Систематический список амфибий Казахстана: краткая история изучения, современная таксономия, вопросы актуализации

Abstract

The aim of this article is to briefly describe the history of creation of a recent checklist of amphibians of Kazakhstan. This history as an academic phenomenon begun in the second half of the 18th Century – the time of the scientific travels of Peter Simon Pallas in western Kazakhstan. The very first checklist of amphibians developed for the territory of Kazakhstan was by A.M. Nikolsky in a monograph published in 1918. This forms the basis of all future work and contains scientific names which, for the most part, were interpreted in their correct forms: Ranodon sibiricus, Bombina bombina, Pelobates fuscus, Bufo bufo, Bufo viridis, Rana arvalis, R. asiatica, R. esculenta, and R. temporaria (nine species). Over the next 100 years, in quantitative terms, the checklist did not change much and varied between 10 species and 12 species. Qualitative changes were determined by views on the taxonomic position and phylogenetic relationships of specific and genera: R. amurensis – R. asiatica, Hynobius – Salamandrella, Rana – Pelophylax, for example. Taxonomic revisions carried out over the last two decades, based mainly on molecular genetic analysis, have made serious adjustments to the checklist of amphibian fauna of Kazakhstan. The species composition of the genera Pelobates (P. verspetinus) and Bufotes (B. sitibundus, B. perrini, B. pewzowi) has been determined and intraspecific heterogeneity of Pelophylax ridibundus has been confirmed in the modern concept of cryptic species complexes. This updating has further prospects and the most important tasks are to survey the northern territories of Kazakhstan adjacent to Russia to confirm or reject the presence of Lissotriton vulgaris, R. temporaria and R. amurensis as well as to continue taxonomic studies regarding the composition of the Bufotes viridis and Pelophylax ridibundus complexes.