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Bioscience Discovery, 8(3): 582-587, July - 2017
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Research Article
A Herpetofaunal Inventory of Vidarbha Region, Maharashtra, India
Joshi PS1*, Charjan AP
1 and VT Tantarpale
2
1Department of Zoology, Dr. R. G. Rathod Arts and Science College, Murtizapur, Maharashtra, India.
2P. G. Department of Zoology, Vidya Bharti Mahavidyalaya, Amravati, Maharashtra, India.
Article Info
Abstract
Received: 01-06-2017,
Revised: 26-06-2017,
Accepted: 29-06-2017
The present report provides knowledge about the herpetofauna of Vidarbha
region of Indian state Maharashtra. The present inventory of herpetofauna has
been compiled primarily from articles and technical reports published in
scientific journals. However reports in newsletters, unpublished reports, personal
field observations and personal communications with other herpetologists and
field workers have also been taken into account. Information on species
distribution and taxonomy has been compiled from literature published over past
two decades until July 2016. The review cleared the presence of seventy species
belongings to four order and seventeen families. There are, in future, chances of
more species being reported because few pockets and habitats in the Vidarbha
region required extensive exploration.
Keywords:
Herpetofauna, India,
Maharashtra, Vidarbha.
INTRODUCTION
The diversity of flora and fauna on the earth
and its genesis has long been a source of
questionable curiosity (Joshi et al., 2015). The
study of biodiversity includes both the inherent and
anthropocentric principles allied with it. The
importance of these incredible biological factors is
renowned in relation of the ecosystem services.
Biodiversity is the foundation for maintaining the
ecosystem and the operative facets of the species
that offers many goods and services to for human
well being. Examinations of species diversity of a
region facilitate the evaluation of potential
serviceable role of the species. In any ecosystems,
observing the species diversity can be used as a
contrivance to minimize the mismanagement and
contamination in urbanized, industrial, rural, and
managed areas by human (Baumgartner, 2007).
Extending this view, the species diversity review in
any ecosystems is essential to understand the effect
of anthropocentric development on the integrity and
sustenance of ecosystem.
The inventories of species diversity are
immense resource that provides recent and previous
information on their topographic distribution. The
elementary species occurrence data have various
applications. Species inventories that contain such
elementary and collective species-occurrence data,
plays a fundamental role in providing information
on the status of species transpire in different spatial
scales. These inventories have been used for
taxonomic and biogeographic studies as well for
conservation planning, reserve selection, climate
change studies, agriculture, forestry and fishery, and
species translocation studies (Chapman, 2005a).
The meticulousness of the taxonomic and spatial
information is valuable reflection for determination
of data quality and validation of the species
occurrence data. Hence the significance of the data
excellence in the inventory of Indian herpetofauna
hardly needs emphasis (Chapman, 2005b). In this
perspective, the present communication is part of an
effort to verify the validity of herpetofaunal species
based on a review of the earlier checklists published
over the past two decades.
http://biosciencediscovery.com 583 ISSN: 2231-024X (Online)
Joshi et al.,
Finally, a comprehensive herpetofaunal
inventory of Vidarbha region of Maharashtra has
been provided along with source literature.
Materials and methods
Study area: Vidarbha is one of the most
diversified Regions in Maharashtra State of India,
with respect to biodiversity. Its healthy climate,
mountainous terrain, rugged configuration and
sudden fall in elevation are phenomenal. It is
located between 20.9374° north and 77.7796°
east. It has a total area of 97,321 square kilometers.
The climatic condition of this district is
characterized by a hot summer, well-distributed
rainfall during the south-west monsoon season and
generally dry weather during rest of the year. The
cold season is from December to February. The
average annual rainfall in the district is 795.7 mm.
During summer the mean daily maximum
temperature in summer was 44.2° C to minimum as
26.7° C while it decreased toward winter with the
mean daily maximum temperature was 27.8° C and
minimum 14.9° C.
Primary inventory: The present inventory of
herpetofauna has been compiled primarily from
articles and technical reports published in scientific
journals. However reports in newsletters,
unpublished reports, personal field observations and
personal communications with other herpetologists
and field workers have also been taken into account.
Information on species distribution and taxonomy
has been compiled from literature published until
December 2016.
Taxonomic Treatise: The list provided, is at the
species level and the taxonomy follows, Daniel
(2002), Das (2003), Whitaker and Captain (2004),
Ahmed et al. (2009), Khaire (2010) and Venugopal
(2010).
Validity of species listed: Based on the
distributional records available, the validity of the
species listed in the earlier checklists of India,
particularly Maharashtra and neighborhood
published in the past two decades has been
reviewed.
RESULTS/ SPECIES ACCOUNTS
The present comprehensive inventory is
based on a review of the earlier checklists of the
herpetofauna published over a past decade. The
review cleared the presence of following seventy
species belongings to four order and seventeen
families (Table 1).
Table 1: A Herpetofaunal inventory of Vidarbha region, Maharashtra, India
Sr. Order Family Species Common name
1. Anura Bufonidae Duttaphrynus melanostictus
(Schneider,1799)
Asian common toad
2. Duttaphrynus stomaticus (Lutken, 1864) Indian marbled toad
3. Dicroglossidae Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis (Schneider, 1799) Indian skipper frog
4. Euphlyctis hexadctylus (Lesson, 1834) Indian green frog
5. Fejervarya limnocharis (Gravenhost, 1829) Asian grass frog
6. Hoplobatrachus tigerinus (Daudin,1803) Indian bullfrog
7. Hoplobatrachus crassus (Jerdon,1853) Jerdon’s bullfrog
8. Sphaerotheca breviceps (Schneider, 1799) Indian burrowing frog
9. Microhylidae Microhyla ornata (Dumeril and Bibron,
1841)
Asian ornate frog
10. Kaloula taprobanica (Parker 1934) Asian painted frog
11. Ranidae Hylarana malabarica (Tshudi, 1838) Fungoid frog
12. Rhacophoridae Polypedatus maculatus (Gray, 1830) Indian tree frog
13. Testudines Trionychidae Lissemys punctata (Lecepede, 1788) Indian flapshell turtle
14. Squamata
(Sauria)
Agamidae Calotes versicolor (Daudin, 1802) Indian garden lizard
15. Calotes rouxii (Dumeril and Bibron, 1837) Indian forest lizards
16. Sitana ponticeriana (Cuvier, 1829) Fan throated lizard
17. Psammophilus blanfordanus (Stoliczka,
1871)
Blanford’s rock agama
18. Chamaeleonidae Chamaeoleo zeylanicus (Laurenti, 1768) Indian chamaeleon
19. Gekkonidae Geckoella collegalensis (Beddomi 1870) Forest spotted gecko
20. Geckoella nebulosus (Agawal and Karanath
2015)
Common spotted gecko
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21. Hemidactylus brookii (Gray, 1845) Brook’s house gecko
22. Hemidactylus flaviviridis (Murray, 1886) Yellow-green House
Gecko
23. Hemidactylus frenatus (Schlegel, 1836) Asian house gecko
24. Hemidactylus giganteus (Stoliczka, 1871) Giant Indian gecko
25. Hemidactylus hemchandrai (Dandge and
Tiple 2015)
Hemchandrai’s gecko
26. Hemidactylus leschenaultia (Dumeril and
Bibron, 1836)
Common bark gecko
27. Hemidactylus triedrus (Daudin, 1802) Termite hill gecko
28. Scincidae Eutropis beddomii (Jerdon, 1870) Beddome's skink
29. Eutropis carinata (Schneider, 1799) Keeled grass skink
30. Eutropis macularius (Blyth, 1853) Bronze grass skink
31. Lygosoma lineate (Gray, 1839) lined writhing skink
32. Lygosoma punctatus (Gmelin, 1799) Spotted supple skink
33. Varanidae Varanus bengalensis (Daudin, 1803) Bengal monitor lizard
34. Squamata
(Ophida)
Typhlopidae Grypotyphlops acutus (Dumeril and Bibron,
1844)
Beaked worm snake
35. Ramphotyphlops braminus (Daudin, 1803) Common worm snake
36. Pythonidae Python molurus molurus (Linnaeus, 1758) Indian rock python
37. Boidae Gongylophis conicus (Schneider, 1801) Common sand boa
38. Eryx johnii (Russell, 1801) Red sand boa
39. Colubridae Ahaetulla nasuta (Lacepede, 1789) Common vine snake
40. Amphiesma stolatum (Linnaeus, 1758) Striped keelback
41. Argyrogena fasciolata (Shaw, 1802) Banded racer
42. Atretium schistosum (Daudin 1803) Olive kill back
43. Boiga forsteni (Dumeril, 1854) Forsten’s cat snake
44. Boiga trigonata (Bechstein, 1802) Indian cat snake
45. Coelognathus helena helena (Daudin, 1803) Common trinket snake
46. Coelognathus helena monticollaris (Schulz,
1992)
Montane trinket snake
47. Coronella branchyura (Gunther, 1866) Indian smooth snake
48. Dendrelaphis tristis (Daudin, 1803) Bronzback tree snake
49. Elachistodon westermanni (Reinhardt, 1863) Indian egg eater
50. Lycodon aulicus (Linnaeus, 1758) Common wolf snake
51. Lycodon flavomaculatus (Wall, 1907) Yellow spotted wolf
snake
52. Lycodon striatus (Shaw, 1802) Barred wolf snake
53. Macropisthodon plumbicolour (Cantor,
1839)
Green keelback
54. Oligodon arnesis (Shaw, 1802) Common kukri snake
55. Oligodon taeniolatus (Jerdon, 1853) Russell’s kukri snake
56. Psammophis condanarus (Merrem, 1820) Condanarus sand snake
57. Psammophis leithii (Gunther, 1869) Leith’s sand snake
58. Psammophis longifrons (Boulenger, 1897) Stout sand snake
59. Ptyas mucosa (Linnaeus, 1758) Indian rat snake
60. Sibynophis subpunctatus (Dumeril, 1854) Black headed snake
61. Xenochrophis piscator (Schneider, 1799) Checkered keelback
62. Elapidae Bungarus caeruleus (Schneider, 1801) Common krait
63. Bungarus fasciatus (Schneider, 1801) Banded krait
64. Bungarus sindanus walli (Wall, 1908) Wall’s sind krait
65. Calliophis melanurus (Shaw, 1802) Slender coral snake
66. Naja naja (Linnaeus, 1758) Indian spectacle cobra
67. Daboia russelii (Shaw and Nodder, 1797) Russell’s viper
68. Echis carinatus (Schneider, 1801) Saw-scaled viper
69. Trimeresurus gramineus (Shaw, 1802) Green pit viper
70. Crocodilia Crocodylidae Crocodylus palustris (Lesson, 1831) Mugger crocodile
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Bioscience Discovery, 8(3): 582-587, July - 2017
Discussion
Vidarbha is most diversified region with
lush green deciduous forests through large protected
areas which are home to variety of flora and fauna.
It has approximately 37,251 km2 forest cover.
Vidarbha also has many popular wildlife
sanctuaries and parks viz. Melghat in Amaravti,
Amba-barwa and Nalganga in Buldhana, Tadoba-
Andhari in Chandrapur, Nagzira and Navegaon
Bandh in Gondia, etc. The region is represented
with rich herpetofaunal diversity. The utility of
herpetofaunal species as indicators of
environmental conditions is a basis for preparation
of present inventory.
The present inventory of herpetofauna of
Vidarbha region is based on available locality
records by providing relevant source literature on
specimens that would be ensuring its quality.
Because, the accurate and precise quality data on
species occurrences are imperative for the
assessment of conservation status and drawing
management considerations hence used for further
research purposes such as predictions on species
distributions, habitat suitability, and threat
assessments etc.
Many researchers from Vidarbha region
had given their valuable contribution in
development of herpetofaunal studies. The
monumental works on Herpetofauna of Vidarbha
region mainly includes the Wadatkar (2003),
Captain et al. (2005), Nande and Deshnukh (2007),
Harney et al. (2009), Joshi (2009), Sawarkar and
Kasambe (2009), Harney (2011), Joshi (2011),
Narayanan (2012), Dhande and Khandare (2013),
Kumbhar et al. (2013), Uke et al. (2013), Ingle et
al. (2014), Joshi et al. (2014), Charjan and Joshi
(2015), Dandgge and Tiple (2015), Deshmukh et al.
(2015), Joshi et al. (2015), Kakde and Thakur
(2015), Khobragade and Pawar (2015), Pandharikar
et al. (2015 a, b and c), Amjad et al. (2016), Joshi et
al. (2016), Joshi and Tantarpale (2016), Wagh et al.
(2017) to name a few. These studies explained the
herpetofaunal dominance in the terrestrial and
aquatic ecosystems and also the provision of
ecosystem services (Sirsat et al., 2016).
According to Joshi et al. (2015), the
herpetofauna is always threatened by anthropogenic
and environmental factors. The diverse habitats of
the Vidarbha Region are rapidly changing due to
new irrigation projects and industrialization. Forest
areas are being de-notified for implementing
development projects such as mining, industry,
communication and tourism. This has resulted in
alternating climate as well shrinkage,
fragmentation, degradation and destruction of
natural habitats. Road accidental killing on
highways across wildlife refuges are an intrusion
and affect the wildlife and its habitats adversely.
Misconceptions and fear about these species
especially about snakes are also threatening this
important creature of the ecosystem.
In parity with the herpetofaunal species
observed in Vidarbha region, Maharashtra, India, it
may be assumed that the species carry out diverse
functional roles for the sustenance of the
ecosystems. The availability of the green space and
the heterogeneity of the habitats in terms of the
available vegetation and allied factors that render
stability to the population and species assemblages
in the landscapes are possibly important
contributors to the observed variations in the
saurian species observed in the present study. The
present diversity study is confined to limited area
and selected habitats. There are, in future, chance of
more species being reported because of few pockets
and habitats in the studied area required more
extensive exploration.
Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to Dr K.M.
Kulkarni, Former Vice Chancellor (Swami
Ramanand Tirtha Marathwada University, Nanded,
India) and Former Director (Higher Education,
Government of Maharashtra, Pune, India) for
erudite guidance during conduct of this study.
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How to Cite this Article:
Joshi PS, Charjan AP and VT Tantarpale, 2017. A Herpetofaunal Inventory of Vidarbha Region,
Maharashtra, India. Bioscience Discovery, 8(3):582-587.