zeitschrift fur angewandte zoologie

3 downloads 0 Views 880KB Size Report
Apr 18, 1987 - river, the river within Dalyan town and up and down-stream of it, the area ..... There are specimens from the Kishon river near Haifa and theĀ ...
Sonderdruck aus:

ZEITSCHRIFT FUR ANGEWANDTE ZOOLOGIE GERMAN JOURNAL FOR APPLIED ZOOLOGY

In Verbindung mit

Kart Becker, Hannover; Ralf Garms 1 Hamburg; Karl G6,Bwald; Wurzburg; Waldemar Madel, Ingelheim; Lothar Renwrantz, Hamburg; Harald Rosenthal, Hamburg

herausgegeben van PETER-DIEDRICH HANSEN

Berlin

78.

J ahrgang

Zweites Heft 1991

DUNCKER

&

HUMBLOT

/

BERLIN

Distribution and bionomics of the Nile Soft-Shelled Turtle, Trionyx triunguis, in the Eastern Mediterranean By MAx KASPAREK and RAGNAR KINZELBACH Institute for Zoology, Technical University of Darmstadt (With 7 figures)

Key w

0

r d s: Trionyx-Middle East-Zoogeography-Conservation 1. Introduction

In the. original scientific description of "Testudo triunguis", FORSKAL (1775) noted that the species was rare in the Nile: "in Nilo rarior". Some 75 years later, it was found to occur in the countries of the Levant by RUSSEGGER (184}), and this wider distribution then became common knowledge (BOETTGER 1879, STRAUCH 1890, LORTET 1887). It was almost a century before the scientific community realised that its modern distribution extends as far north as Southwest Anatolia (BA~O(JLU 1973, BA~O(JLU & BARAN 1977, HATHAWAY 1972).

The present contribution continues the collection of data on the Nile SoftShelled Turtle Trionyx triunguis in the Middle East which began with HAAS (1951), ATATUR (1979) and KINZELBACH (1986). This seems to be justified for the following reasons: (a) Despite its wide range, Trionyx triunguis is threatened either by direct interference by man or by the increasing invasion of its habitats. This is especially true for the Asiatic part of its distribution area. In order to establish a protection strategy, data on distribution and population size are most urgently required. (b) A good deal of new information has become available, partly culled from literature sources not included in the compilations mentioned above, and partly from our own recent field activities in Turkey, Syria, Israel and Egypt.

138

Max Kasparek and Ragnar Kinzelbach

2. List of recent sites in the Middle East The sites are listed in groups according to the natural regions, from north-

west to south-east (Fig. 1). 2.1. Ko y c e giz - D aly a n we tI a nd c ompl ex Although the occurrence here of the Nile Soft-Shelled Turtle has become known only recently (BA~OGLU 1973), this is now one of the best-known sites in Turkey. In addition to the published finds (ATATOR 1979, GRAMENTZ 1990, KINZELBACH 1986), numerous observations were made by various observers especially in 1986 - 90. The main occurrence is in the Dalyan River, which connects Lake Koycegiz with the Dalyan estuary. As many as 12 different individuals were observed each day and the localities include e. g. the thermal springs upstream of Dalyan town, including a nearby dead arm of the river, the river within Dalyan town and up and down-stream of it, the area

of the fishery cooperative, the river branch near ancient Kaunos, and the outlet of the estuary to the sea. A few records are also from Siiliingiir Golii, which is a part of the Dalyan estuary. The observations there include a sighting of a mating pair on 16.6.1987 by tourists (cf. KINZELBACH & SCHEMEL 1987, where this observation was erroneously attributed to the Loggerhead Turtle, Caretta caretta). Within Koycegiz Golii, observations are available from the villages of Sultaniye and Horozlar on the western shore of the lake. The shores of the Dalyan River and the Dalyan estuary are generally muddy and covered by a dense vegetation (mainly the reed Phragmites australis), while those of Koycegiz G6hi are muddy, rocky or stony. A site which appears suitable for nesting is the sand dune which separates the estuary from the sea. In fact, f;l.esting was cO\lfirmed there in 1987, when R. K. found two plundered nests on 23. 6., and M. K. (together with K. CORBETT)

independently found what appear to be the same nests on 29.6. Both nests were close to each other (distance c.15 m) and were situated in a steep sand hill about 2.5 m from the water's edge. At exactly the same locality, M. K.

again found two plundered nests in the following year, on 22. 6.1988. On the same sand dune, ATATOR (1979) had earlier found a single Trionyx egg near the outlet of the estuary to the sea (Dalyanagzl), on 29. 6.1975. However, no nest could be located on that occasion, So far, successful nesting in the K6ycegiz-Dalyan wetland complex has

only been established by H. and M. BREIL. In September 1989 they saw a baby Soft-Shelled Turtle which had been caught by a local fisherman in the Dalyan River within Dalyan village. Its length was about 10 cm. An intensive search in the Dalyan River during the days that followed produced two

\

'--

i +\1

-,_ ) r !

.~

....

!2

;