The ecology of most squamates from the Republic of Korea is poorly understood: information on tolerances to environmental variables, movement patterns, home range sizes, and other aspects of their natural history and ecological requirements are lacking. In turn, this lack of knowledge presents an obstacle to effective conservation management. Currently and at the national level, two of Korea’s eleven terrestrial snake species are listed as threatened or near threatened: Elaphe schrenckii and Sibynophis chinensis, and one out of the six lizard species (Eremias argus) is listed as threatened. However, various threats including habitat loss, climate change and poaching may have already but unknowingly elevated other Korean reptiles to threatened statuses. To help resource managers in developing conservation programs, we provide a summary of the literature on threats to Korean squamates, a national recommended threat status, and species accounts focused on Korean populations. We recommend listing Hebius vibakari, E. argus, Scincella huanrenensis and Gekko japonicus under a higher threat level than the one provided by either the Korean National Institute of Biological Resources or the IUCN Red List. Our results highlight that conservation plans are urgently needed for Korean squamates, mostly because of habitat destruction, and that additional research has to be conducted on most species as there is a clear need for integrated ecological studies and active monitoring programs.

大韩民国的大多数鳞生动物的生态学知之甚少：缺乏有关环境变量，运动方式，家庭范围大小以及自然历史和生态学要求的其他方面的容忍度的信息。反过来，这种知识的缺乏也给有效的保护管理带来了障碍。目前和在国家一级，韩国11种陆生蛇物种中有2种被列为受威胁或接近受威胁物种：Elaphe schrenckii和Sibynophis chinensis，以及六种蜥蜴中的一种（Eremias argus）列为受威胁的。但是，包括生境丧失，气候变化和偷猎在内的各种威胁可能已经不知不觉地使其他韩国爬行动物的地位上升。为了帮助资源管理者制定保护计划，我们提供了有关对韩国鳞茎威胁的文献，国家推荐的威胁状况以及针对韩国人口的物种统计的摘要。我们建议上市Hebius vibakari，E.乌鳢，Scincella桓仁和疣壁虎受到的威胁级别高于韩国国立生物资源研究所或自然保护联盟红色名录提供的威胁级别。我们的结果表明，主要由于生境的破坏，迫切需要韩国鳞茎保护计划，而且由于明显需要综合的生态研究和积极的监测计划，因此必须对大多数物种进行额外的研究。