. Asiatic herpetological research. Reptiles -- Asia Periodicals; Amphibians -- Asia Periodicals. Vol. 5 p. 148 Asiatic Herpetological Research December 1993. FIG. 1. Distribution of Mertensiella caucasica. distributed in external spurs of the Trialetian Mountain Range. Probably it is the result of historical changes in the Kura River bed (Fig. 1). Populations are mainly distributed in the forest belt, but in some places they can be found close to subalpine meadows. Humidity in the species' locations reaches 1000 mm or more per year (another narrow-ranged representative of the salamander tribe,
. Asiatic herpetological research. Reptiles -- Asia Periodicals; Amphibians -- Asia Periodicals. Vol. 5 p. 148 Asiatic Herpetological Research December 1993. FIG. 1. Distribution of Mertensiella caucasica. distributed in external spurs of the Trialetian Mountain Range. Probably it is the result of historical changes in the Kura River bed (Fig. 1). Populations are mainly distributed in the forest belt, but in some places they can be found close to subalpine meadows. Humidity in the species' locations reaches 1000 mm or more per year (another narrow-ranged representative of the salamander tribe, Chioglossa lusitanica, has similar requirements of humidity). In the most dry part of the range of M. caucasica, the eastern one, salamanders live only in coniferous forest. When humidity reaches 1200 mm/year in the middle area, they can also be found in subalpine meadows. Salamanders are distributed in deciduous forest only close to the Black Sea coast, where humidity is very high (2000-2400 mm/year; Fig. 1). The high dependence of the animal on humidity does not itself limit the species distribution, but determines sensitivity of specimens to other environmental factors. It is very interesting that the rheophilous species Ranodon sibiricus, more restricted to water habitats than M. caucasica, is geographical limited by coniferous forests like M. caucasica in eastern localities (Paraskiv, 1953). Local populations, distributed along tributaries of the Chorokh and Kura rivers (in upper flow), are formed by salamanders within its area. Width of streams in salamander plots is not more that m in spring and because of stepped disposition of streams, they run slowly in some places. There are many slowly draining pools about 20-30 cm in depth with a lot of shelters. The bottoms of streams and pools are covered with stones, and there is a lot of non- decayed organic matter. Stepped disposition of streams is formed by stoned conglomerations and fallen logs. Apparently, mountain r
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