Diversity and distribution of lizard fauna in tehsil Samar Bagh, Dir lower, khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

Reptiles are one of the most ancient and diverse group of animals present on the earth for more than 230 million years. Pakistan has a very fertile biodiversity due to the presence of all types of habitats consisting of about 197 taxa of reptiles including lizards, snakes, turtles, tortoises, crocodiles and gavels. Reptiles have a key part in maintaining of the world's ecosystem. Lizards are diverse group of squamate reptiles having roughly 6000 species, present all over the world with the exception of Antarctica. The present research work was carried out on the diversity and distribution of lizard fauna in Tehsil Samar Bagh, District Dir (Lower), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan during April 2014 to August 2016. For collection of maximum information regarding the distribution and occurrence of different lizards, local people were interviewed. Various methods were used for trapping and catching the lizards like seething traps, noose traps and hand collection. In the present study, a total of 62 specimens of reptiles belonged to 4 families and 5 genera were collected. The % age of collected specimens for each family in descending order was: Agamidae (46.77%) > Gekonidae (29.03%) >Eublepharidae (17%) and Varanidae (8.5%). During the present study, 6 species of lizards Laudakia agrorensis, Calotes versicolor, Eublepharis macularius, Hemidactylus frenatus, Hemidactylus flaviviridis and Varanus bengalenesis were identified. The present study was a pioneer work on the diversity of reptiles in Tehsil Samarbagh, Dir Lower and will provide a baseline for future work on reptile fauna.