DISTRIBUTION OF RARE AND ENDANGERED AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES IN PRIMORSKY KRAI (FAR EAST, RUSSIA)

1Federal Scientific Centre of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity, Far Eastern Branch of RAS, Russia e-mail: irinarana@yandex.ru 2Far Eastern Federal University, Russia e-mail: semenkaty@gmail.com, daria_1844@mail.ru, medusa8800@mail.ru 3Gidrotekhnika Ltd., Russia e-mail: animals06@bk.ru 4Institute of Chemistry, Far Eastern Branch of RAS, Russia e-mail: arsuha@gmail.com 5Pacific Research Fisheries Centre (TINRO-Centre), Russia e-mail: alekseysomoff@gmail.com

However, the next edition of the Red Data Books, delayed by four years already due to certain reasons, is planned to exclude both the species Glandirana emeljanovi and Orthriophis taeniurus. Their inhabitance on the Russian territory has not been proved by the moment. While the former species remained in the Red Data Book of Primorsky Krai (2005) and was excluded from the Red Data Book of the Rus-sian Federation (2001), the latter one went the opposite way. It was excluded from the Red Data Book of Primorsky Krai (2005) and remained in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation (2001).
Both the next edition of the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation (2001) and the Red Data Book of Primorsky Krai (2005) are planning to include a new species, the Mountain Grass Lizard Takydromus wolteri (Fischer, 1885), whose main anthropogenic threat is multiple spring and autumn fires, specific for Primorsky Krai (Maslova, 2008). Recently, a lot of works have been devoted to studying various biological and ecological aspects of Takydromus wolteri, as little information was available about this vulnerable species (Ota et al., 2002;Chen et al., 2003;Zhang & Ji, 2004;Xu et al., 2008;Ra et al., 2011;Jin et al., 2013;Yu & Ji, 2013;Suh et al., 2016). Besides, the Japanese Keelback Hebius vibakari (Boie, 1826), which has recently changed its taxonomic status from Amphiesma to Hebius (Guo et al., 2014), will be included into the appendix of the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation (2001) in the rarity category 4 as «species with undefined status».
This article provides information on the distribution of five rare and endangered species of amphibians and reptiles presented in either mentioned above Red Data Books or planned to be included into their next editions: Onychodactylus fischeri, Pelodiscus maackii, Takydromus wolteri, Oocatochus rufodorsatus, Hebius vibakari.
We decided not to include Orientocoluber spinalis, and Lycodon rufozonatum in our work, because after the description of their findings in the Primorsky Krai (Solkin, 1990;Kharin & Akulenko, 2008) no more recent information could be gathered.
Due to large time intervals lying between longterm herpetological research in the Primorsky Krai (Emelyanov, 1929;Korotkov, 1985;Kuzmin & Maslova, 2005), distribution ranges of rare species are still not clear, maps reflecting recent distribution of amphibians and reptiles as well as rare species have not been prepared by the moment.
Amphibians are the most studied in this respect. Kuzmin & Malsova (2005) and Kuzmin (2012) provided detailed maps with findings of all Far Eastern amphibians being recorded over there. Maps covering snakes' distribution in the Primorsky Krai were published only by Emelyanov (1929). Findings of various amphibians and reptiles in certain regions of Primorsky Krai were indicated by Adnagulov & Oleinikov (2006). More than ten years ago, general map of the Northern Chinese Softshell Turtle's distribution in the Russian Far East was prepared (Adnagulov & Maslova, 2005). Distribution maps of the genus Takydromus lizards are given in Semenishcheva & Maslova (2010). It is noteworthy that the Khankaysky District (western part of Primorsky Krai) remained «the tabula rasa» with respect to the herpetofauna, even though it was the first place settled by Russian colonists in the southern Far East. Research was carried out several times only for the Pelodiscus maackii population inhabiting Khanka Lake (Buldovskiy, 1936a,b;Cherepanov, 1990;Maslova, 2006).
Main international reptile and amphibian databases (Frost, 2017;Uetz et al., 2018) contain a number of defects in the sections on distribution of indicated species in the north-eastern part of their habitat due to the absence of recent information.
The status assessment of the natural populations of rare and endangered species is very urgent with re-discovery their habitats and distribution ranges. This is in line with the active development of the Russian Far East in accordance with the Federal Target Program «Economical and social development of Far East and Baikalskiy Region till 2025». It includes the establishing of a number of territories with priority development (TRD). Most of these are planned for the south of Primorsky Krai. The programme started last year and poorly elaborated with respect to the conservation of the biodiversity programme «Dalnevostochniy Gektar».

Material and Methods
Our maps were prepared based on target and additional information obtained during field work from 1986 to 2017. Besides, there was collected a large volume of information on new findings of amphibians and reptiles by colleagues and locals. This paper provides only information reliable at some points: obtained by professional zoologists, easily identified species in nature, obtained by different people or if a quality photo of a found animal is given along with the co-ordinates of the image location.
Besides certain findings of amphibians and reptiles, traces (tracks) of Pelodiscus maackii evidencing turtle's coming out of the water on the shore were taken into account. One of the ways to evaluate the population of the Northern Chinese soft-shell turtles (P. maackii) is to take into account traces (tracks) left after they came out of water onto the sandy beach. The following measurements were made: width of the track, its shape, the trace length (Adnagulov, 2008). When accounting P. maackii at points indicated in the paper, the overall number of turtles coming onto the beach was calculated after measuring the width of every found track to avoid Scheme maps were made, using the geographic information system QGIS 2.18.1.

Results
Below we present new data on distribution of reptiles and amphibians in the Russian Far East in general and particularly for Primorsky Krai. The points with the sign «*» denote locations indicated for the first time here.
*93. VlCD, northern part of Vladivostok City, on the slope of the hill, fragments of sec-ondary oakery forest among the houses of private sector, 5 individuals, June 2008 (A.P. Levus, 2015: oral report).

Discussion
Studies of the long-tailed salamander of the genus Onychodactylus showed O. fischeri to occupy the Russian territory only in the central and southern parts of the Sikhote-Alin mountain system (Poyarkov et al., 2012). Therefore, organising a monitoring state of the species in Primorsky Krai is an urgent issue, moreover its population and distribution were assessed for the last time nearly 20 years ago (Maslova, 2001;Kuzmin & Maslova, 2005). The investigation of the south-eastern part of O. fischeri's habitat in 2016-2017 provided new information about its distribution (Sokolova et al., 2017). The species was found on the Partizansky Ridge (point 3) for the first time, thus extending the distribution range of this tailed amphibian in the southeastern direction by 40-50 km. In addition, O. fischeri was found on the upper course of many creeks and rivers in the Przhevalsky mountains (Livadiysky Ridge, Bolshoy Vorobey Ridge, Lozoviy Ridge; points 1, 2, 4-10). Already in the 1990s, it was planned to organise Yuzhno-Primorsky Natural Park in this picturesque touristattracting mountain system and the project was developed, but it was not implemented (Bersenev & Khristoforova, 2016). At present, there are concentrated several potential threats for sustainable existence of O. fischeri in the southeastern part of Primorsky Krai, namely: high recreational loads (mountain skiing, tourist camping, etc.), largescale, often illegal woodcutting, planned construction of petrochemical industrial facilities near Nakhodka City. Moreover, the administration of Primorsky Krai is developing the project «Bolshoy Vladivostok» which implies merging the territory between Vladivostok and Nakhodka into one municipal area (https://primamedia.ru/news/44721/).
To date, the vulnerability of the Russian population of Pelodiscus maackii inhabiting the northeastern border of its habitat remains on a rather high level. A dramatic water rise in Lake Khanka, which began in 2014 and is continuing nowadays, was added to the known natural and anthropogene threats to the species. As a result, most places of P. maackii's reproduction has been submerged in KhankSNR (Maslova & Vorobieva, 2016) and eventually made turtles seek for new places for laying their eggs. Our data show a current distribution of P. maackii in the western part of the lake. Banks in the middle and lower course of the River Komissarovka (points 26-35), Vtoraya Rechka River mouth (point 11), two sandy beaches on Khanka Lake's shore between Platonovo-Aleksandrovkoe and Novokachalisk villages (points 12, 15) as well as one sandy beach between Kamen-Rybolov and Troitskoe villages (points 16, 17) are highly important for the species' breeding. The obtained data on the distribution of this species will allow organising new Protected Areas, playing a key role for reproduction to conserve the turtle population on Khanka.
Distribution borders of Takydromus wolteri in the northern part of its habitat still remain unclear (Semenishcheva & Maslova, 2013). For the first time, reliable data on T. wolteri habitat have been obtained for KhanD (point 65), KrD (point 62) and OlD (point 63) which expand the western, northern and eastern borders of the lizard's habitat in Russia.
In Primorsky Krai, Oocatochus rufodorsatus is occasionally found on the southern part of the Sea of Japan coast, along the river valleys of Sungacha and Ussuri as well as along river valleys and lentic ponds in plain regions of the south-western part of Primorye (Emelyanov, 1929;Korotkov, 1985;Adnagulov & Oleinikov, 2006;Kharin, 2011). Two places harbour locally a high population of O. rufodorsatus: along the River Komissarovka (points 69-73), Lake Khanka shore (points 66-68) (KhanD) and in the low current of the River Vtoraya Rechka (point 74) (NadD).
The high number of findings of the reptile species Oocatochus rufodorsatus and Pelodiscus maackii in the basin of the River Kovissarovka of KhanD is a strong argument for creating a net of Protected Areas, primarily, along the River Komissarovka and on single fragments of the western shore of Lake Khanka, which are not included into the territory of KhankSNR (Maslova, 2016(Maslova, , 2017Makarchenko et al., 2017).
Unfortunately, the Bikin National Park, founded in 2015, has no effect on the conservation of Pelodiscus maackii, because the main habitats and places of the reproduction are south of the western border of this Protected Area (points 43, 44, 45). According to zoologists working along the River Bikin, sometimes turtles go up the river from Krasniy Yar Village almost to Svetlovodnaya River mouth, but rather rare (Maslova & Seredkin, 2016). The same counts for the territory of the Udegeyskaya Legenda National Park, founded in 2007, situated on the River Bolshaya Ussurka. Op-timal habitat conditions for P. maackii correspond only to the middle and lower course of the river.
Hebius vibakari is one of the least studied species (Dunaev & Orlova, 2014). That is why many Russian herpetologists consider this species to include into the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation (2001). The first recommendations in this respect were given in 1978 (Borkin & Krever, 1987), while Emelyanov (1929) pointed out this species was found in the southern part of Primorsky Krai «...in great numbers...». Kharin (2011) noted that «...the species is common on the seashore but rather stealthy...». Even though this species is frequently called «rare» in literature, our findings prove incorrectness of such definition for Primorsky Krai. We showed that south and central Primorye is populated rather well with this species and in some places exhibits high populations (points 91, 92, 93, 94, 96). A high occurrence of H. vibakari is indicated for anthropogene biotopes. It inhabits not only populated country sites (dacha) and villages, but also edges of big cities (points 93, 95). H. vibakari has been found in UssSNR (points 103-106), LLSNP (points 83-86, 88) and KpSNR (points 100-102) for several years.

Conclusions
Information on 108 findings is reported for five rare and endangered species of amphibians and reptiles inhabiting Primorsky Krai: Onychodactylus fischeri, Pelodiscus maackii, Takydromus wolteri, Oocatochus rufodorsatus, and Hebius vibakari. Point 61 is a new place of occurrence of these species, resulting in clarifying the borders of their habitats and making clear the distribution of rare herpetofauna species in the Primorsky Krai. Information on new habitats provides a better knowledge of the distribution of rare amphibians and reptiles, whose north-eastern habitat range touches southern part of the Russian Far East.
The presented data are relevant for field guides, reference books and for developing complex nature conservation programmes. The results can serve for a database of Far Eastern amphibians and reptiles. The obtained information will favour the execution of «Strategy for conservation of rare and endangered animals, plants and fungi in Russian Federation till 2030» (approved by the Russian Federation Government on February 17, 2014, #212-r), because most part of the Far Eastern flora and fauna is threatened by degradation and habitat depletion due to large-scale industrial development of these lands. The data provide a clearer picture of treats for taxa in the region and serves as an instrument to evaluate the species status on the IUCN Red List.
Several protected areas were analysed with respect to their role in conserving rare species of the Far Eastern herpetofauna. UssSNR, LLSNP and KpSNR were regarded as crucial for the conservation of Hebius vibakari.
«Bikin» and «Udegeyskaya Legenda» national parks within their current borders show they have no effect on conservation of Pelodiscus maackii and Oocatochus rufodorsatus populations in the river basins of Bikin of Bolshaya Ussurka lying more to the west of the mentioned protected areas. It is necessary to establish new Protected Areas in Primorsky Krai in various parts: in the western part, in the Komissarovka River basin to preserve the populations of O. rufodorsatus and P. maackii as well as in the south-eastern part, and to protect Onychodactylus fischeri on the Livadiysky Ridge.