Herpetofauna in the city of Blagoevgrad, south-western Bulgaria

The city of Blagoevgrad and its surroundings (about 16.4 km2) were researched in order to establish the diversity, distribution and level of synanthropy of the amphibian and reptile species. Data about the herpetofauna were obtained in the period 1988–2012. Totally 25 species were registered – 10 amphibians and 15 reptiles. The number of species, discovered around the city, was 23, and 6 of them were not found within the administrative boundaries of the city. The different urban zones are inhabited by 19 species. They represent 37% of the amphibians and 31% of the reptiles, found in Bulgaria, and 64% of the amphibians and 60% of the reptiles, distributed in the Blagoevgrad municipality, which is very high species richness. The herpetofauna has found quite favourable conditions in the territory of the city as a whole, and especially in the sparsely populated and built up areas and city periphery. The presence of great variety of urban habitats and the pattern of situation of the city residential districts are very important for the successful adaptation of herpetofauna for inhabiting in urban environment. The high species richness could be explained also by the fact, that comparatively great number of amphibians and reptiles are hemerodiaphoric species, which easily exist in landscapes, transformed by man. The results from the case study of the herpetofauna in Blagoevgrad show that the urban areas could provide good conditions for the wild animals and could be places of substantial biological diversity