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 Reptiles
45 species constitute the
reptilian diversity. These include 30 species of snakes, 13 species
of lizards and two species of turtles. Among the snakes, all the
four deadly venomous species found in Kerala such as King cobra,
Cobra, Russels viper and Krait were recorded from Periyar. The king
cobra, an endangered rainforest species is frequently sighted near
Sabarimala in the Reserve. Malabar pit viper, Hump nosed pit viper,
Striped coral snake etc. are some of the other snakes found. Of the
13 species of lizards 4 are endemic to Western Ghats. Monitor lizard
is commonly seen. Flying lizard, Forest dwarf gecko and the Green
calotes are some of the other fairly distributed reptiles.
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 Amphibians
Amphibians are among the
least studied vertebrate groups in Periyar. A total of 27
species have been recorded and of these, 10 are endemic to
Western Ghats. Micrixalus fuscus, Micrixalus nudis, Rana
malabarica, Rana beddomei, Rana curtipes, Rana brevipalmata,
Rana temporalis, Philatus beddommii and Racophorus malabaricus
are the Western ghat endemic species found in Periyar.
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Fishes
A total
of 38 species of fishes are listed. Of these, 4 species are
endemic to this Reserve. They are Periyar trout
(Lepidopygopsis typus), Periyar lattia (Crossocheilus
periyarensis) Periyar barb (Puntius micropogon periyarensis)
and Noemacheilus menoni. Periyar is an important abode of the
well known game fish, mahseer Tor khudree, a western ghat
endemic species. Channa barb, Curcuma barb, and Travancore
loach are the other Western Ghat endemic species found here.
Tilapia and Common European carp are the two introduced
species now distributed abundantly in the lake.
 Invertebrates
Very few surveys and
other taxonomic studies have been carried out for
invertebrates. The predominant invertebrate orders found in
Periyar are protozoans, annelids, arthropods and molluscans.
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