AN INVENTORY OF HERPETOFAUNAL DIVERSITY IN URBAN ECOSYSTEM, WESTERN INDIA

An inventory of herpetofaunal diversity of Jamnagar city and vicinity areas, Gujarat, India carried out from August 2015 to December 2017, using visual encounter, auditory strip transect, scanning of leaf-litter, rescue call and road kill survey. Data recorded by random sampling (Total Visits = 153, Sampling unit (N) = 236) from rural to urban gradient level of Jamnagar city; 4 to 8 times survey per month using plots and strip transects during day and night. The presence of 39 herpetofaunal species belong to 13 families reveal 17 species of anurans dominated by family - Dicroglossidae (568) and 22 species of reptiles by Agamidae (131). Skipper Frog (Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis) was most abundant species, single time sighted species was Jerdon’s Bull Frog (Hoplobatrachus crassus) and 01 endangered species Nilgiri Frog (Minervarya nilagirica). From reptiles most abundant species was Common Garden Lizard (Calotes versicolor) and very common species Northern House Gecko (Hemidactylus flaviviridis). Overall species richness and diversity of reptiles were higher than amphibians (Simpson’s diversity 1-D = 0.86/0.66; Simpson reciprocal diversity 1/D = 7.69/3.03; Shannon-Weiner H' = 2.39/1.73; Margalef’s species richness (d) = 3.44/2.47; Pielou’s evenness e = 0.49/0.33); whereas population density (390 individuals per km2/265 individuals per km2) and Dominance (0.34/0.14) were higher in amphibians than reptiles. This is the first records of such studies of these urban ecosystem.