Armenia has a diverse herpetofauna with 51 species belonging to 11 families and 29 genera (Arakelyan et al, 2011). Among the four species of skinks (Scincidae) distributed in Armenia, a new species, the Chernov’s skink (Ablepharus chernovi chernovi), was first discovered and described by I.S. Darevsky on the basis of five specimens collected in the “sel. Teghit, Ashtarakskii raion, Armyanskaya SSR, Teghit village, Ashtarak region, Armenia” [= vicinity of Teghenik village, Hrazdan River valley, Kotayk Province, Armenia] (Darevsky, 1953). The nominal subspecies (A. c. chernovi) was also found in Eastern Anatolia and, possibly, in Northern Syria (Sindaco and Jeremcenko, 2008). Apart from the nominate subspecies, three other subspecies (A. c. eiselti, A. c. isauriensis, A. c. ressli) were described in Turkey by J.F. Schmidtler (Schmidtler, 1997).

The Chernov’s skink is one of the rarest and least known lizard species in Armenia. Few data on the distribution and ecology of this species have been published (Arakelyan et al., 2011; Baran and Atatur, 1998; Tuniev et al., 2014, Yildirim et al., 2017). The main report on distribution of A. chernovi in Armenia derived from Darevsky’s (1957) doctoral thesis. According to data of I.S. Darevsky (1957), a single population of Chernov’s skink occupies the extremely small area in the surrounding Karashamb, Arzakan, Teghenik and Bjni villages (Fig 1). Since then, only four other individuals of A. chernovi were registered in the type locality, all in the period of 1984 -1987 (Szczerbak, 2003).

Thus, after three decades, it was decided to clarify the status of the Chernov’s skink for Armenia. For this, the survey was conducted in April 2015, and then repeated over the next two years in selected location of suitable habitat of the species. According to the description of habitat of I.S. Darevsky (1953), we carefully looked for this species in area of its distribution under small heaps of stones surrounding the wheat fields in zone of dry mountain steppe (1500–1700 m). As result, we found only two individuals of Chernov’s skink (one male with orange breeding colour of dorsum, SVL: 47 mm (Fig. 2) and one sub-adult female with grey colour of dorsum, SVL: 34.5 mm), both on 21 April 2015 at site of c. 4.5 ha between the northern outskirts of the Karashamb village and the western parts of the Teghenik village, noted as type locality. The individuals were captured between 10:00–14:00h, and after measuring and photographing, were released in nature. The weather was sunny with temperatures of 25°C in the sun and 23°C in shadow, and 20% relative air humidity. The habitat is situated in a mountain-steppe zone (40.420469°N, 44.566611°E, 1600 m a.s.l.), on the gentle slopes covered with short grass and sparsely distributed bushes of predominantly Rosa sp.. The area is characterized with rich cover of small to medium stones on slope, and mosaic of crop fields with numerous small heaps of stones at their edges collected by farmers from the fields. The individuals were hiding under medium-sized stones at c. 200 m distance from each other. During the fieldwork, other reptiles were encountered in the same area: Eryx jaculus, Elaphe suaromates, Pelias eriwanensis and Lacerta media were found syntopically with A. chernovi. Subsequent surveys during next two years at the same area has not resulted any observation.

Our survey confirmed the presence of A. chernovi as a part of herpetofauna of Armenia. Yet, the habitat of this species is extremely small and fragmented, and density of population seems to be very low. Farming and grazing appear to significantly threaten the integrity

Herpetology Notes, volume 12: 475-477 (2019) (published online on 13 May 2019)

Rediscovery of Chernov’s skink (Ablepharus chernovi Darevsky, 1953) in Armenia

Marine Arakelyan1*, Vasil Ananian2, and Ruzanna Petrosyan1

1 Faculty of Biology, Yerevan State University, 1 Alex Manoogian Str., 0025, Yerevan, Armenia.

2 179 Bashinjaghyan Str., apt. 23, 0078, Yerevan, Armenia. * Corresponding author. E-mail: arakelyanmarine@ysu.am

Marine Arakelyan et al.476

of the species’ habitat. Due to rarity of lizards in the wild and high anthropogenic pressure on the area of their local distribution, Chernov’s skink is under the threat of total disappearance from territory of Armenia. A. chernovi was included in the Red Data Books of USSR (1984). Currently, Chernov’s skink is listed in Red Book of Armenia (2010) as Critically Endangered (CR) based on A2ac B2ab (ii,iii) criteria, according to IUCN criteria categories. Based on the Red Book Armenia

(2010), “skink habitats were affected by intense human pressure and numerous surveys turned out to be fruitless. At present, some skink sites are totally deteriorated or encroached”. However, because this species is generally common in other countries, in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species ver. 3.1, it is listed as “Least Concern” (Tok et al., 2009). Both, in-situ and ex-situ conservation measures, for the protection of the species’ critically endangered population are urgent in Armenia.

Acknowledgments. We thank to Razmik Sargsyan for help in fieldwork. We also thank the anonymous reviewer for careful reading the manuscript and helpful comments.

References

Arakelyan, M., Danielyan, F., Corti, C., Sindaco, R., Leviton, A. (2011): Herpetofauna of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Salt Lake City, SSAR, pp. 154.

Baran, I., Atatür, M. (1998): Turkish Herpetofauna (Amphibians and Reptiles). Ankara Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Environment, pp. 214.

Darevsky, I.S. (1953): Novii vid gologlaza iz Armenyaskoi SSR (Ablepharus chernovi sp.nov. Reptilia, Sauria). [New species of lidless skink from ArmSSR (Ablepharus chernovi sp.nov. Reptilia, Sauria)] Bull. Mosc. Obsh. Isp. Prir, otd. Biol. 63: 39-41. [in Russian]. Figure 2. Captured male of Ablepharus chernovi chernovi.

Figure 1. The known geographical distribution (red line) and new record of 2015 (red point) of Ablepharus chernovi in Armenia.

Darevsky, I.S. (1957): The fauna of reptiles of Armenia and its zoogeographical analysis. Ph.D. Dissertation, Zoological Institute, Academy of Sciences of Armenian SSR, Yerevan, pp. 484. [in Russian].

Sindaco, R., Jeremcenko, V.K. (2008): The reptiles of the Western Palearctic. Latina, Italy. Edizioni Belvedere, pp. 579.

Schmidtler, J.F. (1997): Die Ablepharus kitaibelii - Gruppe in Südanatolien und benachbarten Gebieten (Squamata: Sauria: Scincidae). Herpetozoa 10: 35-62.

Szczerbak, N.N. (2003): Guide to the Reptiles of the Eastern Palearctic. Malabar, Florida, Krieger Publishing Co., pp. 260.

The Red Book of Animals of the Republic of Armenia. (2010): Animals. Yerevan, Ministry of Nature Protection Press, pp. 368.

The Red Data Books of USSR. (1984): Rare and endangered species of animals and plants (1984): Moscow, Lesnaya promyshlenost Publ. pp. 480. [in Russian].

Tok, V., Ugurtas, I.H., Sevinç, M., Böhme, W., Crochet, P.-A., Nilson, G., Akarsu, F., Lymberakis, P. (2009): Ablepharus chernovi (errata version published in 2016). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2009: e.T164622A86443519. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009.RLTS.T164622A5912863.en. Downloaded on 09 March 2019.

Tuniyev, B.S., Tuniyev, S.B., Avcı, A., Ilgaz, Ç. (2014): Herpetological studies in Eastern and North-Eastern Turkey. Current Studies in Herpetology 14: 44–53.

Yildirim, E., Kumlutaş, Y., Candan, K. & Ilgaz, Ç. (2017): Comparative skeletal osteology of three species of Scincid lizards (Genus: Ablepharus) from Turkey Vertebrate Zoology 67: 251-259.

Rediscovery of Chernov’s skink in Armenia 477

Accepted by Saeed Hosseinian Yousefkhani