Database of Amphibia distribution in West Siberia (Russia)

Abstract

West Siberia is a large region in North Eurasia, which harbours multiple climatic zones, landscape types and biomes. Its amphibian fauna is characterised by a combination of European and Asian species. For many species, this region is the place where the limits of their global ranges are located (Rana temporaria, R. amurensis, Bufotes sitibundus). West Siberia also has at least two non-native amphibian species (Pelophylax ridibundus, Bufotes viridis). The exact ranges and patterns of distribution of the West Siberian amphibian species are poorly studied. The mapping of species ranges is important for the development of conservation measures and monitoring of invasive species is required to investigate their impacts on the natural ecosystems. This work presents the most complete biogeographic and occurrence records database of the amphibians of West Siberia. To assemble the database, we digitised data from 190 published works, obtained data from major museum collections and from the data bank on the abundance and distribution of animals «Zoomonitor» by the Zoomonitoring laboratory of the Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences. The database also includes original and partly unpublished data collected by the authors from 1975 to 2021, as well as quality-assessed citizen science data from the iNaturalist portal. In total, the database contains 2530 records for 11 species of amphibians, including the locality data, the observation date (when known) and the source of the observation (at least one of the following: literature reference, museum sample ID, observer’s name, iNaturalist link).