Samenvatting
Visakhapatnam district, situated in the northern Eastern Ghats of Andhra Pradesh, India, encompasses a highly
heterogeneous landscape including coastal mangroves, hill forests, riverine corridors, scrub woodland, and urban and
peri-urban habitats. Despite this ecological diversity, no comprehensive, verified checklist of the reptilian fauna of the
district has previously been published. This study presents a systematically compiled checklist of reptiles from
Visakhapatnam district based on field surveys at 62 localities conducted between 2017 and 2020, supplemented by
verified museum records from the Zoological Survey of India and the Natural History Museum London. A total of 94
reptile species are confirmed for the district, comprising 3 crocodilians, 18 chelonians, 38 lizards, and 35 snakes across
26 families. Fourteen species are recorded for the first time from Visakhapatnam district, and four represent new records
for Andhra Pradesh. Twenty-two species are listed under CITES Appendices I or II, and 11 species are assessed as
Threatened under IUCN criteria. The checklist is annotated with habitat associations, conservation status, and notes on
distributional range for each species. Key diversity hotspots are identified as the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger
Reserve buffer forests, the Coringa Mangrove Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Araku Valley tribal uplands. Conservation
challenges including road mortality, illegal wildlife trade, and habitat fragmentation are discussed with reference to
evidence gathered during the survey.