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The paper compares two variants of thermobiological studies of toad-headed agamas (Phrynocephalus mystaceus) – the traditional one, based on route trapping and measurements of body temperature in captured lizards, and the new one, using temperature loggers that register body temperature once a minute and implemented interperitoneally. Both work options are not alternative.

The paper presents data on temperatures of the body and the selected substrate for the steppe-runner and the spotted toadhead agama. Thermal preferences and modal classes for both species were determined, and interspecies differences were analyzed. Significantly higher average temperatures were found in the steppe-runner, while the maximum voluntary temperatures are higher in the spotted toadhead agama. These features are associated with the biotopic confinement of species.

In Dagestan, morphometric parameters of the body and cytomorphological parameters of erythrocytes were studied in 124 green toads from four regions. In the course of the analysis of variance, variability between populations in these parameters was revealed, which is associated both with the influence of altitudinal zonality, sex, and the interaction of these factors.

An analysis of the literature on long-term studies of the land turtle (Testudinidae, Testudo graeca) in the Caucasus was carried out. Particular attention is paid to the results obtained over the past decades. Starting from the 19th century, the main stages in the history of study have been identified. The main focus of the researchers was on the ecology, biology and taxonomy of the species. Despite a long history of study, the species in the Caucasus still remains insufficiently studied.

Axial duplications are the most complex variant of anomalies characteristic of animals, including turtles. For turtles, the following variants of duplications are described: anakatamesodimus, derodimus, dicephaly, Siamese twins. We present a description of two specimens of the Mediterranean tortoise (Testudo graeca Linnaeus, 1758): with dicephaly and ischio-omphalopagia, a variant of Siamese twins, in which lateral fusion occurs in the region of the sacrum.

The worm-like blind snake – Xerotyphlops vermicularis (Merrem, 1820) has a wide range. The Dagestan population is located at the northern limit of the species' range. This paper provides information on the morphology of the Dagestan population and a comparison of its morphological data with the Turkish and Cypriot populations. A total of 67 sexually mature individuals (14 males and 53 females) were studied. 23 signs were analyzed, of which 19 were linear and 4 were signs of folidosis.

The paper presents the results of studying the reproductive biology of Darevskia daghestanica in the valleys of Khzanor and Kitlyarta rivers (Tsunta district, Republic of Dagestan, Republic of Dagestan). Adult females were caught in the II–III decades of May 2021. In the following, the animals were kept singly in a laboratory. Lizards laid eggs from the third decade of May to the second decade of June. The body length of breeding females was 43.95–56.20 mm.

The Caucasian toad, Bufo verrucosissimus (Pallas, 1814), is a typical representative of the West Caucasian forest mesophilic batrachofauna, requiring special protection measures. The known habitat of the species in the Russian part of the Caucasus was limited to the Black Sea basin. In the course of the studies undertaken, the Caucasian toad was found in many localities of the Predgorny district of the Stavropol territory (Caspian Sea basin), where at present relatively favorable natural conditions have developed for it.

Using skeletochronology, the age composition and growth rates of Pelophylax ridibundus population from the Eastern European part of the native range (Zvenigorod Biological station (ZBS) of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow region) were compared with introduced populations of Kamchatka, differing in the duration of the activity season (T). Both females and males of the ZBS population (T = 5.5 months) reach maturity after the 3rd wintering.

Snake diversity of the Aralo-Caspian basin includes 61 species in 8 families and is composed by local faunas of the Northern Caspian depression, Greater Caucasus and Ciscaucasia, Lesser Caucasus and Transcaucasia, Alborz and Turkmeno-Khorasanian mountains, Aralo-Caspian isthmus, deserts and mountains of the Middle Asia and plains of the Aral Sea region. Regions with richest snake diversity are Alborz, Turkmeno-Khorasanian mountains and Transcaucasia.