Correspondence –Notes 175

Recoder, R., Nogueira, C. (2007): Composição e diversidade de First record of the eastern spadefoot répteis na região sul do Parque Nacional Grande Sertão Veredas, Brasil Central. Biota Neotropica 7(3): 267-278. toad (Pelobates syriacus Boettger, 1889) Rodrigues, M.T. (1984a): Uma nova espécie brasileira de Tropidurus com crista dorsal (Sauria, Iguanidae). Papéis Avulsos de in Albania Zoologia 35(16): 169-175. Rodrigues, M.T. (1984b): Notobachia ablephara: novo gênero e espécie Albania has a rich herpetofauna with 58 species, do nordeste do Brasil (Sauria, Teiidae). Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 35(28): 361-366. 16 known amphibians and 42 known reptiles Rodrigues, M.T. (1991a): Herpetofauna das dunas interiores do Rio (Bruno 1989, Haxhiu 1994, 1998, Jablonski 2011). São Francisco: Bahia: Brasil: I. Introdução à área e descrição de Despite the diversity of the country, intensive re- um novo gênero de microteiídeos (Calyptommatus) com notas sobre sua ecologia, distribuição e especiação (Sauria, Teiidae). search and mapping of the distribution of its spe- Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 37(19): 285-320. cies are lacking (Sillero et al. 2014). To fill this gap, Rodrigues, M.T. (1991b): Herpetofauna das dunas interiores do Rio we started to assemble the published and unpub- São Francisco: Bahia: Brasil: II. Psilophthalmus: um novo gênero de microteiídeos sem pálpebras (Sauria, Teiidae). Papéis lished records of the herpetofauna of Albania in a Avulsos de Zoologia 37(20): 321-327. geodatabase, which allows us to understand the Rodrigues, M.T. (1991c): Herpetofauna das dunas interiores do Rio geographic pattern of species distributions and São Francisco: Bahia: Brasil: III. Procellosaurinus: um novo gênero de microteiídeos sem pálpebras, com a redefinição do gênero diversity (Mizsei et al. 2017). Gymnophthalmus (Sauria, Teiidae). Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia Populations of P. syriacus are known from the 37(21): 329-342. central and south-eastern Balkan Peninsula, Tran- Rodrigues, M.T. (1996): Lizards, snakes and amphisbaenians from the Quaternary sand dunes of the middle rio São Francisco: scaucasia, northern Iran, Turkey and the Middle Bahia: Brazil. Journal of Herpetology 30(4): 513-523. East (Džukić et al. 2008, Budak & Göçmen 2008). Rodrigues, M.T., Zaher, H., Curcio, F. (2001): A new species of Although P. syriacus is included in a national lizard, gênus Calyptommatus, from the caatingas of the state of piaui, northeastern Brazil (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae). register on the fauna of Albania (Dhora 2010), we Papeis Avulsos de Zoologia 41(28): 529-546. were unable to find any location data by review- Silveira, F.A.O., Negreiros, D., Barbosa, N.P.U., Buisson, E., Carmo, ing the literature. One reason for this is that the F.F., Carstensen, D. W., Conceição, A.A., Cornelissen, T.G., Echternacht, L., Fernandes, G.W., Garcia, Q.S., Guerra, T.J., register also includes species which live around Jacobi, C.M.,Lemos-Filho, J.P., Le Stradic, S., Morellato, L.P.C., transboundary lakes or rivers shared with Neves, F.S., Oliveira, R.S., Schaefer, C.E., Viana, P.L., Lambers, neighbouring countries. Bruno (1989) mentioned H. (2015): Ecology and evolution of plant diversity in the endangered campo rupestre: a neglected conservation priority. sightings of the species close to the Albanian bor- Plant Soil 403: 129-152. der in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Mace- donia on the shores of transboundary lakes Ohrid Key words: Psammophilous, Caatinga, Cerrado, Espin- and Prespa, but not in Albania. However, he pos- haço Range, biogeography. tulated that P. syriacus is present in Albania, and Article No.: e162504 we decided to search for the species based on his Received: 09. November 2015 / Accepted: 08. March 2016 suggestion. Available online: 30. March 2016 / Printed: June 2017 On 05 May 2015, we confirmed the presence of

P. syriacus within the borders of Albania near the Hans THOMASSEN1,*, village of Kallamas on the shore of Lake Prespa Samuel Campos GOMIDES1, (N40.89°, E20.93°, 841 m above sea level) (Fig. 1.). Emanuel Teixeira da SILVA1, We found the animal during visual surveys with Hugo B. A. PINTO2, Felipe S. F. LEITE3 torches at night at c. 22:00 pm, as it was moving in and Paulo C. A. GARCIA1 shallow water (~2 cm) in a grazed meadow with short grassy vegetation (~10 cm) flooded by the 1. Laboratório de Herpetologia, Universidade Federal de Minas lake. In a subsequent visit on 20 July 2015, we Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, 31270-901, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. found two additional individuals close to our first 2. Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, observation. We heard the breeding calls of three Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação de Répteis e An- other amphibian species in May in the same habi- fíbios-RAN, 74605090, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil. 3. Universidade Federal de Viçosa, campus Florestal, Florestal, Ro- tat, the green toad (Bufotes viridis), the green tree- dovia LMG 818, km 06, 35690-000, MG, Brazil. frog (Hyla arborea) and the marsh frog (Pelophylax * Corresponding author, H. Thomassen, Email: ridibundus). However, we did not hear the calling [email protected] of P. syriacus. Nevertheless, we assume that the lake itself serves as a breeding site due to the scar- city of other wetlands suitable for reproduction in the vicinity of the new locality.

176 North-Western Journal of Zoology 13(1) / 2017

Key words: amphibia, faunistics, herpetofauna, Prespa, Balkan.

Article No.: e167501 Received: 19. November 2015 / Accepted: 27. February 2016 Available online: 30. March 2016 / Printed: June 2017

Márton SZABOLCS1,2,* and Edvárd MIZSEI3

1. Department of Tisza River Research, Danube Research Institute, Centre for Ecological Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Bem tér 18/C, 4026 Debrecen, Hungary. 2. Pál Juhász-Nagy Doctoral School of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary. 3. Department of Evolutionary Zoology & Human Biology, Univer- sity of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary. *Corresponding author, N. Szabolcs, E-mail: [email protected]

Figure 1. The location of Albania in Europe (A), a topog- raphical map of Albania, with main waterbodies, where the star indicates the new locality of Pelobates syriacus (B), and a photograph of the first P. syriacus found in Albania (C). Underground occurrences of three species of amphibians and reptiles

Acknowledgments. We thank the volunteers of the with special emphasis Greek Meadow Viper Working Group, especially Ádám on Rana latastei (Amphibia: Anura) Lovas-Kiss, for the help in the field trips. Traveling costs were provided by Balassi Institute, Hungary, Campus The Italian agile frog, Rana latastei Boulenger, 1879 Hungary Programme (B2/1CS/19196). Our efforts to map is an endemic species of the Padano-Venetian the herpetofauna of Albania was supported by the Societas Europea Herpetologica’s SEH Grant in plain, the Po plain hills, Canton Ticino and Istria Herpetology 2015 – Mapping and Distributions. (Barbieri & Bernini 2004). As a whole, the general distribution limits of this species are well known References (Bruno 1977, Grossenbacher 1982, Burlin & Dolce Bruno, S. (1989): Introduction to a study of the herpetofauna of Albania. British Herpetological Society Bulletin 29: 16-41. 1986, Gasc et al. 1997, Glasnović 2012), but the Budak, A., Göçmen, B. (2008): Herpetoloji (Herpetology), Ege borders of the distribution areas are not clear yet. Üniversitesi Fen Fakültesi Kitaplar Serisi, No. 194, Ege Distribution of R. latastei in Croatia is restricted to Üniversitesi Basimevi, Bornova-Izmir, 226p. Dhora, D. (2010): Register of species of the fauna of Albania. the central and northern part of Istria (Schmidtler Shkodër, Albania, Botimet Camaj-Pipa, 208p. 1977, Burlin & Dolce 1986, Gasc et al. 1997, Kul- Džukić, G., Beškov, V., Sidorocska, V., Cogălniceanu, D., Kalezić, jerić 2011). The Pazinčica river represents the M.L. (2008): Contemporary chorology of the spadefoot toads (Pelobates spp.) in the Balkan Peninsula. Zeitschrift für southernmost record of R. latastei (Kuljerić 2009, Feldherpetologie 15: 1-18. 2011). Haxhiu, I. (1994): The herpetofauna of Albania, Amphibia: species According to the known habitat requirements composition, distribution, habitats. Zoologische Jahrbuecher Systematik 17: 199-202. of R. latastei, it is restricted to lowlands and occu- Haxhiu, I. (1998): The reptilia of Albania: species composition, pies humid oak-hornbeam forest, hygrophilous distribution, habitats. Bonner Zoologische Beitrage 48(1): 35-57. woods of the Cladio-Fraxinetum angustifoliae asso- Jablonski, D. (2011): Reptiles and amphibians of Albania with new records and notes on occurence and distribution. Acta Societatis ciation and riparian woods (Barbieri & Mazzotti Zoologicae Bohemicae 75: 223-238. 2006). Sometimes it may be found in more open Mizsei, E., Jablonski, D., Végvári, Z., Lengyel, S., Szabolcs, M. areas such as peat bogs, sedge banks and swamps (2017): Distribution and diversity of reptiles in Albania: a novel database from a Mediterranean hotspot. Amphibia-Reptilia 38: (Jelić et al. 2012). During the biospeleological and 157-173. cave diving exploration into the Pazinska jama, Sillero, N., Campos, J., Bonardi, A., Corti, C., Creemers, R., Crochet, three different amphibian and reptile species were P-A., Crnobrnja Isailović, J., Denoël, M., Ficetola, G.F., Gonçalves, J., Kuzmin, S., Lymberakis, P., de Pous, P., observed in the cave system, including the first re- Rodríguez, A., Sindaco, R., Speybroek, J., Toxopeus, B., Vieites, cord of R. latastei inside a Croatian cave. The only D.R., Vences, M., (2014): Updated distribution and other record of this species from inside a cave is biogeography of amphibians and reptiles of Europe. Amphibia- Reptilia 35: 1-31. from Italy (Bressi & Dolce 1999). The species is