Herpetofauna of the Northern Western Ghats of Gujarat, India

ABSTRACT

We surveyed the northern Western Ghats of Gujarat state for its herpetofaunal diversity from 2012 to 2016. Taking a holistic approach, not only did we revise the checklist of amphibians and reptiles inhabiting this region by adding all past and present new regional records but we also advocate deleting some species dubiously or erroneously reported from this region, pending reliable, correctly identified vouchers. In all, 85 species, comprising 20 species of amphibians belonging to 11 genera and 7 families and 65 species of reptiles, belonging to 42 genera and 16 families were recorded. The conservation status, threats, endemism and habitat association of recorded species are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Amphibians
• Anura
• Gymnophiona
• Reptiles
• Squamata
• Sahyadri
• Dang
• South Gujarat

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to PCCF, Gujarat Forest Department and CCF, Valsad Circle for giving permissions to carry out herpetological surveys in South Gujarat. HP is really thankful to Late Mr. Madhusudan Joshi, ACF, Valsad north, for his constant support during fieldwork in Dangs during the initial phase of this study. We thank our friends Kaushal Patel, Ketan Patel, Parimal Patel, Suresh Valvi, Anil Valvi, Mitesh Patel, Dashru, Kartik Upadhyay for their help and support during the fieldwork. Varad Giri, Sushil Chikane and Zeeshan Mirza are thanked for providing some valuable literature and important suggestions from which this study has benefited. We also thank Pritesh Patel, Nature Club Valsad; Snehal Patel, Nature Club Surat and Navin Patel, Vananchal for hosting us at their campsites in Dang. HP would like to thank Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi for providing INSPIRE fellowship (IF 130480) to carry out the present work. Aaron Bauer and an anonymous reviewer provided valuable comments from which the manuscript has greatly benefitted.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.