Peculiarities of landscape distribution of the Central Asian Tortoise,<i>Agrionemys horsfieldii</i>, in Iran

The range of Agrionemys horsfieldii in Iran is outlined and known locality records are mapped, including seven new localities from northern and eastern Iran. New data on habitats and population densities in different landscapes are given. Population density varied between 0.7 and 2.15 ind./ha. An historical analysis of the habitat formation and divergence of the Horsfield tortoise on the Iranian Plateau is given. Information on morphology, ecology and parasitology of the populations from the environs of Mazdavand is presented. The morphometric characteristics of two populations were compared and some morphometric indices were found. The possible cooccurrence of Agrionemys horsfieldii and Testudo graeca zarudnyi is discussed. These two species show a preference for different conditions and rarely meet together in the same habitat.

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