Published September 16, 2019 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Updated distribution and species composition of the amphibians and reptiles along the Lower Danube, Bulgaria

  • 1. National Museum of Natural History-BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria
  • 2. Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Sofia, Bulgaria
  • 3. National Museum of Natural History-BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria|Department of Integrative Zoology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria|National Museum of Natural History-BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria|University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
  • 4. Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research, Sofia, Bulgaria|National Museum of Natural History-BAS, Sofia, Bulgaria

Description

In a recently published paper (Popgeorgiev et al. 2019), we compiled for the first time published and unpublished data on localities of the herpetofaunal species observed up to ca. 10 km south of the Bulgarian Danube River. Overall, we identified 687 published records belonging to 62 cells of the 10×10 km MGRS grid. Another 1918 records with real coordinates of our unpublished data from the past ca. 13 years belong to 1269 cells of the 1×1 MGRS grid. As a result, 34 native species – 15 amphibians (4 salamanders and 11 frogs) and 19 reptiles (1 turtle, 2 tortoises, 8 lizards and 8 snakes), and one invasive turtle, have been recorded; further species findings are unlikely. This study further identifies areas that are under-sampled and species such as Pelophylax lessonae that are cryptic. Our data are especially relevant concerning the high economic incentives to change the hydrology of the Danube, which will likely negatively impact the biodiversity along the river and its surrounding.

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