AN ADDITION OF REPTILES OF GUNUNG INAS, KEDAH, MALAYSIA Shahriza Shahrudin, 1 Ibrahim Jaafar, 2 Shahrul Anuar Mohd Sah, 3 Nur Hafizah Ibrahim, 2 Amiruddin Ismail, 2 Amirah Hurzaid, 2 and Zalina Awang 2 Submitted May 14, 2012. The reptiles in compartment 15, 16 and 17 of Gunung Inas Forest Reserve, Kedah were investigated from January 2008 until December 2009. A total number of 19 species of lizards from 12 genera and four families, 20 species of snakes from 18 genera and seven families and six species of freshwater turtles from six genera and three families were recorded during the survey period. This study represented 10, 15 and 5 new records of lizards, snakes and freshwater turtles. Subsequently this data increased the number of lizards, snakes and freshwater turtles that inhabit Banjaran Bintang from 31 to 41, 30 to 45 and three to eight respectively. Keywords: Banjaran Bintang; Gunung Inas; Kedah; reptiles. INTRODUCTION Gunung Inas Forest Reserve is located within the Banjaran Bintang Hijau, an important mountain range that extends from Bukit Besar in Thailand to central Perak for approximately 140 km. The highest peak, Gu- nung Bintang (1862 m a.s.l.) located in the state of Kedah, followed by several other mountains. The forests covering the slopes are rich with various types of envi- ronments including rivers, streams, waterfalls, swamps, forest pools, forest floors, tree canopy that provided a very suitable sites for the reptiles to live and breed. Recent record shows that Peninsular Malaysia is a home for 153 species of snakes (Norhayati et al., 2009), 108 species of lizards (Grismer, 2008a) and 22 species of freshwater turtles (Perhilitan, 2011). In Northern Peninsular Malaysia study on herpeto- fauna has been done by a few scientists in a various loca- tions and recorded a various number of amphibians and reptiles. For example, Juliana et al (2002) recorded 36 species of anuran in Ulu Muda Forest Reserve, Kedah; Ibrahim et al. (2001) recorded 13 species of amphibian in Wang Kelian, Perlis; Grismer et al. (2006) recorded 39 species of frogs, 1 caecilian, 7 turtles, 27 lizards, and 26 snakes in Belum-Temenggor forest; Grismer (2008b) re- corded 24 species of frogs, 1 caecilian, 6 turtles, 23 liz- ards, and 41 snakes in Langkawi island and Chan et al. (2009) reported 7 species of amphibians and 20 species of reptiles in Perlis State Park. In Banjaran Bintang, early study on herpetofauna was conducted by Boulenger (1900) at Bukit Larut, Perak. In his study, he reported five new species of frogs namely Leptobrachium heteropus, Ixalus larutensis, Ixa- lus vermiculatus, Microhyla butleri, and Microhyla an- nectens and six species of reptiles namely Gehyra laru- tensis, Draco punctatus, Draco formosus, Lygosoma praesignus, Lygosoma stellatum, and Lycodon butleri. Recent study by Grismer et al. (2010) recorded 41 spe- cies of frogs, 2 species of caecilians, 31 species of liz- ards, 30 species of snakes, and 3 species of freshwater turtles inhabit the Banjaran Bintang ranges. The three major survey sites were Bukit Larut, Gunung Bubu, and Gunung Inas. Several new species of reptiles were also described from Bukit Larut, Perak such as Pseudocalotes larutesis (Hallermann and McGuire, 2001), Cnemaspis mcguirei (Grismer et al., 2008), Acanthosaura bintan- gensis (Wood et al., 2009), and Cnemaspis pseudomac- guirei (Grismer et al., 2009) Even so, there are still large tracts of the rainforest in Banjaran Bintang ranges that has not been sampled for reptiles. Hence the main purpose of this study is to inves- tigate and record the species of reptiles that inhabit the Gunung Inas Forest Reserve and also to add a new spe- cies record of reptiles that inhabit the Banjaran Bintang range. 1026-2296/2013/2003-0171 © 2013 Folium Publishing Company Russian Journal of Herpetology Vol. 20, No. 3, 2013, pp. 171 – 180 1 School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia; shahriza20@yahoo.com 2 School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia. 3 School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia.