|Scientific Name:||Ablepharus chernovi|
|Species Authority:||Darevsky, 1953|
|Taxonomic Notes:||This species was formerly considered to be a subspecies of Ablepharus kitaibellii, but was raised to species rank by Schmidtler (1997). A recent study has confirmed A. chernovi as a genetically distinct form (Poulakakis et al. 2005).|
|Red List Category & Criteria:||Least Concern ver 3.1|
|Assessor(s):||Varol Tok, Ishmail Ugurtas, Murat Sevinç, Wolfgang Böhme, Pierre-André Crochet, Göran Nilson, Ferdi Akarsu, Petros Lymberakis|
|Reviewer(s):||Neil Cox and Helen Temple|
This species is listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.
|Range Description:||This species is known from Armenia (in the valley of Razdan River), various parts of central, southern and southeastern Turkey (where its range is fragmented) and possibly northern coastal Syria. Records from Syria are likely from a different species, A. rueppellii (P. Lymberakis pers. comm. 2008). Its range is poorly known. It occurs from 500 to 2,200m asl.|
Native:Armenia (Armenia); Syrian Arab Republic; Turkey
|Lower elevation limit (metres):||500|
|Upper elevation limit (metres):||2200|
|Range Map:||Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.|
|Population:||It is generally a common species.|
|Current Population Trend:||Stable|
|Habitat and Ecology:||This species lives amongst small stones in open areas with some bushes, in sparsely wooded areas, in open coniferous forest and in grassland. It occurs in the mountain-xerophytic steppe on gentle slope (in Armenia). Animals are generally found hiding under ground cover, stones, and leaves. It is not known to live in modified habitats. It appears after hibernation in the end of March. This species leaves in the deep shelter in the hot months (July and August) and starts to appear in September. The female lays about four eggs in June.|
|Major Threat(s):||There are no major threats to this species as a whole. In Armenia, it is locally declining because of general human settlement activity.|
|Conservation Actions:||Its range includes several protected areas in Turkey. Because of declines in its small range in Armenia, it was included into the Red Data Books of USSR (1984) - category 3 and Armenia (1987) - narrow-ranged rare species.|
Ananjeva, N. B., Borkin, L. Y., Darevsky, I. S., Orlov, N. L. 1998. Amphibii i presmykajushchiesya. AFB, Moscow.
Ananjeva, N. B., Orlov, N. L., Khalikov, R. G., Darevsky, I. S., Ryabov, S. A., Barabanov, A. V. 2004. Atlas presmykajushchikhsya Severnoi Eurazii. Zoologichesky Institute RAN, Sanct-Petrburg.
Baran, I. and Atatür, M.K. 1998. Turkish herpetofauna (amphibians and reptiles). Republic of Turkey Ministry of Environment, Ankara.
Darevsky, I.S. 1953. Ablepharus chernovi spec. nov. (Reptilia, Sauria) in Armenian Republic. Bull. Soc.Nat. Moscow: 39-41.
Darevsky, I. S. 1957. Fauna amphiby i presmykajushchikhsya Armenii i ego zoogeografichesky analiz.
IUCN. 2009. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2009.1). Available at: www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 22 June 2009).
Lymberakis, P. and Kalionzopoulou, A. 2003. Additions to the herpetofauna of Syria. Zoology in the Middle East 29: 33-39.
Poulakakis, N., Lymberakis, P., Tsigenopoulos, C.S., Magoulas, A. and Mylonas, M. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history of snake-eyed skink Ablepharus kitaibelii (Sauria: Scincidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution: 245-256.
Schmidtler, J.F. 1997. Die Ablepharus kitaibelii - Gruppe in Südanatolien und benachbarten Gebieten (Squamata: Sauria: Scincidae). Herpetozoa 10(1/2): 35-62.
Sindaco, R. and Jeremčenko, V.K. 2008. The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic. 1. Annotated Checklist and Distributional atlas of the turtles, crocodiles, amphisbaenians and lizards of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia. Edizioni Belvedere, Latina (Italy).
Sindaco, R., Venchi, A., Carpaneto, G.M. and Bologna, M.A. 2000. The reptiles of Anatolia: a checklist and zoogeographical analysis. Biogeographia 21: 441-554.
|Citation:||Varol Tok, Ishmail Ugurtas, Murat Sevinç, Wolfgang Böhme, Pierre-André Crochet, Göran Nilson, Ferdi Akarsu, Petros Lymberakis. 2009. Ablepharus chernovi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2009: e.T164622A5912863. . Downloaded on 13 February 2016.|
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