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International Journal of Zoology and Applied Biosciences Research Article
Diversity, distribution, and habitat of herpetofauna around Gambella Zuria District, West Ethiopia
Abeje Kassie and Afework Bekele
Year : 2020 | Volume: 5 | Issue: 2 | Pages: 68-78
Received on: 03/29/2020
Revised on: 04/06/2020
Accepted on: 04/08/2020
Published on: 04/12/2020
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Abeje Kassie and Afework Bekele ( 2020).
Diversity, distribution, and habitat of herpetofauna around Gambella Zuria District, West Ethiopia
. International Journal of Zoology and Applied Biosciences, 5( 2), 68-78.
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Abstract
Herpetofauna is the least studied group of vertebrates in general in the world and in particular in Ethiopia. This study was carried out to describe the species composition, diversity, distribution and species richness of amphibians and reptiles in Gambella Zuria District, Gambella National Regional State, Western Ethiopia. The study was conducted in 2018. Pitfall traps along with drift fence and Visual encounter survey methods were used to capture the amphibians and reptiles for visual estimation. Herpetofauna was investigated in three habitat types such as wetland, agricultural land, and house and riverine forest. A total of 95 amphibian individuals categorized under nine species, belonging to six genera in six families were recorded. In addition to amphibians, a total number of 17 reptile species belonging to three orders, 11 different families, and 13 genera were recorded. Out of which, five species were snakes, 10 species of lizards, one species of Turtle and one species of Crocodile. Ptychadena nilotica was the most abundant amphibian species while Agama finchi was highest from reptile species in the study area. Tedia riverine forest (H=1.81; D=5.02) was the most amphibian species-rich and diverse among the four habitat types. Agricultural land and house had the lowest diversity index (H=0.64; D= 1.8) compared to other habitat types. Karmi riverine forest (H=2.03) was the most reptile species-rich and diverse among the four habitat types followed by Agricultural land and house (H=1.69). Jenena wetland had the lowest diversity index (H=1.09) compared to other habitat types. This study showed that Gambella Zuria District is rich in amphibian and reptile species. A further extended molecular study should be carried out to obtain detailed information on the abundance and population structure of herpetofauna for better understanding and develop conservation strategies in Gambella Zuria District riverine forests and wetland areas.
Keywords
Amphibia, Reptile, Distribution, Diversity, Gambella, Herpetofauna.
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© The Author(s) 2025. This article is published by International Journal of Zoology and Applied Biosciences under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (creativecommons.org), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
