The objective of this study was to report the group mating of Asian Keelback snake, Hebius vibakari, in South Korea. On May 20, 2009, the group mating of H. vibakari was observed in the Maeng-gol do, Jindo-gun, Jeollanam-do, in the rocky area (107 m above sea level) on the ridge of the island. Six female and five male snakes made a form of mating behavior called “mating ball”. Two couples showed “tail-wrestling” which is the copulation behavior in snake species. During the mating, the temperature and humidity were 25.7°C and 59%, respectively. The result of this study was the first case report of the group mating in H. vibakari, a rare reptile.

The roadkill that animals die after bumping by vehicles on the roads is acting as a factor to decrease the size of various animal populations. It has also been known to be the biggest artificial causations of Vertebrata deaths not only in urban areas but also protected areas such as national parks. Nevertheless, in the national park areas which are major protected national areas for conservation of national biodiversity and ecological diversity, snake roadkills occur frequently. Up to date, related studies are rare. Therefore, in this study, we described snake roadkill patterns on the roads in six national parks between 2006 and 2015. We identified total 736 snake roadkills compromising 10 different species. Five species, Rhabdophis lateralis, Elaphe dione, Gloydius ussuriensis, Lycodon rufozonatus, Gloydius brevicaudus occupied more than 91.7% of total roadkill cases. Active forager snakes were killed by roadkills more than ambush foragers, and the snake roadkill frequency was the highest in September, a migration period and in August when the young individuals dispersed at between 100 and 799 m altitude areas. Roads where roadkills were frequent lie between forest and hydrosphere or between forest and crop field road sides. Our results could be used to identify the trend of snake roadkills on the roads in national parks, and to establish effective roadkill mitigation measures and policies.

Development of transportation is rapidly reducing the barriers between countries, but this is causing the easier migration of species than the past. Typically, exotic species are imported for the purpose of food, leather, and pets. However, it has been introduced into the wild through artificially or naturally paths, and recently they are become a main cause of ecosystem disturbance. In this study, we investigated exotic turtle species introduced into the wild and analyzed their distribution characteristics. As a result of filed surveys, totally 4 genus 8 species 62 individuals of exotic turtles were found from 126 reservoirs in Gangwon-do and Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea. In particular, Trachemys scripta elegans showed relatively high frequency than other turtle species and the natural reproduction of T. s. elegans was confirmed in some areas. On the other hand, the frequency of discovery of exotic turtles except T. s. elegans was relatively low, and the range of the areas was limited. Especially, exotic turtles except T. s. elegans were mainly found in public places such as reservoirs in the park. As a result of analyzing the distribution characteristics of exotic turtles using geographic information system, the turtles’ distribution showed a high correlation with the artificial factor such as “urban”. In this study, we identified the distribution characteristics of exotic turtles in the Korean wild, and these results will be important data for understanding status the and establishing effective management methods for exotic species.

본 연구는 PIT tag (passive integrated transponder)과 무선추적법(radio telemetry)을 오대산국립공원과 월악산국립공원에 서식하고 있는 파충류에 적용한 후, 이를 평가하여 효과적으로 국립공원 내 파충류 자원관리 방안을 모색하기 위하여 수행되었다. PIT tag은 현재까지 알려진 파충류 개체표시법 중에서 가장 효과적인 방법으로 2006년 3월부터 2008년 10월까지 오대산국립공원과 월악산국립공원의 조사지역에 출현한

Borrelia, which is transmitted by arthropod, is known as an infectious agent to vertebrate, such as Lyme disease (LD) Borrelia and Relapsing fever (RF) Borrelia. LD Borrelia is only transmitted by hard-bodied ticks classified into the Ixodes ticks. In contrast, almost of RF Borrelia was transmitted by soft-bodied ticks, Argasid ticks. Thus so far, the co-evolution was thought to be established between Borrelia and tick. In this study, we found unknown borreliae from imported reptiles and its associated ticks (we preliminary named as ‘REP Borrelia’). Ticks were introduced into Japan with world-wide trading of reptiles. Ticks were classified into genus Amblyomma or Hyalomma. Out of 82 ticks, 76 were positive for PCR of tickmitochondrial gene for 16S rRNA, and we used these 76 ticks for our examination. From 57 ticks (75%), Borrelia turcica and unknown three Borrelia spp. were detected or isolated. In addition, we examined imported reptiles which were infested exotic ticks. A total of 15 reptiles including 5 of Testudo graeca, 1 of T. horsfieldii, 2 of Phelsuma dubia and 7 of Geochelone pardalis were used for isolation study of Borrelia. Borrelia was isolated from 11 reptiles (73.3%) as follows: T. graeca, T. horsfieldii, G. pardalis. It suggested that, these imported reptiles and exotic ticks were highly infected with Borrelia. Phylogenetic analysis based on the DNA sequences of Borrelia, it was indicated that REP Borrelia constituted a cluster which was independent from RF and LD Borrelia. Surprisingly, this REP Borrelia was expected that was transmitted by hard-bodied tick, although it was thought to be diverged from ancestor RF Borrelia. From quantitative analysis of divergence based on 16S rRNA gene, it was expected that REP and RF Borrelia were differentiated around 50 million years ago (MYA). On the other hand, the oldest soft-bodied tick fossil from New Jersey amber was indicated that soft-bodied tick was speciated since ~92 MYA. In fact, soft-bodied tick was already diverged into genus level when RF and REP Borrelia were diverged. This may suggest that the vector switching event was occurred in ancestor REP/RF Borrelia.

우리나라에 서식하는 파충류상과 분포 현황을 파악하기 위해 제2차 전국자연환경조사, 국립공원자연자원조사, 개인 조사결과 등이 분석되었다. 그 결과 우리나라에 서식하는 파충류는 총 2목 7과 21종으로 확인되었다(장수거북, 바다거북, 붉은바다거북, 바다뱀, 얼룩바다뱀, 먹대가리바다뱀 등 해양 파충류 제외). 또한 분류학적으로 많은 논쟁이 있는 도마뱀류, 장지뱀류, 뱀류에 대한 분류학적 고찰이 시도되었다. 그러나 추가적으로 해양파충류에 대한 연구가 필요할 것

월악산국립공원의 송계계곡 일대의 양서 파충류 노상상해 현황을 파악하기 위하여 송계계곡을 300m간격으로 50개구간을 나눈 후 구간별로 2003년 1월부터 2005년 12월까지 조사를 실시하였다. 그 결과 송계계곡에서 확인된 양서류 10종중 4종이, 파충류는 12종중 7종이 차량에 의해 노상상해된 것으로 확인되었다 또한 가장 많이 차량에 의해 죽는 종은 북방산개구리(Rana dybowskii)로 전체 노상상해 개체수중 94.9%를 차지하였으며, 시기로는 4월~5월경에 가장 많은 피해가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 따라서 북방산개구리를 보호하기 위해 생태이동통로 설치가 필요하며, 북방산개구리와 다른 양서류의 보호를 위해서 지속적인 모니터링을 실시해야 한다.