Identification of amphibians and reptiles in Shahid Zare National Park, Sari

Amphibians and reptiles are very important in biological control. Because of richness of fauna and flora in Mazandaran province and since many parts of it have not been studied yet, this research was done in order to identify the amphibians and reptiles in Shahid Zaree National Park of Sari during 2006-2008. This park located in southern part of Sari-Gorgan road, east of Sari city. There are no permanent rivers in this area, but just some shallow rivers produced by rain are observed in it. More than 200 specimens of amphibians and reptiles were collected by hand from different parts of park and most of them were released after identification and only a few of them transferred to zoological laboratory of Islamic Azad University-Damghan branch. Pictures and slides were taken from the live samples, and then specimens were fixed and preserved in 10% formalin.17 identified species belong to 10 families including: Rana macrocnemis, Rana ridibunda, Bufo variabilis, Emys orbicularis, Mauremys caspica, Drevskia chlorogaster, Lacerta strigata, Cyrtopodion caspium, Anguis fragilis, Pseudopus apodus, Dolichophis jugularis, Platyceps najadum, Gloydius halys, Telescopus fallax, Natrix natrix, Natrix tessellata, Typhlops vermicularis. Rana macrocnemis among amphibians and Lacerta chlorogaster among reptiles have the most frequency.Telescopus fallax was reported in Mazandaran province for the first time.