Marine Arakelyan 1, Claudia Corti2, Roberto Sindaco3

In the Transcaucasus Emys orbicularis is well known from Georgia and Azerbaijan, mostly along the Kura river drainage basin (Alekperov 1978; Fritz 1994, 2001; Nikolskii 1915). The only known records from Nagorno-Karabakh are that of Nikolskii (1915: as “Karabakh”) and Alekperov (1978). During our herpetological trips in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, some new localities inhabited by E. orbicularis were found: 1) bank of Arax River in the Kashatagh Province, near the borders of Armenia and Iran, (290 m a.s.l.), VII. 2004; 2) vicinity of Amaras Monastery in the Martuni Province, (552 m a.s.l.), VI. 2006; 3) vicinity of Getavan village, on bank of the Tartar River in the Shahumian Province, (760 m a.s.l.), VI. 2006. Previously the species was almost unknown in the Arax river drainage basin, except for a locality between Sarikamys and Karakurt (eastern Turkey) quoted by Fritz (1994), and some old, unconfirmed records from Armenia (Chernov, 1937). The new data demonstrate that E. orbicularis is spread through the south, central and north parts of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. According to interviews with local residents it is clear that E. orbicularis is quite widespread in this region. The taxonomic status of turtles from these populations is still uncertain and deserves future studies.

Poster Session

<< Back to Abstract Listing