Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
HERPETOLOGICAL CONSERVATION AND BIOLOGY, cilt.20, sa.2, ss.438-456, 2025 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Lack of widespread sampling of vipers from western Asia has led to inadequate knowledge of their dis-tributions. This has negatively impacted threat assessments by the International Union for the Conservation of Na-ture (IUCN) 15 y ago that remain today. Darevsky's Viper Vipera darevskii (sensu lato) is one of the affected species, representing one of only 10 viper species categorized globally as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. Aside from 124 individuals sampled for a multi-year conservation project within 10 km of the southern Javakheti Mountains, Armenia, only 70 individuals of V. darevskii (sensu lato) from northeastern Tiirkiye (Turkey) and the Lesser Cau-casus of Georgia and Armenia have been noted in publications. Consequently, we conducted 17 expeditions from 2013 to 2025 to collect distribution, genetic, and some morphological data on vipers of West Asia. We also made a comprehensive literature review, and we screened common herpetological networks and social media, whose authors we usually contacted for precise information. We generated a highly improved database on V. darevskii (sensu lato) across its range, resulting in 68 distinct localities at > 1 km between localities, including V. sakoi, its closely related western taxon. More than half (38) represent new localities, some with additional confirmations, while two published misidentifications were corrected. We confirmed Darevsky's Viper in three new provinces, and we refined information from 27 published localities (journals, project reports). This resulted in substantial range extensions of up to about 100 km, and more importantly, included several undocumented mountain ranges. The updated distribution and taxonomic consideration we present is thus crucial in future threat assessments and conservation needs for the Darevsky's Viper.