The Study of Reptiles Fauna in Sefid Kouh-Aresk No-Hunting Area in Semnan Province

Sefid Kouh-Aresk No-Hunting Area with an area of 666000 hectares in the northwest of Damghan city along the Tehran-Mashhad road is located between 20 and 22 km of Damghan to Semnan road on the northern side of the road. This study was conducted to identify the reptile fauna of this region from April 2013 until late November 2013. During this research, 93 reptile specimens were collected and a total of 17 species of six families and thirteen genera were identified. These include: Natrix tessellata, Macrovipera lebetina obtusa, Platyceps ventromaculatus ventromaculatus, Platyceps najadum najadum, Hemorrhois ravergieri, Pseudocerastes persicus, Natrix natrix persa, Telescopus fallax iberus, Platyceps karelini, Eirenis collaris collaris,Tenuidactylus caspius caspius, Eremias velox velox, Eremias persica, Trapelus agilis agilis, Paralaudakia caucasia, Mesalina watsonana, Heremites aurata transcaucasica. In this research, no species of the turtles was observed. In this area, the lizard diversity was lower than snakes. From the suborder of Serpentes, the highest number belongs to the species Natrix tessellata with 7 samples and 18% frequency, and the lowest belongs to the Eirenis collaris collaris with 1 sample and 3% frequency. The subspecies of lizards had the highest number of Tenuidactylus caspius caspius with 15 samples and 27% frequency and the lowest number belongs to Heremites aurata transcaucasica with 3 samples and 5% frequency