AN ANNOTATED CHECKLIST OF THE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF ERITREA, WITH KEYS FOR THEIR IDENTIFICATION

Most herpetological research in Eritrea was conducted during the perio d 1827-1930 and was almost exclusively the preserve of Italian enthusi asts, who concentrated their efforts within an 80 km radius of Asmara. Virtually no field work has been undertaken on the Eritrean mainland in the past 65 years and a great deal still remains to be learned abou t the composition, distribution and status of the herpetofauna. The 10 9 species provisionally listed in the present work (Anura 19, Testudin es 9, Crocodylia 1, Sauria 45, Serpentes 35) are predominantly savanna (37.5%) and deserticolous (33.1%) forms and the Eritrean highlands ar e impoverished by aridity. Of eight taxa which extend into this region from the Ethiopian Plateau, only three appear to be genuinely montane and the ability of the remainder to colonise lowland sites elsewhere in their ranges is taken as evidence of their resistance to drought co nditions. Rhinotyphlops erythraeus (Scortecci 1928), which is known on ly from the type locality at an altitude of 2200 m, might conceivably be an Eritrean montane endemic, but the two nominally endemic anurans have no evident associations with high elevations and may therefore ex tend into neighbouring territories. The taxonomic status of Phrynobatr achus tellinii Peracca 1904 is very uncertain, but it has been possibl e to reach more definite conclusions about Rana cornii Scortecci 1929 and R. demarchii Scortecci 1929 following examination of the single su rviving syntype of each species, recently rediscovered in London. The evidence from these specimens is that R. cornii is a junior synonym of Ptychadena schubotzi (Sternfeld 1917), while the name demarchii seems to represent a valid species which is most appropriately retained in the genus Rana (sensu Dubois 1992), at least until its relationships c an be more satisfactorily determined on the basis of fresh material.