Izvorni znanstveni članak
Distribution pattern, zoogeographic similarities and affinities of montane herpetofauna of Southern Eastern Ghats, peninsular India
Sumaithangi Rajagopalan Ganesh
; Department of Zoology, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai 600 025, India
Munusamy Arumugam
; Department of Zoology, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai 600 025, India
Sažetak
We examined the distribution pattern, across-site similarities and zoogeographic affinities of amphibians and reptiles in the montane zones (> 900 m a.s.l.) of the Southern Eastern Ghats mountains in peninsular India. We deployed long-term field surveys in four select massifs namely Jawadi, Shevaroys, Kolli and Sirumalai and generated herpetofaunal species lists. Based solely on our species occurrence data, we identified taxa that characterise sites, site-pairs and site-clusters. We quantified the number of the various target taxa characterising each such Operational Geographic Unit. To infer faunal similarities, we performed cluster analysis using Jaccard’s similarity index. Our cluster diagram tree topologies differed between the various target taxa. The pooled data (amphibians, lizards and snakes) tree topology was similar to that of the lizard trees but the amphibian- and snake-similarity trees were similar in their topologies. Our observations and analyses indicate that physical separation distance and intervening rivers between massifs decreased herpetofaunal similarity. To identify the zoogeographic affinities of range-restricted taxa, we segregated the species into classes, based on decreasing extent of their geographic ranges. Our analyses reveal that widespread species were predominant in this community even at high elevations, followed by Western Ghats dispersers, Eastern Ghats endemics (both presumed and confirmed), and lastly peninsular Indian and Sri Lankan elements.
Ključne riječi
amphibians; reptiles; endemism; cluster analysis; hill range; similarity tree; southern India
Hrčak ID:
157786
URI
Datum izdavanja:
31.1.2016.
Posjeta: 1.579 *