. Bonner zoologische Monographien. Zoology. 347. An additional danger, the devastating effect of which is known from many island faunas, is introduction of foreign species. The Soqotran capital, Hadibo, is already devoid of indigenous Hemidactylus due to the presence of introduced H. flaviviridis and H. turcicus which have apparently outcompeted the original species. Introduced rats {Rattus rattus) are also very abundant at Hadibo. At present there are no dogs on the island, but if there were as many wild dogs as in mainland Yemen they would present a threat to the colubrid snakes. Cats are al
. Bonner zoologische Monographien. Zoology. 347. An additional danger, the devastating effect of which is known from many island faunas, is introduction of foreign species. The Soqotran capital, Hadibo, is already devoid of indigenous Hemidactylus due to the presence of introduced H. flaviviridis and H. turcicus which have apparently outcompeted the original species. Introduced rats {Rattus rattus) are also very abundant at Hadibo. At present there are no dogs on the island, but if there were as many wild dogs as in mainland Yemen they would present a threat to the colubrid snakes. Cats are already abundant on Soqotra. Conclusions The current reptile fauna of the Soqotran archipelago is unique and results from a long evolutionary diversification of an ancient African or Afro-Arabian stock. Future studies should aim at the reconstruction of the phylogenies of these and other groups of Soqotran organisms. A comparative estimation of genetic distances from mainland Arabian, African and Socotran taxa of several genera is in preparation. Such investigations promise to provide insights into the process of speciation, as well as into an understanding of the evolutionary and biogeographic history of East Africa, Arabia and the western Indian Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Bonn, Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig
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