Dear Attendees of the EMYS Symposium at Košice - Fauna Carpatica

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
The European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) in the Crimea
(Ukraine): distribution, habitats, abundance, problems
of conservation
TATIANA KOTENKO 1,2
1 Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
Vul. B. Khmelnits'kogo 15, Kyiv - 30, 01601 MSP, Ukraine
2 Corresponding author for abstract [E-mail: kotenko@iz.freenet.kiev.ua]
Data on distribution and ecology of E. orbicularis in the Crimea were summarised
in a monograph by N. Shcherbak, published in 1966, and since that time this
information was neither widened nor updated. The presence of E. orbicularis was
known for only 6 localities in the Lowland Crimea. In 2000–2001 new data on the
species' distribution, habitats and abundance were obtained for this region. The
presence of E. orbicularis was confirmed for 15 new localities. In some ponds of
the Kerch Peninsula E. orbicularis is abundant. In the Sivash area its abundance
and occurrence have obviously increased after the construction of the North
Crimean Canal (NCC). Our findings allow us to suppose that E. orbicularis is
widely distributed in the Sivash area along the NCC and in adjacent territories. In
the mountainous part of the Crimea E. orbicularis was abundant near Luchistoe
(surroundings of Alushta): in 5 small ponds, during 6 days, 65 turtles were observed
– up to 14 specimens being caught in a single day (Shcherbak, 1966). It was still
abundant in the 80s of the last century. But in 2000 only 3 individuals were detected
in 8 ponds during a period of 5 days. The decline in the abundance of E. orbicularis
in this area is owed mainly to illegal commercial overcatching, which took place in
the 90s of the last century. The mountain populations of E. orbicularis differ in
morphology and genetics from the lowland populations of the Crimea and need
strict protection.
ORAL PRESENTATION - 18 April, 17:00 - 17:20
Distribution and ecology of Emys orbicularis (Linnaeus, 1758)
in Daghestan
LYUDMILA MAZANAEVA 1 and VALENTINA ORLOVA 2,3
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