Amphibian and Reptile in Zhongdian Area of Northwest Yunnan
Author of the article:PAN Xiao-fu, ZHOU Wei, ZHOU Yong-wu, WU Fei, ZHANG Qing
Author's Workplace:(Faculty of Conservation Biology, Southwest Forestry College, Kunming, Yunnan Province 650224)
Key Words:amphibian; reptile; fauna component; northwest Yunnan
Abstract:The paper deals with the amphibian and reptile in Zhongdian area, northwest Yunnan Province. There are 13 amphibian species (subspecies), belonging to 5 families, 2 orders, and 11 reptile species (subspecies) belonging to 5 families, 2 suborders and 1 order in this area. The components of fauna are mainly composed by Southwest Subregion of China, Orient Region, with amphibian components of 84.6% and reptile of 72.7%. Characteristics of the fauna are as follows: the composition of fauna is singularity with high rare endemic species; its composition holds both characteristics of antiquity and young; animal diversification derived from northern animals moving towards south and southern animals moving towards north in Quaternary. The population distribution of amphibian and reptile in this area are corresponded to the vegetation types. Morphological modification in herpetological animal resulted from adaptation of alpine environment. The protecting actuality and countermeasure of amphibian and reptile in Zhongdian area are expatiated and discussed in the paper. At the end, fauna division about amphibian and reptile is discussed briefly. It has been considered by the authors that Zhongdian area is a key area in fauna division, and the survey and taxonomy for amphibian and reptile should be done in the future.