"This book forms Volume one of the Fauna of India, Reptilia and covers the Indian Region. It deals first with the general introduction which includes a brief history of the progress in the reptile taxonomy, brief characters, phylogeny, geographical distribution, zoogeography, historical review and classification used, etc. Also included are the descriptions of characters and the systematic accounts of 23 genera, 51 species and subspecies of Testudines and two genera and three species of Crocodilians. The beginning of herpetological studies in the Indian region dates back to mid-nineteenth century, when Gunther (1864) published the ‘Reptilia of British India’. Thereafter the knowledge upto first quarter of the present century was consolidated in detail by Malcolm Smith (1931-1944) in three volumes of ‘Fauna of British India’. Since then, there has been a considerable increase in the knowledge of taxonomy, distribution, biology and ecology of reptiles and therefore, a need arose to update the earlier documents. The task of this revision has been undertaken by Dr. R.C. Sharma, who successfully completed this volume on ‘Crocodylia and Testudines’, which is the first in the series of three volumes. Since the publication of Malcolm Smith’s "The Fauna of British India-Reptilia and Amphibia", in 3 Volumes (1931-1943), the taxonomic research and related knowledge in the subject has increased considerably. This warrants updating of the reptile fauna, of the Indian Region. The work will be complete in three Volumes. The present volume is the first in the series which deals with general introduction of class reptilia, covering briefly all the possible details and descriptions of the characters and the systematic accounts of 23 genera and 43 species (51 species and subspecies) of Testudines, and 2 genera and 3 species of Crocodilians. This faunal work, apart from providing an up-to-date and complete taxonomic account of all the species and subspecies known from the Indian Region, also provides sufficient information on biology, ecology, distribution, zoogeography, habits and habitats, status, conservation and captive breeding of a numbner of species. I hope this book will serve as an important tool to specialists, research students and naturalists in India and abroad interested in the facinating study of colourful Indian Testudines and Crocodilians."
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