The Identification of the Lizards Fauna in the Southern Parts of Ardabil Province, Iran

Reptiles are very important in the biological control of environment. Because of rich fauna and flora of Ardabil Province; and since, many regions of it have not been studied yet, so this research was done in order to identify the fauna of lizards in southern regions of Ardabil Province (Ardabil, Khalkhal, Kosar, Ner, and Namin) during 2009-10. Specimens were collected by hand from different parts of study regions. Pictures and slides were teken from the live samples and of them transferred to zoological laboratory. In this study 4 families,11 Genera and 13 species were identified, Including:Ophisops elegans,Laudakia caucasica caucasica, Trachylepis aurata transcaucasica,Phrynocephalus persicus,Trapelusruderatus ruderatus,Darevskia chlorogaster,Darevskia raddei raddei,Eremias strauchi strauchi, Iranolacerta brandtii brandtii,Lacerta media media,lacerta strigata, Ablepharus bivittatus, Pseudopus apodus apodus.amony family of Lizard fauna recognized in the south of Ardabil province, the largest family is lacertidae with 7 species and 4 genera. And Anguidae family with one species and one genus is the rarest lizard. Many species were collected and recorded for the first time from south of Ardabil Province.