Content uploaded by Mark Pestov
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Mark Pestov on May 27, 2019
Content may be subject to copyright.
SHORT COMMUNICATIONS
DOI: 10.30906/1026-2296-2018-25-4-322-326
THE STATUS OF THE DESERT MONITOR Varanus griseus caspius
(SQUAMATA: VARANIDAE) IN THE MANGISTAU REGION
OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN AND SOME FEATURES
OF THE PREIMAGINAL STAGES OF THE LONGHORN BEETLES
Neoplocaederus scapularis (COLEOPTERA: CERAMBYCIDAE)
Mark V. Pestov,1Anna N. Gnetneva,2Aktan T. Mukhashov3
Submitted June 1, 2017
This short report provides information on finding of cocoons of longhorn beetles (Neoplocaederus scapularis)
from Ferula sp. in southern part of Mangistau Region of Republic of Kazakhstan. These cocoons according to size
and shape looked very similar to the eggs of the desert monitor (Varanus griseus caspius). This record does not
confirm the assumptions about distribution of the desert monitor in this region, based earlier on the erroneous
identification of empty cocoon of Neoplocaederus scapularis as possible remnants of the egg of the monitor.
Keywords: Kazakhstan; Mangistau Region; desert monitor; Varanus griseus caspius; eggshell; cocoons of
Neoplocaederus scapularis; Ferula sp.
The desert monitor is widely distributed in North Af-
rica, in South-West Asia to Pakistan and India, and
throughout Central Asia. Currently there are three sub-
species that are recognized by scientists: Varanus griseus
koniecznyi Mertens, 1942, V. g. griseus (Daudin, 1803)
and V. g. caspius (Eichwald, 1831) (Bennett, 1995;
Ananieva et al., 2004; Sindaco and Jeremèenko, 2008).
V. g. caspius inhabits the territory from the southern and
eastern coast of the Caspian Sea, to Afghanistan and Pa-
kistan. The northern border of the distribution range of
this species and its subspecies is found in Kazakhstan
(Brushko, 1995; Sindaco and Jeremèenko, 2008).
The majority of the published research studies con-
cerning the northwest border of V. g. caspius distribution
in Kazakhstan and Central Asia states that the border lies
along the Caspian coastline to the south of Kara-Bogaz-
Gol Bay and the southern boundary of the Ustyurt pla-
teau in northwestern Turkmenistan (Bannikov et al.,
1977; Ananjeva et al., 2004; Sindaco, Jeremèenko,
2008). Accordingly, territories such as Ustyurt and Man-
gyshlak are usually not mentioned as the parts of distri-
bution range for the desert monitor (Paraskiv, 1948,
1956; Brushko, 1995; Duysebaeva, 2009, 2012; Pestov
and Nurmukhambetov, 2012).
However, several authors still do not exclude the pos-
sibility of a desert monitor occurrence in the southern
part of the Mangistau region. For instance, in the report
on the herpetofauna of the Aral-Caspian watershed, Ku-
bykin and Plakhov (2012) mention the desert monitor as
a species with an unidentified status. The observation
provided by the authors is important for the discussion,
therefore we will quote it verbatim: “The old shell of a
single egg resembling an eggshell of a monitor is found
on the footpath in the southern part of the Karynzharyk
basin — the eastern side of the Shagalasor depression, in
1026-2296/2018/2504-0322 © 2018 Folium Publishing Company
Russian Journal of Herpetology Vol. 25, No. 4, 2018, pp. 322 – 326
1Protection Society of Amphibians and Reptiles under Ecological
Center “Dront,” Rozhdestvenskaya St. 16d, Nizhny Novgorod,
603001, Russia; e-mail: vipera@dront.ru
2Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya
nab. 1, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia;
e-mail: an.gnetneva@yandex.ru
3Ustyurt Nature Reserve, Sportivnaya 7, 130200, Zhanaozen, Ka-
zakhstan; e-mail: m.aktan@mail.ru
the vicinity of the Tushi-Chagall spring. On the one hand,
it is possible that this eggshell belongs to a four-lined
snake changed by the time. On the other hand, there is a
high probability that this is a shell of a monitor’s egg, be-
cause this part of the Karynzharyk depression (like
Southern Ustyurt and the southern part of the Kenderli-
Kayasan plateau) is the area closest to the northern parts
of the range of the monitor in North -Western Turkmeni-
stan” (Kubykin and Plakhov, 2012).
Furthermore, we need to mention the work where the
authors include the entire territory of Ustyurt and Mangy-
shlak in the range of the desert monitor habitat region
(Blank et al., 2013). However, we suggest that this con-
clusion is not reasonably justified.
During our own herpetological field research in
Mangistau region (2010 – 2016), mainly in its southern
part in the area of the Ustyurt State Nature Reserve in the
Karynzharyk Basin, we were never able to detect any
traces of the habitat of the desert monitor. Numerous in-
terviews with local residents of the Karakiyansky district
of the Mangistau region on the border with Turkmeni-
stan and Uzbekistan, as well as with employees of the
reserve, shepherds, and border guards, to whom we
showed color photographs of the desert monitor, also did
not yield positive results.
In April 2016, in the southern part of the Karynzha-
ryk sands, in a small blowing basin in the upper half of a
semi-fixed sand-dune covered with saxaul (Haloxylon
sp.), juzgun (Calligonum sp.) and ferula (Ferula sp.),
we found several oblong, slightly flattened calcareous
shells resembling the eggs of the monitor. Some of them
had almost no external damage (Fig. 1). The measure-
ments of one of the undamaged objects were about
42 × 18 × 13 mm. The thickness of the shell is about
0.3 mm. The surface of the shells in one way or another
was encrusted with adhered grains of sand. The presence
of calcium carbonate in the shell was later confirmed by
the rapid release of carbon dioxide in reaction with acetic
acid.
Brushko (1995) provides the following proportions
of the dry eggs of the monitor assembled on the surface
of the substrate: 40 – 45 × 12 – 20 × 12 – 13 mm; thus,
the shells that we found fit the dimensions of dry eggs of
the monitor quite well. The eggs of the monitors, like the
eggs of most lizards of other families, are covered with a
soft leathery sheath that quickly hardens when exposed to
The Status of the Desert Monitor Varanus griseus caspius in the Mangistau region of the Kazakhstan 323
Fig. 1. Calcareous shells found in the Karynzharyk sands in the spring of 2016.
324 Mark V. Pestov et al.
Fig. 2. Mummified larva of the longhorn beetles (Neoplocaederus scapularis) inside the calcareous cocoon.
Fig. 3. The longhorn beetles (Neoplocaederus scapularis) on the in florescence of the ferula (Ferula sp.).
air after laying eggs (Darevsky, 1985). However, it is
likely that it might be difficult to distinguish the old,
dried leathery shell of an egg from the old calcareous
shell covered by grains of sand in the field conditions, es-
pecially when the size and shape are similar.
As it turned out, the objects we found are of com-
pletely different origin. Inside one of them we identified
the characteristic fragments of the chitinous skeleton of
the imago of the longhorn beetles Neoplocaederus
(= Plocaederus Auct., Non J. Thomson, 1860) scapularis
Fischer von Waldheim, 1821, and in the other, we found
mummified remains of the longhorn beetles larva
(Fig. 2). After consultations with entomological experts,
we deduced that the objects we found were dead or aban-
doned cocoons (cradles) of Neoplocaederus scapularis,
which ended up on the surface of the substrate as a result
of wind erosion. This species of longhorn beetles is very
common in May-June in the ferula plantation area in the
Mangistau region; longhorn beetles can be easily found
on the flowers of the ferula during the blossom season
(Fig. 3).
The calcareous cocoons of the larvae of some long-
horn beetles species (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) are well
known to specialists (Duffy, 1953; Danilevsky, 1988;
Svacha and Lawrence, 2014). Moreover, there already
have been incidents of false identification of fossilized
beetle cocoons as fossil reptile eggs (Johnston et al.,
1996).
Thus, it is probable that the eggshell described earlier
in the Karynzharyk basin that was thought to belong to
the desert monitor (Kubykin and Plakhov, 2012), was
also in fact an empty cocoon of a longhorn beetle. Ac-
cordingly, this finding cannot be considered as a confir-
mation of the habitat possibility of a desert monitor in the
southern part of the Mangistau region near the border
with Turkmenistan. Our hypothesis was supported by
Plakhov (one of the authors of this find and publication)
in a personal conversation after the examination of our
photographs of the cocoons of the longhorn beetles.
The set of previously published data, our own long-
term observations, and the results of surveys of local resi-
dents indicate that the desert monitor is not currently
found in Ustyurt and Mangyshlak within the Mangistau
region of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Thus, the identifi-
cation of the northern border of the desert monitor range
is still actual. This is necessary to management of protec-
tion strategy for this rare and highly vulnerable species of
reptiles listed in the Red Data Book of the Republic of
Kazakhstan (2010).
Acknowledgments. We sincerely thank our colleagues
A. L. Lobanov (ZIN RAS), M. L. Danilevsky (IPEE RAS) and
A. I. Miroshnikov (Research Institute of Mountain Forestry and
Forest Ecology of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Rus-
sian Federation) for helpful discussions and valuable consulta-
tions on the biology of longhorn beetles Neoplocaederus
scapularis as well as for help with coleopterological publica-
tions. The work was partially supported by the Russian Founda-
tion for Basic Research (18-04-00040) and state theme of
Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences
(AAAA-A17-117030310017-8).
REFERENCES
Ananjeva N. B., Orlov N. L., Khalikov R. G., Darevsky I. S.,
Ryabov S. A., and Barabanov A. V. (2004), Atlas of Rep-
tiles in Northern Eurasia (taxonomic diversity,geograph-
ical distribution and nature protection status), Zoological
Institute, St. Petersburg [in Russian].
Bannikov A. G., Darevsky I. S., Ishchenko V. G., Rusta-
mov A. K., and Shcherbak N. N. (1977), The Determinant
of Amphibious and Reptilian Fauna of the USSR, Prosve-
shcheniye, Moscow [in Russian].
Bennett D. A. (1995), Little Book of Monitor Lizards: A Guide
to the Monitor Lizards of the World and Their Care in Cap-
tivity, Viper Press, Aberdeen.
Blank D., Yang W., et al. (2013), Ecological Status and Con-
servation of Wildlife in Central Asia, China Meteorological
Press, Beijing.
Brushko Z. K. (1995), Lizards of the Deserts of Kazakhstan,
Konzhyik, Almaty [in Russian].
Danilevsky M. L. (1988 (for 1987)), “Subfamily Cerambyci-
nae Latreille, 1804,” in: P. Svacha and M. L. Danilevsky,
Cerambycoid Larvae of Europe and Soviet Union (Coleo-
ptera,Cerambycoidea). Part 2,Acta Univ. Carol. Biol.,
31(3 – 4), 121 – 284.
Darevsky I. S. (1985), “Order of the scaled reptiles (Squama-
ta). Lizard suborder (Sauria),” Animal Life,5, 159 – 166 [in
Russian].
Duffy E. A. J. (1953), A Monograph of the Immature Stages of
British and Imported Timber Beetles (Cerambycidae), Brit-
ish Museum (Natural History), London.
Duysebaeva T. N. (2009), “Overview of the fauna of amphibi-
ans and reptiles of the Ustyurt State Nature Reserve,”
Nauch. Tr. Ustyurt Gos. Prirod. Zapoved.,86,71–85[in
Russian].
Duysebaeva T. N. (2012), “An overview of the fauna of am-
phibians and reptiles of the Mangistau region,” Selevinia,
20, 59 – 65 [in Russian].
Johnston P. A., Eberth D. A., and Anderson P. K. (1996),
“Alleged vertebrate eggs from the Upper Cretaceous red-
beds, Gobi Desert, are fossil insect (Coleoptera) pupal
chambers: Fictovichnus new ichnogenus,” Can. J. Earth
Sci.,33, 511 – 525.
Kubykin R. A. and Plakhov K. N. (2012), “On the fauna of
amphibians and reptiles of the Aral-Caspian watershed
The Status of the Desert Monitor Varanus griseus caspius in the Mangistau region of the Kazakhstan 325
(based on the materials of the expeditions of RA Kubykin in
1989 – 1990),” Selevinia,20, 77 – 82 [in Russian].
Paraskiv K. P. (1948), “To the fauna of reptiles and amphibi-
ans of the Mangyshlak peninsula,” Izv. Akad. Nauk KazSSR,
8(63), 164 – 167 [in Russian].
Paraskiv K. P. (1956), Reptiles of Kazakhstan, Academy of
Sciences of the KazSSR, Almaty [in Russian].
Pestov M. V. and Nurmukhambetov G. E. (2012), “Am-
phibians and reptiles of the Ustyurt State Reserve (Kazakh-
stan),” Selevinia,20, 77 – 82 [in Russian].
Plavilshchikov N. N. (1940), “The longhorn beetles (Ceram-
bycidae). Part 2. Fauna of the USSR. Horsetails,” Tr. AN
SSSR,12, 82 – 87 [in Russian].
Sindaco R. and Jeremèenko V. R. (2008), The Reptiles of
Western Palearctic. 1. Annotated Checklist and Distribu-
tional Atlas of the Turtles, Crocodiles Amphisbaenians and
Lizards of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central
Asia, Edizioni Belvedere.
Svacha P. and Lawrence J. F. (2014), “2.4. Cerambycidae La-
treille, 1802,” in: R. A. B. Leschen and R. G. Beutel (eds.),
Morphology and Systematics (Phytophaga). Vol. 3, pp. 77 –
177.
The Red Book of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2010), The
Red Book of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Vol. 1. Animals.
Part 1. Vertebrates, DPS, Almaty [in Russian].
326 Mark V. Pestov et al.