OF GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION OF THE ASIAN Eremias LIZARDS (SAURIA: LACERTIDAE)

 K. A. Truweller, A. N. Makarov, and V. F. Orlova

By the PAAG electrophoretic spectra of Coomassi-stained 61 - 73 bands from 4 "tissues" (heart, skeletal muscle, kidney, liver proteins) for each of 17 specimens representing at least 3 or 4 species, (Eremias vermiculata Blanf., E. przewalskii Str., E. sp. and E. multiocellata Gunther) were compared. Most of the specimens were collected in Mongolia. Their tree, based on several measures of genetic distances, showed the order of the species listed above, with E. sp., the closest to the point of divergency, and situated between E. przewalskii and the specimen of E. multiocellata from several localities and biotypes. The genetic similarity of the biotypes of the last species is discussed in regard with other data on the body size and proportions, pholidosis, coloration.

Key words: Lacertidae, Eremias, systematics, Mongolia, evaluation of genetic differentiation.

PECULIARITIES OF VARIATION OF THE SPOTTED NEWT Triturus vulgaris lantzi WOLT., CRESTED NEWT T. Cristatus karelini STR., AND THE BANDED NEWT T. vittatus ophryticus BERT. IN THE WESTERN CAUCASUS

B. S. Tuniyev

Caucasian forms of the spotted newt (Triturus vulgaris lantzi Wolterstorff 1914) crested newt (Triturus cristatus karelini Strauch 1870) and the banded newt (Triturus vittatus ophryticus Berthold 1846) are spread on both slopes of the Western Caucasus. Only the last-named is the most common and widely-distributed species which, however, does not spread the alpine belts. The other two species occur sporadically, T. vulgaris lantzi inhabiting nearly all the mountain ecological belts from the Black Sea coast in the south, the River Kuban' in the north, and up to the subalpine meadows of the Main Caucasus Range (Tuniyev, 1983). The biotopes of T. cristatus karelini, disappearing from the region, gravitate towards the foothills of both slopes of the Western Caucasus no higher than 1000 m. There are only fragmentary data on variation of T. vulgaris lantzi (Bartenev and Reznikova, 1935), whereas the population variation of T. vittatus and T. cristatus remains completely unknown. In view of the biogeographic interest in the study of fauna genesis of the caudate amphibians in the Western Caucasus we tried to fill this gap.

Key words: Amphibia, newt, Triturus, variation, Caucasus.

STRUCTURE, LOCALIZATION AND STABILITY OF CHROMOSOMES IN KARYOTYPE EVOLUTION IN LIZARDS OF THE LACERTIDAE FAMILY

L. A. Kupriyanova

The chromosomes of eight lacertid species were studied by standard and banding techniques (C- and NOR-banding, telomeric sequences) and chromosomal interlocation during mitosis and meiosis was investigated. The data obtained are discussed in the light of modern ideas of the interrelation between DNA changes, karyotype evolution, and speciation. The assumption is voiced on the optimal number of arms and, consequently, the "optimal" number of functional telomeres in the Lacertidae, which in its turn may be associated with the structure of the nucleus and with canalization of the genome as a whole.

Key words: Lacertidae, karyotype, chromosome, evolution.

CAUDAL AUTOTOMY IN COLUBRID SNAKE Xenochrophis piscator FROM VIETNAM

N. B. Ananjeva and N. L. Orlov

A rare case of caudal autotomy in colubrid snake Xenochrophis piscator from Vietnam is described. It is an intervertebral autotomy that differs from the more commonly encountered intravertebral autotomy typical of most lizards species. The distribution and origin of intervertebral autotomy in Squamata are discussed.

Key words: Reptilia, snakes, Colubridae, Xenochrophis, Vietnam, caudal autotomy.

THE COMPOUND SACRUM IN INDIVIDUAL VARIABILITY OF COMMON PLATANNA (Xenopus laevis)

E. E. Kovalenko

One of the variants of the sacral-urostyle area structure in common platanna is considered, which gives the new information on the origine of the compound sacrum. It originated from the association of diapophyses in the common sacral wing. This variant is not reproduced in the individual variability of the forms possessing the cylindrical sacrum process. The features of the sacrum variability in common platanna in comparison with the true frogs indicate to the essential distinctions in the morphogenesis of these two kinds of simple sacrum.

Key words: Amphibia, Anura, sacral structure, variations, compound sacrum.

MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CAUCASIAN ROCK LIZARDS Lacerta caucasica caucasica AND L. c. daghestanica FROM THE CONTACT ZONE

E. S. Roytberg

About 170 specimens of L. c. caucasica and L. c. daghestanica from two localities where they had been found to coexist sympatrically, were studied for color pattern and 7 meristic scale characters. In Khorachoi (south-eastern Chechnya) the specimens of the two forms differ clearly by their dorsal pattern and form two sharply discrete classes along PC_I in the principal component analyses of scalation; a distinct hiatus between the two taxa was revealed for the superciliary granulae number. In Khvarshi (western Daghestan), the morphological separation between the two forms is somewhat weaker than in Khorachoi for both scalation and color pattern. Some reproductive isolation between L. c. caucasica and L. c. daghestanica in the studied sections of their contact zone is proposed.

Key words: lizards, Lacerta, variation, speciation.

OBITUARY

Marat Dilmukhamedov (1940 - 1994)