Abstract: | Romania’s herpethofauna is until now insufficiently known, with very little data referring to its composition and geographical spreading in comparison with the western Europe countries (Gasc et al 1997). Sãlaj County was not an exception, existing little information about its herpethofauna. Few characteristics of the county’s herpethofauna are mentioned in the volumes referring to the herpethofauna of the P. R. of Romania (Fuhn 1960, Fuhn & Vancea 1961). Later on, data about the amphibians of the region are included in the Amphibians of Romania monograph (Cogalniceanu et al 2000). However, in the specialty literature there is one work dedicated entirely to the herpethofauna of Sãlaj County (Ghira & Ghile 1999). Afterwards, this data was included in a much wider work dedicated to the herpethofauna of Transylvania (Ghira et al 2002). Yet the herpethofauna of Sãlaj County remains uncertain, not being as investigated as other regions from the western part of Romania, regions like Bihor (Covaciu - Marcov et al 2000, 2002, 2003 a, b, c) or Satu – Mare Counties (Covaciu - Marcov et al 2004 a, 2005). All that said, we set off to analyze the composition and the geographical spreading of Sãlaj County’s herpethofauna, this work containing the results of the studies made in the north – western part of this region. |
