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Herpetological research in Somalia dates from 1881 (G. Revoil`s Expedition) and progressively spread over most of the Somali territory thanks above all to the scientific missions conducted by R.H.R. Taylor (1929–34), G. Scortecci (1931, 1953, 1957) and, since 1959, by the University of Florence and the « Centro di Studio per la Faunistica ed Ecologia Tropicali » of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Florence, Italy). According to this list of the amphibians and reptiles reported to date for the Somali Democratic Republic, there are 27 species of amphibians, four of which (= 14.8%) are endemic; all these species belong strictly to the Ethiopian subregion sensu Darlington (1957). A monotypic genus, Lanzarana, is endemic. The reptiles are represented by at least 200 species. Excluding the marine species (six turtles and one snake), there are 194 species, of which 75 (= 38.6%) ar endemic to Somalia. Four genera are endemic: Xenagama (Agamidae), Haackgreerius gen. n. (Scincidae), Aeluroglena and Brachyophis (Colubridae). The majority of the Somali reptilian fauna is composed of species belonging strictly to the Ethiopian subregion sensu Darlington (1957): 164 species (= 84.5%). The remaining 30 species (= 15.5%) have a different, prevalently south-Mediterranean geonemy. Some reptiles inhabiting both Somalia and south-west Arabia confirm the well-known close biogeographic relationship existing between the two countries.

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A commented lacertids list for Europe, Africa, the Middle East, including the Arabian Peninsula and Asia is given.

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The present paper of N. N. SZCZERBAK was originally published in Russian as `Katalog afrikanskih Jascurok` by the Academy of Sciences, Institute of Zoology, Museum of Zoology, USSR, Kiev (83 pp., 30 maps) in 1975. Lists of synonyms, bibliography, maps and table of contents - all being parts of the original paper - have not been included in this translation which was carried out with the consent of the author by R. GÜNTHER (Berlin) and H. GRILLITSCH (Vienna). The English summary was taken over as provided in the original version. As a SHORT NOTE in this issue of HERPETOZOA subsequent to the translation comments and updated addenda by W. MAYER are provided indicated by [aa* bb* etc.] in the text.