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A complete catalogue is provided for the type specimens of lacertid lizards in the herpetological collection of the Zoological Museum, Berlin, as of December, 1993. The collection contains a total of 514 type specimens, representing 63 taxa, of which 42 are currently regarded as valid at the specific or subspecific level. Types representing an additional four taxa appear to have been lost from the collection. The collections are especially rich in African lacertid types and in historically significant specimens collected early in the Nineteenth Century by Pallas, Eversmann, and Hemprich & Ehrenberg. Also present are the type series of many subspecies of Podarcis lilfordi and P. pityusensis described by Eisentraut.

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An analysis based on 55 specimens of Lacerta derjugini from different localities on the southern slope of the Great Caucasus, all situated in the territory of the Georgian SSR/USSR, lead to the following results: 1. The distribution area of Lacerta derjugini boehmei BISCHOFF, 1982, is restricted to the westernmost part of the southern slope of the Caucasus. 2. Apart from the type locality (Suchumi) Lacerta derjugini abchasica BISCHOFF, 1982, also exists in the river valleys of the Kodori and Inguri. 3. The lizards living in the eastern part of the distribution area are described here as Lacerta derjugini orlowae ssp.n. (type locality: Pasanauri).

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In the herpetological collection of ZFMK 528 scientific species group names are represented by type materi- al. Of these, 304 names are documented by primary type specimens (onomatophores) while for 224 further names sec- ondary type specimens (typoids) are available, ranging chronologically from 1801 to 2010. The list is a shortened pred- ecessor of a comprehensive type catalogue in progress. It lists name bearing types with their catalogue numbers includ- ing information on further type series members also in other institutions, while secondary types are listed only by pres- ence, both in ZFMK and other collections including holotype repositories. Geographic origin and currently valid names are also provided.

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Many regions of the former USSR still re- ceive little attention from Western visitors, herpetologists not excluded. For the Cau- casus Mountains this is all the more sur- prising since the area forms a zone where northern and Middle Eastern flora and fauna meet, and which is thus of considera- bly zoogeographical interest. Presently we find three larger states in the Caucasus: Georgia, Azerbaijan and Arme- nia. Turkey borders to the southwest, Iran to the southeast, and in the north it is the Russian federation. Various smaller parts claim independence. The Black Sea forms the natural western boundary, the Caspian Sea the eastern one. Herpetologically the Caucasus is historically well-known because of the work of Darev- sky and collaborators on the rock lizards (at the time still in the large genus Lacerta, now in Darevskia) and the discovery of the first case of parthenogenesis in vertebrates (DAREVSKY, 1967; DAREVSKII, 1978; DAREVSKY & KULIKOVA, 1961). Below we will concentrate on the results of our field trip to Georgia during the last two weeks of June 2003. Predictably, because of our common interest in the group, the lacertids will receive the most attention.