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Born in New York City on November 15th, 1962, Joe received his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Kansas in 1984, and was awarded his Doctoral Degree from the University of Miami (Coral Gables) in 1991, working under his major professor, Jay Savage. Other academic appointments included a Postdoctoral Fellow (morphological systematics of elapid snakes), National Museum of Natural History (1991-92); Postdoctoral Research Associate (molecular systematics of elapid snakes), Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University (1992-94); Instructor of Biology, Louisiana State University (1994-96); Instructor of Biology, Southeastern Louisiana University (1996-97). His principal research interests were herpetology (especially venomous snakes), molecular evolution, and phylogenetic analysis. He authored numerous scientific articles as well as one book, Introduction to Genetics, published in 1998 by NTC. He was editor-in-chief and co-founder (in 1997) of the first online herpetological journal, Contemporary Herpetology, and a member of the editorial board of Systematic Biology. Prior to his death, he was collaborating with Robin Lawson, Director of the Academy's Osher Laboratory, on several studies of the molecular phylogenetics of snakes, incorporating both mitochondrial and nuclear genes. He was conducting a comprehensive survey of the herpetofauna of Myanmar. In addition, Joe was part of a large project involving a number of other Academy scientists and several institutions in Yunnan, China, to survey the biodiversity of the western part of the Yunnan Province, specifically a mountain range known as the Gaoligongshan. Joe had previously taped two National Geographic specials (during which, he received a dry bite from a monocled cobra and had venom streamed into his eyes by a new species of spitting cobra that he ultimately described). Joe had recently been awarded a two million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation, to extend his work across the Myanmar border, into China. The Joseph B. Slowinski Award for Excellence in Snake Systematics has been established by the Board of Directors of The Center for North American Herpetology (CNAH) as a trust in perpetuity in recognition of the scientific achievements of the late Joseph B. Slowinski. CNAH expresses its sympathy and support to the family and friends of Joe Slowinski. Our young and well established colleague will be missed by all of the herpetological community. Joe is survived by his parents, Martha Crow of Brooklyn, New York, and Ron Slowinski of Kansas City, Missouri, and his sister, Rachel Slowinski of Los Angeles, California. Articles and accounts about Joe's tragic death have appeared; two can be accessed online at:Actinemys Access
Wednesday, March 28, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 123
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
28 March 2007
WESTERN POND TURTLES WANTED
A colleague and I have been looking without success for Western Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata) survey protocols. Our survey site is a pond that is roughly 100 yards long and about 75 yards wide at the widest part. We have found diving protocols for turtle surveys in rivers, but were wondering if there were sources of information on turtle survey protocols specifically for ponds and lakes.
We thank everyone in advance for their advice or information concerning this request.
Foung Vang
California State University, Fresno
Graduate Student
fvang@esrp.csustan.edu
Ambystoma Advice Asked
Thursday, March 05, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 163
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
5 March 2009
AMBYSTOMA ADVICE ASKED
I am a graduate student in Dr. Rick Relyea's lab at the University of Pittsburgh. I will be raising a large number of larval salamanders of the genus Ambystoma this summer, and I wondered if anyone could offer advice on successfully raising them up to metamorphosis. In particular, I am concerned about what size containers to use to house salamanders individually and also what sort of feeding regimens have proven successful. Species specific or general Ambystomatid advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Heather Shaffery
University of Pittsburgh
Department of Biology
101 Clapp Hall
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260
602.399.1422 (cell)
412.624.4458 (office)
hms25@pitt.edu
Ambystoma Data Request
Thursday, May 19, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 44
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
19 May 2005
Ambystoma Data Request
I am looking for information on the relationship between clutch size and body size in the Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) and am finding little except one reference (Woodward 1982). Does anyone have data they would be willing to share for A. maculatum or any closely related ambystomatid or know of references I might have missed? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I can be contacted at:
Nancy E. Karraker
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Environmental and Forest Biology
350 Illick Hall
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Syracuse, New York 13210
nekarrak@syr.edu
(315) 470-6754
Aspidoscelis Assistance
Monday, July 31, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 91
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
31 July 2006
ASPIDOSCELIS ASSISTANCE ASKED
I am a graduate student in the Biology Department at the University of Michigan at Flint. I am studying the origin and natural history of the Six-lined Racerunner population in Michigan for my thesis. I plan to collect blood from this population in order to perform a molecular analysis, but I also need blood samples from other populations throughout the United States. I would appreciate hearing from anyone willing to share blood/tissue samples. Any assistance would be gratefully acknowledged.
Contact
Teresa Carlson
teresay@umflint.edu
C. atrox Released in Kansas
Friday, July 18, 2003: Hays, Kansas - Hays Daily News
DANGEROUS DIAMONDBACKS RELEASED IN KANSAS
by Travis W. Taggart
Five species of venomous snakes are native to Kansas; these are the Copperhead, Cottonmouth, Massasauga (a rattlesnake), Prairie Rattlesnake, and Timber Rattlesnake. Each species occupies its own unique range within the state. However, there many regions of the state where these distributions overlap. In many places in eastern Kansas, up to three of the species listed may be found within close proximity to one another.
Fortunately, the assemblage of native venomous snakes in Kansas is a relatively benign group. Fewer than fifty bites to humans are reported each year in Kansas, and of those individuals bitten, few retain any debilitating effects from the bite, and death resulting from snakebite in Kansas is almost unheard of (only one death in the last half century). This is not to say that venomous snakes should be taken lightly. Live venomous snakes should be left alone and any bite should be examined by qualified medical help as soon as possible.
But Kansas now has a problem. Recently, a truly giant venomous alien serpent has become a more frequent discovery right in the middle of Kansas at Kanopolis State Park in Ellsworth County. Since 1991, no less than eight Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes have been collected and removed from the Park. The latest snake was discovered earlier this summer by some hikers in the Horsethief Canyon area of the park, and delivered to the Sternberg Museum by Research Associate Curtis Schmidt through arrangements with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.
The discovery of liberated alien venomous snakes into Kansas is not without precedent. Single specimens of released or escaped Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes have occasionally turned up in Cherokee, Cowley, Crawford, Ellis, Lyon, and Sumner counties. A population of Cottonmouths was established for a short time during the mid 1970's in the Verdigris River between Independence and Coffeyville. And a Mojave Rattlesnake was collected from a quarry in Leavenworth County in 1980. The release of non-native wildlife such as the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake into Kansas poses needless threats to both the ecology of the state and to outdoor enthusiasts alike. It is also illegal.
The Western Diamondback Rattlesnake is large. Average specimens are between three and four feet in length with exceptional specimens reaching lengths of seven feet. They are native to the North American southwest and have a wide range that encompasses an area from northern Mexico into west central Arkansas and west into southeast California. Isolated populations also occur in southern Mexico. The specimens discovered at Kanopolis State Park are approximately150 miles north of their natural range.
Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes are often quick to crawl away when approached, but will immediately coil and aggressively stand their ground should they be threatened. Their relatively large size means they also have proportionately longer fangs, a considerable quantity of venom to inject, and an increased striking distance. These factors contribute to the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake being responsible for more serious snakebites and fatalities than any other North American reptile. In Texas alone, this species is responsible for the majority of the more than 1,400 cases of snakebite reported each year and for most fatalities. A Western Diamondback Rattlesnake from Kanopolis State Park has already left a Kansas victim without the full use of a hand following intensive care after being bitten.
The origin and status of the Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes at Kanopolis State Park is unknown. Joseph Collins, Adjunct Curator of Herpetology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History and Executive Director of The Center for North American Herpetology (CNAH), believes that this species is being released at Kanopolis State Park. According to him, the most telling evidence of this illegal release is that these snakes have been discovered consistently, yet only recently (1991 to date), despite intensive searching in the Kanopolis area by biologists since the early 1900s. It is not known how many or how often they are being released or who is releasing them. Fortunately, despite the fact that Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes have been turning up regularly at Kanopolis State Park since 1991, there is no evidence that a breeding population has become established. Future monitoring of the area could help address these questions. Tissues taken from the recently discovered snake hold promise for ultimately determining its source locality. DNA extracted from such tissue can be compared to DNA obtained from Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes throughout their range, and can be tested for genetic relatedness or similarity.
Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes have been collected in Oklahoma, reportedly within 15-50 miles of the Kansas border. While, it is possible that natural populations of this species may eventually be discovered along the Kansas/Oklahoma border in Comanche and Barber counties, the lack of such a discovery over the last century indicates that it is not native to Kansas.Deirochelys DNA Desired
Monday, February 23, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 162
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
23 February 2009
DEIROCHELYS DNA DESIRED
I am a Masters student at the University of Central Arkansas. Part of my thesis is concerned with conducting a phylogenetic analysis of the subspecies of the Chicken Turtle (Deirochelys reticularia) and I am in need of tissue samples for DNA sequencing. Collection location is need for the samples as well, preferable to the county level at least. Any help in obtaining tissue from the field or locating existing tissue in collections would be appreciated.
Nathanael Hilzinger
Department of Biology
University of Central Arkansas
201 Donaghey Avenue
Conway, Arkansas 72035
(865) 556-6179
nxh07001@cub.uca.edu
Diadophis Dermis Desired
Tuesday, November 23, 2004: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 17
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
23 November 2004
Diadophis Dermis Desired
Frank Fontanella, a graduate student at The City University of New York, working under Frank Burbrink, is conducting a range-wide phylogeographic study of the Ringneck Snake, Diadophis punctatus. He wishes to obtain tissues and shed skins from this species. Any samples that the herpetological community could provide would be greatly appreciated. Before shipping tissues, contact Frank at:
ffontanella@gc.cuny.edu
Mailing address for shed skins:
Frank M. Fontanella
College of Staten Island/CUNY
6S-143
2800 Victory Boulevard
Staten Island, New York 10314
Eurycea Data Needed
Friday, July 15, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 2
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
www.cnah.org
15 July 2004
EURYCEA DATA NEEDED
Robert D. Davic (Ohio Environmental Protection Agency) is interested in a specific life history aspect of larvae from the Two-lined Salamander complex (Eurycea bislineata, E. cirrigera, E. wilderae). He would like to talk to any herpetologist that has observed the larvae of these species outside flowing water habitat, either in nature or in captivity. He also has an interest in knowing if anyone has conducted experiments on burrowing activity for these larvae. He is aware that some salamander larvae have been observed in nature away from water (e.g., Desmognathus fuscus), but is not aware of any similar observations for Two-lined Salamander larvae.
If you can contribute to Dr. Davic's research, please contact him at
robert.davic@epa.state.oh.us
or
(330) 963-1132
Hemidactylium History
Thursday, March 03, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 31
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
3 March 2005
Help with Hemidactylium History
I am currently working on a graduate thesis examining genetic divergence in Four-toed Salamanders throughout their entire range in the United States and Canada. Mississippi's location at the periphery of the species range makes those populations of Hemidactylium of particular interest to my project. I am hoping to sample a few areas in that state during the nesting season this year and am looking to find more specific information about locales in Mississippi and dates when females are likely to be found on eggs along the Gulf Coast.
Historical records for the species indicate a distribution in the lower Pearl River Valley of Mississippi, although until now I have been unable to find any specific collection location data pertaining to those records. I recently located two preserved animals in the Tulane University collection with the following data:
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Cat No. 4245. Bassfield, Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi. Collected 25 November 1930 by A. Cruz (Bassfield is located in Jefferson Davis County; additional information would be helpful.)
Cat No. 18452. Polk Creek Ht 4.7 mi S St. Hwy. 8 towards Langley on road that turns south from Hwy. 8 about 11 mi E of Big Fork, Montgomery County, Mississippi. Collected 3 April 1953 by Alex Faberge (I could not locate any of the aforementioned landmarks in Montgomery or surrounding counties on a USGS topo, aside from State Highway 8 in Grenada County to the north.)
*****
I contacted the Mississippi Museum of Natural History and they have no records for the species in their collections and have no known localities in Mississippi, aside from these two records which I recently passed along to them. If you have any information about the species in Mississippi, or know of anyone who might be able to help, I would be very interested.
Please note that no animals will be killed for this study. Genetic material in the form of tail samples will be taken followed by immediate release at the site of capture. Thank you in advance for any assistance you might be able to provide.
Timothy A. Herman
Masters Program, Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics
Department of Biological Sciences
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio 43403
(school): taherma@bgnet.bgsu.edu
(work): timothy.herman@toledozoo.org
(personal): taherman@gmail.com
Holbrookia Help
Monday, July 17, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 88
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
17 July 2006
HOLBROOKIA HELP
I am a graduate student in Dr. Allan Larson's laboratory at Washington University and a part of my doctoral work is on the phylogeography of Earless Lizards (Cophosaurus and Holbrookia). I have a significant collection of Holbrookia from the southwestern U.S. but am in need of tissues from Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska. I would appreciate making contact with anyone that may have tissues or would know of specific localities where Holbrookia have been observed recently and where I could collect. I will secure the appropriate scientific collecting permits for any field work. Please contact me at
rblaine@biology2.wustl.edu
Russell Blaine
Washington University
St. Louis, Missouri
Holbrookia Hunt
Tuesday, February 03, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 158
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
3 February 2009
Holbrookia lacerata (the Spot-tailed Earless Lizard), which is known from central and southern Texas and northern Mexico, appears to have been extirpated from many historical locations. While it is not currently listed as a state or federally threatened or endangered species, its conservation status is uncertain. In order to determine the current distribution and develop a habitat model for the species, The Nature Conservancy of Texas, with help from a grant from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Horned Lizard License Plate Fund and in cooperation with Ralph Axtell and a number of Texas herpetologists and universities, is beginning range-wide surveys this spring and is seeking volunteers and information. If you would like to volunteer to assist in surveys, or if you have information about Holbrookia lacerata that may not currently be included in the historical record, contact Mike Duran at
mduran@tnc.org
or visit
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/texas/features/art27236.html
for more information on the project.
Mike Duran
Vertebrate Zoologist
The Nature Conservancy of Texas
205 North Carrizo Street
Corpus Christi, Texas 78401
office: 361-882-3584
cell: 361-249-1712
In Memoriam: A. Stanley Rand
Wednesday, November 30, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
30 November 2005
A. STANLEY RAND (1933-2005)
Washington Post Service
He pursued the love songs of frogs
A. Stanley Rand, a Smithsonian staff scientist known for his research in herpetology, died of complications from cancer November14, 2005, at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He was 73.
Rand spent 33 years in Panama at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. His work on frogs and lizards built him an international reputation, colleagues said, and he made significant contributions in animal communication, territoriality, sexual selection and anti-predator systems.
A prolific writer, he published his first scientific article in 1944, when he was 12 years old and presumably assisting his father, a well-known ornithologist, in Canada.
His next publication occurred in 1950, while he was working as an 18-year-old assistant in the division of amphibians and reptiles at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. He wrote or edited more than 150 scientific articles and books, including "Ecology of a Tropical Forest: Seasonal Rhythms and Long-Term Changes" (1982) and "Iguanas of the World: Their Behavior, Ecology and Conservation" (1982).
His research on occasion burst out of the intensely observed world of scientific publications and into the mass media. His work was written up several times in The New York Times, including in a 1977 series on the creative process of scientific research. In 1995, his study on the evolving songs of tzngara frogs attracted the attention of a Dallas Morning News writer, who waxed poetic over the mating calls of amphibians.
Rand was born in Seneca Falls, New York, the son of a world-traveled ornithologist father and herpetologist mother. He grew up in Lake Placid, Florida, Ottawa, Canada, and Chesterton, Indiana, and graduated from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.
*****
CNAH expresses its sympathy and support to the family and friends of A. Stanley Rand. He will be missed by all of the herpetological community.
In Memoriam: Alison Haskell
Monday, December 18, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
18 December 2006
In Memoriam: Alison Haskell (1956-2006)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service family and conservation community lost a very special friend yesterday. Alison Haskell died peacefully at her home in Ashfield, Massachusetts in the company of her husband John Rosseel and family and friends.
Alison Haskell was born on December 26, 1956 in Berkeley, California, and grew up on the coast of Massachusetts. She received a B.S. and M.S. in wildlife biology from the University of New Hampshire and University of Massachusetts, respectively. Her masters thesis focused on population ecology of the Plymouth Redbelly Turtle (Pseudemys rubriventris). She studied at Tufts University Veterinary School where she also worked as the chief veterinary technician at the Wildlife Clinic for five years, and became noted for her exceptional ability in handling raptors. In 1993 she joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a Wildlife Research Specialist in the Division of Federal Aid. Alison's passion for wildlife may have been exceeded only by her compassion for her fellow humans, and she channeled that professionally by becoming adept at conflict resolution and facilitation. She assisted many Service and State fish and wildlife agency programs as a trainer and facilitator. She left Federal Aid in 2003 to become the national coordinator for Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC).
Alison was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer in late 2002, and upon the insistence of her physicians, took a medical retirement from the Service to focus on treatment and recovery. Despite an unbelievably grueling regimen of surgeries and chemotherapy, Alison formed a non-profit organization, Cures for Ovarian Cancer, to advocate for early detection screening which is not currently a part of routine physical examinations for women or provided for in health care plans. Her campaign took her far and wide speaking to audiences to increase awareness.
An accomplished artist specializing in water color, Alison also formed the non-profit Northeast Wildlife Heritage to raise funds for conservation efforts in the northeast through sale of her art and other crafts she produced.
Alison is survived by her husband John, her parents, two sisters and a brother, and many nieces and nephews. She also leaves her two beloved Corgis, Ursa and Ri, named for two of her favorite constellations, Ursa Minor (the little dipper) and Orion (the hunter) and her horse Cody. She leaves a network of friends who she touched deeply with her ability to make others feel good. Alison's spirit will be with us on starry nights when Ursa Minor and Orion grace the sky, but those who knew her well will feel her presence when the planet Venus rises, the diminutive planet that burns brightest.
CNAH Note: Received from PARC. Author unknown.
In Memoriam: Barb Savitzky
Monday, September 14, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
10 September 2009
IN MEMORIAM: BARBARA A. SAVITZKY (1948-2009)
Barbara A. Savitzky of Norfolk, Virginia, died 22 July 2009 at age 61 at her temporary residence in Arlington, Virginia, following the rapid progression of metastatic breast cancer. A resident of Norfolk for more than 20 years, Dr. Savitzky was an associate professor of biology at Christopher Newport University, from which she retired in 2008 after 18 years of service. Dr. Savitzky was educated at the University of Tennessee, where she received her doctoral degree in ethology (animal behavior).
An authority on the biology of amphibians, turtles, and reptiles, Dr. Savitzky was known for her work on snakes (including Virginia's endangered Timber Rattlesnake), turtles, and salamanders. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Helen B. Conner and the late Edward D. Conner, she previously resided in Farragut, Tennessee, where she served for several years as a firefighter for Rural/Metro Corporation in Knox County. Dr. Savitzky served on the governing boards and committees of scientific and conservation organizations, including the Hampton Land Conservancy and the Herpetologists' League, and as an adjunct faculty member at Old Dominion University.
Dr. Savitzky was widely admired for waging a relentless battle against metastatic cancer, for which she received treatment almost continuously for more than 20 years. She is survived by her husband, Alan H. Savitzky of Norfolk, her son, Christopher Allen and his wife Amy of Mount Juliet, Tennessee, and her daughter, Heather J. Allen of Hampton.
The family suggests donations to The Nature Conservancy or the Humane Society of the United States.
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathies to the family and friends of Barbara. She was a kind and gentle woman; she will be missed by us all.
In Memoriam: Bryce Brown
Friday, June 20, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
20 June 2008
In Memoriam: Bryce C. Brown (1920-2008)
Bryce Brown was laid to rest in Oakwood Cemetery in Waco, Texas. He died of a stroke he suffered on 2 June 2008. Dr. Brown led a quiet but interesting life. Born in Harlingen, Texas, on 7 May 1920, he developed an early interest in natural history. As a young man he put together a collection of wildlife and opened his own private zoo in his backyard, but nothing held his fascination stronger than reptiles, turtles, and amphibians.
He received a Bachelor of Zoology degree from the University of Texas in 1942 and enlisted in the Army as the United States entered World War II. Serving in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations, he worked in malaria control. After his return from the war, he became a member of the Texas Herpetological Society. During the war years, THS did not meet. They reconvened in 1947, and by this time Dr. Brown had enrolled in graduate school at Texas A&M University. He received his Masters in 1948 and later received his doctorate from the University of Michigan. He also served as president of THS.
He began his association with Baylor University in 1947, becoming Curator of the Strecker Museum and joining the faculty, teaching zoology, vertebrate biology and herpetology. He served as director from 1966 until his retirement in 1983. He also served as Chairman for the Central Texas Regional Science Fair from 1957 to 1983. He authored a number of articles on herpetological topics and, in 1950, published An Annotated Checklist of the Reptiles and Amphibians of Texas.
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathy to the family and friends of Bryce C. Brown.
In Memoriam: Carl Gans
Monday, December 07, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
7 December 2009
IN MEMORIAM CARL GANS (1923-2009)
. . . modified from the New York Times
Dr. Carl Gans, 86, died peacefully after a long illness in Austin, Texas, on 30 November 2009. He was born in Hamburg, Germany, where he attended the Talmud Thora Realschule, and emigrated to the United States in 1939. Here he attended George Washington High School in New York City, received a Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineer from New York University in 1944, an Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineer from Columbia University in 1950, a PE License from New York State in 1950, and a Doctoral Degree in Biology from Harvard in 1957. He served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific Command in the Philippines and Japan from 1944 to 1946. Carl was a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellow from 1953 to 1955 conducting reptile studies in Brazil. After working eight years with Babcock & Wilcox installing power boilers, he changed careers and became a Professor of Biology and Department Chairperson at the University of Buffalo (later SUNY) from 1958 to 1971. He moved to Ann Arbor as Professor of Biology and Chairperson of Zoology at the University of Michigan until his retirement in 1998. Carl's work and hundreds of publications were in evolutionary physiology and comparative biomechanics. He carried out his primary studies in the area of reptiles and amphibians. He became world-known as editor of the journal "Morphology" for 25 years and as the editor of the monumental 23-volume "Biology of the Reptilia," published between 1969 and 2009. His first book-length publication was "Biomechanics" in which he combined his engineering and biology backgrounds. He co-authored two biology texts used in universities throughout the United States: "A Photographic Atlas of Shark Anatomy" and "Electromyography for Experimentalists." He also wrote the popular paperback book "Reptiles of the World," translated into many languages. His library of over 20,000 items in herpetology is currently at Ben Gurion University in Israel, which also has his extensive scientific correspondence. Other of his publications may be found at the Scripps Institute, University of California, San Diego, and the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard. His extensive animal collections, which he gathered on five continents over many decades, can be found at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburg, and the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard.
Carl was predeceased by his wife of fifty years, Mabel Kyoko Andow. He is survived by his brother Leo Gans of Teaneck, New Jersey.
*****
Memorial donations may be made to
THE CARL GANS AWARD
As some of you may be aware, we have been fund-raising for some time to endow the "Carl Gans Award," associated with the Division of Comparative Biomechanics, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB). This award, recently approved by the SICB Executive Committee, is the first such award for the newly founded Division of Comparative Biomechanics and honors the numerous scientific and editorial contributions to biomechanics and herpetology by Carl Gans. To date, we have raised approximately two-thirds of the $25,000 required for endowment of this award. Fortunately, matching funds ($10,000) were generously made available by the late Carl Gans, his brother Leo Gans, and Sandy Gaunt that will provide a 2-for-1 match for the first $5000 contributed, no matter how small that, in conjunction with the matching offer, will let SICB take advantage of this new funding opportunity and enable the award to be established financially. Contributed funds should be marked for the "Carl Gans Award" and be sent to the attention of the SICB Executive Director, Brett Burk (BBurk@BurkInc.com) at the address below. He will deposit them into an account and reserve them for the fund. Send your contribution to:
Brett J. Burk
SICB Executive Director
1313 Dolley Madison Boulevard, Suite 402
McLean, Virginia 22101
Contributions can also be made online at
https://ssl4.westserver.net/birenheide/secure/sicb/cart/donations.php
Please contact any of us directly should further information be required, and thank you for your support.
Robert Dudley
University of California, Berkeley
wings@berkeley.edu
Dave Carrier
University of Utah
carrier@biology.utah.edu
Ray Huey
University of Washington
hueyrb@u.washington.edu
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathies to the family and friends of Carl. He was a premier scientist, a good man, and his passing leaves a great void in our profession.
In Memoriam: David Morafka
Wednesday, February 04, 2004: California - David Morafka died on Thursday, January 13th 2004, at his home after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer. David made remarkable contributions to western herpetology and was especially known for his pathfinding studies on the conservation of the Bolson Tortoise in Mexico, the biology of Desert Tortoise hatchlings and neonates, and his work on the Panamint Alligator Lizard. He was a scientist of immense integrity and will be greatly missed.
Dr. Morafka was a staunch supporter of public outreach and gave many presentations at California Turtle and Tortoise Club meetings over a three decade period. He was a major catalyst in stimulating the involvement of many of herpetologists in chelonian conservation.
His wife, Sylvia, has made a request for no flowers, but for donations to be made to the Democratic Party.
There will be a Celebration of Life in Dr. Morafka's honor at the Desert Tortoise Council Symposium in February 2004. For details contact Kristin Berry at
kristin_berry@usgs.gov
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sincere sympathy to the Morafka family and friends.
In Memoriam: Edmond Malnate
Saturday, February 07, 2004: Burlington County Times
Edmond V. Malnate, 87, of Medford passed away on Thursday, November 6, 2003 at Virtua West Jersey Hospital in Marlton. Born in Quincy Massachusetts, he resided in Medford for many years. Edmond served in the US Army during WWII. He worked as a Graphic Artist and Art Director for several Advertising Agencies, before becoming the Art Director at Ullman Advertising Agency in Philadelphia . His avocation was in the field of Herpetology, which earned him a grant to study in Europe. Ed was made a member of Sigma Xi in 1975, a society for the promotion of research in the scientific field. After his retirement from the art field, he continued his studies and research at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Ed was a gentle, curious man who helped contribute much to the knowledge of natricine snakes. Son of the late Edmond and Mary Malnate; father of the late Edmond A. Malnate; he is survived by his wife Georgette A. Malnate; and other close friends and neighbors.
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sincere sympathy to the Malnate family and friends.
In Memoriam: Ernst Mayr
Friday, February 04, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
In Memoriam: Ernst Mayr 1904-2005
Ernst Mayr, a Harvard University evolutionary biologist called "the Darwin of the 20th century," has died, the school said Friday. He was 100. Mayr died peacefully on Thursday, February 3, 2005, near his home in Bedford, Massachusetts. Born in 1904 in Kempten, Germany, Mayr earned a medical degree from the University of Greifswald in 1925. Descended from generations of doctors, he broke off his medical career and turned his attention to zoology, earning a doctorate from the University of Berlin just 16 months later.
His family will convene a private memorial service soon at the assisted-living facility where Ernst had lived for the past several years. A more formal, public memorial will be scheduled for the Harvard campus, probably in April.
Ernst lived a very full and long life (100 years as of last July), but still will be missed by all who knew him and his work. He is survived by two daughters, five grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathies to the family of Ernst Mayr.
In Memoriam: G. W. Folkerts
Tuesday, December 18, 2007: St. George Island, Florida - CNAH
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Lawrence, Kansas
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18 December 2007
IN MEMORIAM GEORGE W. FOLKERTS (1938 – 2007)
George W. Folkerts was born on 26 November 1938 and died 14 December 2007 at his residence. He was a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Auburn University for the past 38 years. He earned a B.A. degree in zoology and a M.A. degree in botany from Southern Illinois University and a Ph.D. in herpetology from Auburn University. During his career as a teacher and researcher, George studied every aspect of nature. His comprehensive knowledge of the plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates inhabiting the southeastern United States was second to none, and he was a renowned expert in the ecology of disappearing habitat types and declining species. George's passion for conserving nature made him a leader for local, state, and national conservation efforts.
Part of his legacy for these efforts was his being honored by having multiple native species named after him, including most recently the Dwarf Blackbelly Salamander (Desmognathus folkertsi).
In the late 1990s, he led a successful effort to save Auburn University's Davis Arboretum from building encroachment and ensure its preservation as a sanctuary from native plants.
During his tenure as a faculty member at Auburn University, George was a dedicated teacher who loved teaching and was loved by his students. He won numerous teaching awards and exposed countless students to the wonders of the natural world both in the classroom and field. His courses were truly inspirational and his classroom teaching style was one in which students were simultaneously challenged and made to feel comfortable in the presence of a friend or mentor. He has successfully trained many graduate students who have gone on to secure positions as teachers and scientists across the United States.
George was kind to all who met him, generous with the time he offered to others, and humble despite his exceptional accomplishments. He had a magnetic personality that enlivened every gathering and made him a beloved member in the local community. He is survived by his loving wife, Debbie, his sister, Trudy, his daughters, Molly and Merrill, and his son, Evan.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be made to The Nature Conservancy, or plant a native tree in Memory of George.
In Memoriam: George Dalrymple
Friday, January 07, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
In Memoriam: George Dalrymple 1948-2005
George Dalrymple died at the age of 56 at home on January 5, 2005, 22 months after being diagnosed with esophageal cancer. George was born June 12, 1948 in Staten Island, New York, to Edwin and Averine Dalrymple.
From an early age, he knew he wanted to be a herpetologist. He received his Bachelors degree in Zoology from Rutgers University in 1971, and his PhD in Zoology from the University of Toronto in 1975. He was an assistant professor at The Ohio State University for five years. In 1980, he accepted a position as an associate professor of biology at Florida International University so that he could study the ecology and herpetofauna of the Everglades.
In 1998, he left FIU to work for his own biological consulting firm, Everglades Research Group, Inc. Throughout his career, George always volunteered his time to environmental issues in Miami-Dade County, Everglades National Park, and the State of Florida.
For the past five years, he continued to volunteer his time as a board member of the Florida Wildlife Federation, and the Biff Lampton Memorial/Homestead Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation. George sought to preserve natural areas simply for the belief that there should be wild places and wild things.
George is survived by his son Alexander (Coconut Grove), daughter Claire (Perrine), wife Nancy (Homestead), his adopted children, Dixie, Ruger, and Ceili (Homestead), and wild turkeys in Everglades National Park.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Florida Wildlife Federation, P. O. Box 6870, Tallahassee, Florida 32314
In Memoriam: George McDuffie
Tuesday, April 17, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
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17 April 2007
IN MEMORIAM: GEORGE THOMAS MCDUFFIE (1927-2007)
George T. McDuffie, a well-known Ohio herpetologist, passed away on 15 April 2007 at the Clermont Nursing and Convalescent Center in southwestern Ohio. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on 25 August 1927, George received his Bachelors (1952), Masters (1956), and Doctoral degrees (1960) from the University of Cincinnati, the latter doing research on the natural history of Copperheads in the Buckeye State. His research on these serpents was published in 1963 [Studies on the size, pattern and coloration of the Northern Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen Daudin) in Ohio. Journal of the Ohio Herpetological Society 4: 15-22]. He was one of the founding members of the now disbanded Ohio Herpetological Society (1958-1966).
During the 1950s and 1960s, George mentored many a young aspiring herpetologist in southwestern Ohio, and most of them experienced their first real snake hunt in the field under his watchful eye. He is remembered for his well-developed sense of humor, and on field trips to Shawnee State Forest in southern Ohio, many students and colleagues on their first field trip with him listened in stunned silence to the plethora of risqué limericks that he sang with such gusto and joy (and which they eventually memorized and sang also). More importantly, he took the time and made the effort to teach them how to find amphibians, turtles, and reptiles, and much of what they know today about field herpetology can be traced directly back to George.
At the first Shawnee Herpetological Weekend held at Shawnee State Forest in May 2006, keynote speaker Joseph T. Collins (who grew up in Cincinnati and was mentored during his teenage years by George) dedicated the event to George McDuffie, and spoke fondly of his influence. He recalled a trademark ditty that George invariably sang on field trips, and that in time all who regularly accompanied him knew by heart. With belated apologies to the parents of the young herpetologists he so strongly influenced, it went like this:
"The beer was spilled on the barroom floor,
and the bar was closed for the night.
When from out of his hole came a little old mouse
to sit in the pale moonlight.
Oh, he lapped up the beer on the barroom floor,
and back on his haunches he sat.
And all night long you could hear him roar,
bring on that old damned cat."
*****
George is survived by his beloved wife, Patrica, two children, Mark and Jennifer, a sister, Mathilda, and a brother, Edward. Another brother, Roy, preceded him in death. Memorial contributions should be sent to the
Torch Lake Protection Alliance
P. O. Box 706
Bellaire, Michigan 49615
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathies to the family and many, many friends of George McDuffie.
In Memoriam: George T. Baxter
Tuesday, April 26, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
In Memoriam George T. Baxter (1919-2005)
George Baxter, age 86, died Sunday, March 20, 2005, at his home in Green Valley, Arizona. He was born in Grover, Colorado, on March 19, 1919.
He attended high school in Burns and in 1937 he enrolled at the University of Wyoming. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from University of Wyoming and began his teaching career as a zoology instructor in l947. In l951, he earned a PhD from the University of Michigan and returned to Laramie where he taught zoology and physiology for 35 years at the University of Wyoming. He served in the U.S. Army from 1942-1945.
Throughout his career and into his retirement in l984, he earned a national reputation as a distinguished scholar and the acknowledged expert on fish, reptiles, turtles, and amphibians of Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain Region. His books on these subjects are still considered standard references in these fields of study. He received many awards for his teaching and scholarship, including the University of Wyoming College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Alumni Award in l995. The latest award given to him was the Department of Interior Conservation Service Award; the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a private citizen by the Secretary of Interior of the U.S. for his work with the recovery efforts for the endangered Wyoming Toad.
He is best known outside of Wyoming in the scientific community as a herpetologist. As senior author, he collaborated with Michael D. Stone to write two editions (1980, 1985) of "Amphibians and Reptiles of Wyoming," and in 1968 was given signal recognition by his colleague, Kenneth Porter, who named the Wyoming Toad in his honor as Bufo baxteri.
He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Phyllis; a daughter Judy, a son Richard, and his wife Collette, a daughter Linda, a grandson Chris, granddaughters Lisa Fachon and Erin, and great-grandsons Vincent and Zachary.
A memorial celebration is planned in Laramie sometime in July. Donations may be made to the George T. Baxter Fellowship, Department of Zoology and Physiology, Department No. 3166, 1000 East University Avenue, Laramie, Wyoming 82071.
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors expresses its sympathy to the family, friends, and colleagues of George Baxter.
In Memoriam: H. B. Bechtel
Monday, July 13, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
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13 July 2009
IN MEMORIAM H. BERNARD BECHTEL (1922-2009)
Dr. H. Bernard Bechtel, of Valdosta, Georgia, died suddenly on Friday, 10 July 2009 in Gainesville, Florida, en route to visit family. He was born on 2 October 1922 near the small western Pennsylvania village of New Enterprise. While he was still an infant, the family moved to Johnstown, Pennsylvania where his father obtained work in a dairy. He attended public schools in Johnstown, graduating from Johnstown Central High School in 1940, and began to attend the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown Center. This was interrupted when he enlisted in the Army Air Force, where he became an aerial gunner. He participated in 30 missions over Germany as a gunner on B-17s. Following the war, he completed his pre-medical studies at Juniata College in Huntington, Pennsylvania. He received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1950. Following an internship at Reading General Hospital in Reading, Pennsylvania, he established a general practice in Johnstown. In 1955, he married Elizabeth Reimet of Moorestown, New Jersey. In 1956, he accepted a residency in dermatology at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. He practiced dermatology in Johnstown from 1959 until 1963, when he and his wife, Bette, moved to Valdosta, where he practiced until he retired in 1997. He was Diplomate in The American Academy of Dermatology.
From a very early age, Dr. Bechtel was an avid student of reptiles, turtles, crocodilians, and amphibians; he was a herpetologist as well as being a dermatologist. He published a book and numerous publications, mostly pertaining to his area of expertise in snake genetics, for which he was widely known. His wife Bette was his partner in this and became a recognized herpetologist on her own after their marriage. Dr. Bechtel is survived by his wife, Bette Bechtel of Valdosta; sister, Alma Mountain of Johnstown, Pennsylvania; two nephews, Joe Mountain of Fort Pierce, Florida, and Ned Mountain of Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia.
Dr. Bechtel requested no flowers. Donations may be made to his favorite charity, The National Nature Conservancy, 4245 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 100, Arlington, Va., 22203-1606. Condolences to the family may be conveyed on the obituary page at
www.mclanefuneralservices.com
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathy to the family and friends of Bernard Bechtel.
In Memoriam: Harlan Walley
Tuesday, November 10, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
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10 November 2009
IN MEMORIAM HARLAN D. WALLEY (1932 – 2008)
by Richard B. King
Born on 7 November 1932, Harlan Walley exhibited an energy for life and love of natural history that began during his childhood in rural Sandwich, Illinois, and continued throughout adulthood. He was a fixture in Northern Illinois University's Department of Biological Sciences, supervising the department's animal care facility from the 1960s (then in Davis Hall) until his retirement in 1999 and curating its natural history museum until his death. Harlan's academic interests centered on herpetology, mammalogy, and Illinois natural history, and he was a valuable, respected, and generous source of information to faculty, students, the community, and the state. His formal training in biology was cut short by the Korean War, during which he served as a Navy medic, and health problems associated with psoriasis, which began at this time. Harlan suffered with this disease and a range of ineffective and sometimes harmful treatments for more than a decade until he found hydrocortisone ointments that allowed him to manage his symptoms. Time-consuming treatments, often at facilities far from home, interrupted his course work so frequently that he abandoned further education.
A true curator, Harlan became obsessed with natural history books and papers at an early age and went on to build a personal collection of more than 60,000 reprints and 3,000 bound volumes. He developed his museum skills through time spent in the Department of Entomology at the Smithsonian Institution and at the Illinois Natural History Survey. It was at the INHS that Harlan established a lifelong relationship with two eminent figures in North American herpetology, Philip W. Smith, who in 1961 authored The Amphibians and Reptiles of Illinois, and Hobart M. Smith, who has continued to contribute to the scientific literature into his 90s. It was with Phil Smith that Harlan published his first scientific paper - a note documenting the occurrence of the Marbled Salamander, Ambystoma opacum, in Michigan. Harlan was 18 at the time and went on to publish well over 100 manuscripts, many focused on amphibian, turtle, reptile, and mammal natural history and distribution. He also put his reprint collection to good use, regularly contributing entries to the Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles. The literature cited sections of his entries are encyclopedic -- a soon to be published entry on the Northern Water Snake includes over 1,000 references. Harlan was an avid reader and supported this habit and his penchant for book collecting by authoring frequent book reviews.
Perhaps one of Harlan's greatest, if sometimes unrecognized, contributions was the informal mentorship he provided to NIU Biology graduate students. Harlan was a resource, lunch companion, and field-trip guide to students with interests in any aspect of biology. He was generous with his reprint collection and often helped start students' publishing careers by urging submission of a life history or distributional observation or including them as coauthors on papers he initiated. He enriched all our lives in unfathomable ways and will be missed.
Harlan D. Walley passed away on 28 June 2008.
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathies to the family and friends of Harlan. He will be missed by us all.
In Memoriam: Henri C. Seibert
Monday, October 13, 2003: Athens, Ohio - Ohio University
Henri (Hank) Cleret Seibert, one of the earliest members of the Ohio Herpetological Society and a longtime officer of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, died of a stroke on 7 October 2003.
He was born 15 July 1915, the son of the late George K. and Louise Cleret Seibert in Caen, Normandy, France, and moved to Baltimore, Maryland, when he was six years old. In addition to his wife, Alice White Seibert, with whom he shared 62 years of marriage, he is survived by two sons and daughters-in-law, Peter K. and Marjorie Seibert of Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, Michael W. and Diantha Seibert of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, a daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth C. and Richard Purcell of Malvern, Pennsylvania, and four grandchildren.
He attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania and graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree cum laude in Biology in 1937. During this time, he was active in the Natural History Society of Maryland and published several ornithological and natural history papers in the Bulletin of that organization.
Seibert earned his Master of Science Degree in Human Biology (School of Hygiene and Public Health) in 1940 at Johns Hopkins University, working under the direction of Raymond Pearl. His thesis, Observations on the Somatic Constitution of Mothers with and without Infant Mortality among their Progeny, was published in Human Biology in 1940. After that, he worked as a biologist for one year at Cold Spring Harbor in New York and published two papers on the genetics of human hair size and shape in the Journal of Heredity, 1941-1942.
Seibert entered the doctoral program at the University of Illinois (Urbana) in 1941, but World War II interrupted his studies. During the period of 1943-1946, he was a biologist researching the effects of radiation on living organisms with the then top-secret Manhattan Project (atomic bomb development) under the football stadium at the University of Chicago. His doctoral dissertation The Relation of Photoperiod and Temperature to Food and Water Consumption, Variations in Weight and Molt in Birds, was completed in 1947 under the direction of Drs. Kendeigh and Shelford.
Seibert came to Ohio University in Athens in 1947 as an Assistant Professor of Zoology. During the next 37 years as a faculty member, he taught herpetology, ecology, and ornithology as well as other courses. He worked his way up the academic ladder becoming a Full Professor in 1961 and served as Chairman of the Department of Zoology from 1962 to 1967. His research on the wildlife of Ohio was funded by numerous grants from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (Wildlife Division) and the Wayne National Forest.
Seibert was Curator of the Vertebrate Collections in the Museum of Zoology, a task he inherited from Professor Hershel T. Gier, who had established the teaching/research collection earlier in the 1930s. The collections grew under Seibert's direction as he led many natural history trips to both the southeastern and southwestern United States. The collections of fishes, amphibians, turtles, and reptiles are especially important in documenting biodiversity in southeastern Ohio. He was also active in the Hocking Valley Audubon Society.
Seibert directed 23 Masters Degree Theses at Ohio University. The majority of these concerned the biology of amphibians, birds, turtles, and reptiles. Seibert published approximately 50 papers in scientific journals; too many to list. His interests were broad, as reflected by publications in herpetology, ecology, ornithology, mammalogy, entomology, ecological physiology, reproduction, embryology, limnology, ichthyology, human genetics, anthropology, and natural history. He was one of the earliest supporters of the Ohio Herpetological Society and has held several offices in the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (Board of Directors, 1962-1967; Publication Secretary, 1967-1976; Treasurer, 1970-1987; President, 1989). His lifelong interest and enthusiasm in birds and butterflies kept him active, especially in his retirement years. In recent years, he also was a volunteer at both the Ohio University and University of Delaware Libraries.
Two of Seibert's Masters Degree students left Ohio University to earn Doctoral Degrees elsewhere and to develop professional careers in herpetology. Ronald A. Brandon's Masters Thesis (1958), A Study of the Salamanders of Southeastern Ohio, was published (1960) by Seibert and Brandon. David M. Sever's Masters Thesis (1971), Geographic Variation of Eurycea bislineata (Caudata: Plethodontidae) in the Upper Ohio Valley was published (1972) in Herpetologica. Seibert's most recent herpetological publications were species accounts on Cryptobranchus alleganiensis and Ambystoma opacum in the "Salamanders of Ohio" (Ralph Pfingsten and Floyd Downs, editors, Ohio Biological Survey Bulletin, 1989).
The officers and board of directors of The Center for North American Herpetology express their sympathies to Dr. Seibert's family and close friends. He was a wonderful person, and will be missed by so many.
In Memoriam: Henry S. Fitch
Wednesday, September 09, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
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Lawrence, Kansas
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9 September 2009
In Memoriam: Henry S. Fitch (1909-2009)
Henry Sheldon Fitch, 99, of Lawrence, Kansas, one of the premier herpetological ecologists to grace the earth, passed away on 8 September 2009, at the home of his daughter and son-in-law in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He was born 25 December 1909, the son of Chester Fitch and Alice T. (Chenery) Fitch in Utica, New York. After a childhood outside of Medford, Oregon, he received his B.A from the University of Oregon and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. He then worked as a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the San Joaquin Range in California. His career was interrupted by two tours of army duty in World War II, after which he returned to the San Joaquin Range. He married Virginia Preston in 1946, and shortly afterwards was transferred to Leesville, Louisiana.
In 1948, he assumed a professorship at the University of Kansas where he taught and served as steward of the University of Kansas Natural History Reservation. Although his primary interest was in herpetology, he published papers in community ecology, mammalogy, and ornithology, and he even wrote a book on the spiders of the KU Natural History Reservation. He retired from KU as Emeritus Professor in 1980, but continued to live and work at the Natural History Reservation until 2006.
Survivors in the immediate family include his sons, John and Chester, his daughter, Alice, five grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. His wife, Virginia, and his three siblings, Chester, Margaret, and Ruth, preceded him in death.
The family suggests that any memorials go to the Henry S. and Virginia R. Fitch Memorial Fund for the support of the KU Fitch Natural History Reservation through the KU Endowment Association, and sent in care of
Rumsey Yost Funeral Home
P. O. Box 1260
Lawrence, Kansas, 66044
Online condolences may be sent to
http://www.pmcfh.com
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathies to the family and friends of Henry. He was a brilliant scientist and a kind and gentle man, and he will be missed so much by so many.
In Memoriam: Henry T. Smith
Tuesday, August 05, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
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5 August 2008
IN MEMORIAM HENRY T. SMITH (1954-2008)
On Saturday, 24 May 2008, dear friend and colleague, Henry “Hank” T. Smith, passed away suddenly at his home in Boca Raton, Florida.
Hank came into the world on 9 June 1954, destined to begin work with the Florida Department of Natural Resources in 1987. Since 1993, Hank was the District Biologist for wildlife resources with the Florida Park Service, where he oversaw 25 state parks in southeastern Florida.
He was also an Affiliate Researcher and Assistant Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at Florida Atlantic University; in Wilkes Honors College he supervised student research, internships, and theses in biology and environmental studies. He was a driving force in the “Parknership” program that linked the Florida Park Service with various institutions and students to conduct research that met the management needs of the public lands of Florida. Alone and generously with others, Hank published on the ecology of colonial waterbirds, human impacts on wildlife resources, bioeconomics of wildlife management, and, in recent times, exotic herpetofaunal colonization dynamics in Florida. In those past six years, Hank published more than 30 herpetological publications.
It was during these past five or so years that I got to know Hank, and I’m proud to have been a co-author on papers with him, a co-conspirator in project ideas, and most of all, a friend. Needless to say, working with Hank during this time was a white-knuckle ride and great fun. He was energetic and had an eye for detail with his eye not veering from the big picture. He would tease me about my demand for “go-go juice” (strong coffee), but it happened to come in handy in meeting all of our semi-apologetic self-imposed demands. Whether it was for Ernie Cowan, Heather Cress, Gary Busch, or Rick Engeman, to name a few, off we’d go!
On a personal note, Hank was encouraging and caring and he was a true friend. Not surprisingly, the lives he touched can be seen in his many co-authorships, his many friends, and in how much we miss him.
WALTER E. MESHAKA, JR., The State Museum of Pennsylvania, 300 North Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 17120-0024.
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors expresses its sympathy to the family, friends, and colleagues of Hank.
In Memoriam: Hymen Marx
Wednesday, February 28, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
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28 February 2007
IN MEMORIAM HYMEN MARX (1925-2007)
Hymen Marx, husband of Audrey (nee Greene), father of Michael Marx and Nancy (David) Ruesch, grandfather of Melissa, Stephanie and Devyn Joy Ruesch, died on 25 January 2007 in Sun City, Arizona. Hymen Marx was born on 27 June 1925 in Chicago, was a WWII Veteran, and was the Curator of Herpetology at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois, for 42 years. He was a renown snake biologist and published numerous scientific papers during his distinguished career.
Memorial contributions in his name should be made to the Field Museum of Natural History, c/o Harold Voris, Division of Reptiles and Amphibians, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605.
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathies to the family, friends, and colleagues of Hymen Marx. We will all miss him.
In Memoriam: J. Alan Holman
Wednesday, August 16, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
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16 August 2006
In Memoriam: J. Alan Holman (1931-2006)
Dr. J. Alan ("Al") Holman, passed away on 12 August 2006. Al taught vertebrate paleontology and herpetology courses at Michigan State University until his retirement. Not only was Al a prolific researcher and writer in vertebrate paleontology (focusing on Cenozoic and quaternary herpetofauna), but he was also very interested in and concerned about the biology and conservation of living reptiles, turtles, and amphibians. He was an active member of the Michigan DNR Technical Advisory Committee on Amphibians, Turtles, and Reptiles. He co-authored three popular books on the Michigan herpetofauna and had just finished collaborating on a revision of "Michigan Snakes," to be published soon. But his best known work was "Pleistocene Amphibians and Reptiles in North American," published by Oxford Press in 1995, and still the standard in the field today.
After his retirement, Al had continued his productivity, and always had a few articles and books coming out or in preparation. Despite his full plate of projects, Al never hesitated to stop and give assistance to a colleague or student in need.
Al's contributions to science will be greatly missed, but more than anything, his warmth, kindness and loyal friendship will be irreplaceable.
He was interred next to his wife, Peg Holman, at the Glendale Cemetery on Mount Hope Road in Lansing, Michigan, on 17 August.
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathies to the family and friends of J. Alan Holman.
In Memoriam: Jenny Elwood
Thursday, September 11, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
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11 September 2008
IN MEMORIAM JENNIFER R. LORENZ-ELWOOD (1963-2008)
NOTED SALAMANDER BIOLOGIST
Jennifer Elwood died on 3 September 2008 in Annapolis, Maryland, from complications due to breast cancer. She was born on 27 December 1963 in Camden, New Jersey, to Edith C. and James B. Lorenz of Mt. Ephraim, New Jersey. Dr. Elwood was a vertebrate zoologist and ecologist who specialized in the biology of salamanders. She received her Bachelors Degree in Biology from Lehigh University in 1986, her Masters Degree from Old Dominion University in 1988 and her Doctoral Degree in Biology from Drexel University in 2003. From 1990 to 1994 she was Adjunct Professor at Gloucester County College, Sewell, New Jersey. From 1990 to 1998 she was Adjunct Professor at Camden County College, Blackwood, New Jersey. From 1995 to 1999 she was a teaching assistant and research assistant in the Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology at Drexel University. From 2000 to 2004 she was an Instructor in the Department at Drexel where she taught Ecology, Evolution, Vertebrate Morphology, General Biology and the Graduate Ecology Seminar. From 2004 to 2008 she was Assistant Professor of Biology at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Maryland.
Jenny Elwood’s research interests were in vertebrate evolution, functional morphology and physiological ecology with particular emphasis on salamanders. Her dissertation research was concerned with the induction of heat shock proteins, thermotolerance, and geographic distribution of plethodontid salamanders. Her research project demonstrated the link between a particular molecular adaptation (heat shock protein induction) and range expansion in the salamanders of the Plethodon glutinosus complex. Her Masters thesis work centered on salamander jaw development and comparative morphology using histological techniques, radiography, and dissection. She successfully hatched and reared several salamander species through metamorphosis to obtain serial developmental stages for analyses. She also conducted a descriptive analysis of the mandibular symphysis to determine its value as a potential character for the analysis of salamander phylogeny.
Dr. Elwood was an accomplished laboratory and field biologist, a gifted teacher, and a member of several professional societies. She is survived by her husband, Colonel John Elwood, and her son Thomas and daughter Cecelia.
Two agencies have committed to set up a grant in tribute of the name and memory of Jennifer. She would have liked that. Donations can be forwarded to either the Fort Worth Zoo CIG (Cryptobranchus Interest Group), which focuses on graduate research, or the St. Louis Zoo Hellbender Center, which focuses more on in-house research and projects.
Please note that your contribution is in Jennifer Elwood's memory when sending any gift of money. John Elwood will add additional funds to both when it is complete.
For donations to the Fort Worth Zoo-CIG, send to:
Diane Barber
Curator of Ectotherms
Fort Worth Zoo
1989 Colonial Parkway
Fort Worth, Texas 76110
817-759-7180
dbarber@fortworthzoo.org
For donations to the Saint Louis Zoo, send to:
Saint Louis Zoo Foundation
P. O. Box 790290
St. Louis, Missouri 63179-0290
Please make gifts out to the Saint Louis Zoo Foundation, with “In Memory of Jenny Elwood” in the memo section.
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors expresses its deepest sympathy to the family, friends, and colleagues of Jenny.
In Memoriam: John Behler
Wednesday, February 01, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
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Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
1 February 2006
John Behler (1943-2006)
The following announcement was prepared by the Wildlife Conservation Society:
The Board of Trustees and Staff of the Wildlife Conservation Society are profoundly saddened by the death of our esteemed colleague, John L. Behler. John died on Tuesday, 31 January 2006. As Curator of Herpetology at the Bronx Zoo, John began his WCS career in 1970 in the Reptile Department as an intern. John's knowledge and love of wildlife included working with WCS field staff on related projects in Madagascar and Asia and is known and appreciated world-wide. His work exemplified the long history of WCS setting standards for others to follow. He assumed a leadership role among his peers in groundbreaking captive breeding programs for endangered crocodilians, tortoises, and freshwater turtles and also focused on the ecology and behavior of reptilians.
John's quick wit, charm and dedication allowed him to share his life's work with many. Among his numerous affiliations, John was a founding member of the American Zoo and Aquarium's Crocodilian Advisory Group and worked closely with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Endangered Species Unit. Likewise, Behler served his community on the Sommers Conservation Board and Muscoot Farm Nature Center in Westchester County Park.
Behler authored more than 40 popular and scientific articles, five guidebooks highlighting reptilians and amphibians and co-authored a book "Frogs - A Chorus of Colors" with his wife, Deborah Behler.
We are all saddened by the loss of our friend, a great scientist and conservationist. Our heartfelt sympathies go to John's wife, Debbie; mother, Mildred; sister, Judy Howells; John's children Cindy Sibilia, and David Behler and his five grandchildren.
David T. Schiff
Chairman
Steven E. Sanderson
President and CEO
Wildlife Conservation Society
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathy to John Behler's family and friends.
In Memoriam: John Werler
Wednesday, March 24, 2004: Houston, Texas - Early in the morning on Sunday, March 21, 2004, the Houston Zoo lost a dear friend and the single most important individual in its storied 82 year history. John Werler was an inspiration and legend to so many people in the world zoo community. Born in 1922, John came to the zoo in 1956 and retired as Zoo Director in 1992. One of the longest serving Zoo Directors in the country, he brought about many significant changes to the Houston Zoo, despite working with limited city resources. He and his late wife Ingrid dedicated countless hours to the zoo. They touched the hearts and minds of all who knew them and our lives will be forever enriched by their compassion and friendship. One cannot speak of John without including his late wife Ingrid. They were an incredible team, always smiling, always laughing, always caring. All of us that had the privilege of knowing John and Ingrid will be forever in their debt for the lasting memories they created for all zoo visitors, staff, and volunteers over the past six decades.
The officers and board of directors of The Center for North American Herpetology express their sympathies to John Werler's family and close friends. He was a wonderful person, and will be missed by so many.
For a more detailed obituary, go to:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/deaths/2466649
In Memoriam: Joseph B. Slowinski
Wednesday, September 12, 2001: Joseph Bruno Slowinski, Curator of Herpetology at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, died on the morning of September 12th, 2001, from the bite of a Multi-Banded Krait (Bungarus multicinctus) in the mountains of northern Myanmar (Burma), despite extraordinary efforts to save him by his companions.
http://outside.away.com/outside/adventure/200204/200204_bit_1.adp
http://www.doctorbugs.com/Joseph_Slowinski.html
In Memoriam: Julian Harrison
Thursday, May 21, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
21 May 2009
IN MEMORIAM JULIAN R. HARRISON (1934-2009)
Dr. Julian R. Harrison III, husband of Margaret N. Harrison, died peacefully at his home on May 15, 2009. He was 74. Dr. Harrison was born at Baker Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina, on 23 August 1934. He was the son of Julian R. Harrison, Jr. and Elizabeth W. Harris Harrison. As a young child he became fascinated with natural history, and this interest was fostered by his parents and by two people at the Charleston Museum, Elizabeth D. Simons and E. Burnham Chamberlain. Simons directed Nature Trailers, an after-school group for children.
When Julian outgrew Nature Trailers, he was introduced to Chamberlain, Curator of Natural History, who allowed him to work in the collections area "behind the scenes" and to participate in field work for the museum. As a teenager, Julian spent many hours in low-country swamps and forests collecting amphibians, reptiles, turtles, and crocodilians with boyhood friends such as the late John Quinby.
Julian graduated from the College of Charleston in 1956. He earned a Masters Degree at Duke University and a doctorate at the University of Notre Dame, conducting research on the salamanders of the southern Blue Ridge Mountains. At Duke, he met his future wife, also a biologist. In 1963, Julian accepted a faculty position in the Biology Department at the College of Charleston, where he stayed until retiring as Professor Emeritus in 1994. He was an outstanding teacher who influenced many students (and other faculty members) and was well respected by his colleagues.
Julian continued his association with the Charleston Museum and also became active in groups such as the Charleston Natural History Society (now a chapter of the National Audubon Society), holding many positions on the CNHS Board, including President. For over a decade he compiled the Charleston Christmas and Spring Bird Counts. In 1980, he co-authored a field guide, "Amphibians and Reptiles of the Carolinas and Virginia." The University of North Carolina Press will release a revised edition of this guide later this year. After retiring from the College of Charleston, Julian continued his work as a professional herpetologist and naturalist. He was widely recognized as an expert on the salamanders of the southeastern United States. In 2003, he described a new species, Chamberlain's Dwarf Salamander (Eurycea chamberlaini), which he named in honor of his childhood mentor. Late in life, he developed a major interest in the freshwater mollusks of South Carolina. He spent many days as a volunteer, surveying animal populations at places such as Drayton Hall, Francis Beidler Forest, the Dill Refuge and the McAlhany Nature Preserve. Throughout his life, he awakened an interest in natural history in many people, and he freely shared his extensive knowledge of South Carolina and the southern Blue Ridge. To those who knew him, Julian was considered a true "southern gentleman."
He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Margaret, son Andy of Charleston, South Carolina, daughter Susan Hall and her husband Donald of Woodstock, Georgia, and their daughters Katherine and Margerie Hall, and his sister Caroline H. Soles of St. Augustine, Florida, and her children, Thrad, Beth and Randy Soles. Contributions may be sent to the Charleston Museum, 360 Meeting Street, Charleston South Carolina, 29403.
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathy to the family and friends of Julian R. Harrison III.
In Memoriam: Karl Maslowski
Thursday, June 08, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
Karl H. Maslowski (1913-2006) photographed, chronicled wildlife around the globe
BY REBECCA GOODMAN | CINCINNATI ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
ANDERSON TWP. - Karl H. Maslowski - a well-known wildlife photographer - wrote a column called "Naturalist Afield" for The Cincinnati Enquirer for more than 50 years.
Mr. Maslowski, 93, died Thursday at his home in Anderson Township (Ohio).
He photographed wildlife around the world, including the Canadian Arctic, the Caribbean jungle and Africa. Thousands of his writings and still photos appeared in books and magazines, including National Geographic, Life, Sports Afield and the Saturday Evening Post (as well as the spectacular cover of National Wildlife in the early 1960s showing a "blue" Bullfrog).
He was one of the first to show nature in all its glorious hues when he began using color film in the late 1930s. He produced more than 70 documentaries and contributed to several Walt Disney nature films including "Earthquake Lake" and "The Living Desert." Mr. Maslowski presented a nationwide lecture series for the Audubon Society and the Smithsonian, and provided footage for a prime-time TV nature series in Cleveland.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, on Feb. 5, 1913, Mr. Maslowski moved with his family to Cincinnati, Ohio, the following year. At age 15 he befriended Christian Goetz, president of the Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. Mr. Maslowski helped Goetz, a duck hunter, band birds in the spring. Goetz purchased a camera and turned it over to Mr. Maslowski. His career as a wildlife photographer was born.
While attending evening college at the University of Cincinnati, Mr. Maslowski presented a 10-minute talk about local wildlife, which he illustrated with slides and short movies. His instructor was so impressed that he hired him to produce a series of wildlife programs for the university. Mr. Maslowski subsequently taught natural history and birding courses at the UC evening college.
In 1937, he asked Enquirer editors if he could write a weekly nature column. It appeared in the paper on Sundays until December 1988, interrupted only by his service as a combat motion picture cameraman for the Army Air Corps during World War II. A few years ago, he turned his business - Maslowski Wildlife Productions - over to his sons, Steve and Dave, both of Anderson Township.
Mr. Maslowski was a founder of the Cincinnati Nature Center and Oxbow Inc. In 1977, Miami University awarded him an honorary doctorate; and in 1978, Cornell University presented him the Arthur Allen Award.
His wife, Edna Hadler Maslowski, and a daughter, Karla Long, died previously.
Survivors include another son, Peter of Lincoln, Neb.; and six grandchildren.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. June 17 at T. P. White & Sons Funeral Home, 2050 Beechmont Ave. in Mount Washington. Interment will be at Mount Washington Cemetery.
Memorials: Cincinnati Nature Center, 4949 Teal Town Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45150; Museum of Natural History & Science, Cincinnati Museum Center, 1301 Western Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45203-1130; or Oxbow Inc., P.O. Box 43391, Cincinnati, Ohio 45243.
In Memoriam: Leslie Edward Meade
Tuesday, December 07, 2004: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
Leslie Edward Meade 1941-2004
Morehead, Kentucky - Leslie Edward Meade, 63, retired Morehead State University Professor of Biology, passed away Sunday, December 5, 2004, at the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center in Lexington. A member of the MSU faculty from 1971 through May 2003, Les received his BS and MS degrees in biology and chemistry from MSU and the PhD in biological sciences from the University of Southern Mississippi. Prior to joining the faculty at Morehead State, he taught at Stubenville College and Kent State University, East Liverpool, Ohio.
Les was a member of the Kentucky Academy of Science, Tennessee Academy of Science and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. He had received several research grants, authored or co-authored numerous scientific articles that appeared in various professional journals, and presented a number of papers. Well known for his work in the areas of fishes, amphibians, and reptiles of Kentucky and vascular flora and small mammals of northeastern Kentucky, Les worked with the Northeast Kentucky Regional Science Fair for 21 years, taught courses on the subjects of snakes and mammals at various 4-H camps for several years, and spoke at schools throughout the region. He also made presentations at Carter Caves State Park and the U.S. Forest Service and had served as a consultant to several industrial projects. Les was probably best known to herpetologists for his work on Kentucky snakes.
Born October 21, 1941, in Syracuse, New York, Les was the son of Irene Swieck Meade of Suwanee, Georgia, and the late Leslie Elwood Meade. Besides his mother, he is survived by his wife, Donna Sublett Meade, whom he married December 23, 1967, and their children, Leslie Scott Meade of Lexington, Kentucky, and Marla Kaye Meade of St. Louis, Missouri. Other survivors include sisters Marcia Scott of Atlanta, Georgia, and Janice Williams of Suwanee, Georgia, half-brothers Ron Meade, George Meade, and Eric Meade, all of Erieville, New York, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Funeral services were conducted Wednesday, December 8, 2004, in Morehead, Kentucky; entombment was in Forest Lawn Mausoleum. Memorial contributions may be made to the MSU Biology Department through the MSU Foundation, Palmer Development House, Morehead, Kentucky 40351.
In Memoriam: Margaret Stewart
Wednesday, September 20, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
In Memoriam Margaret Stewart (1927-2006)
Distinguished Teaching Professor Emerita of Biological Sciences Margaret "Meg" Stewart passed away on 2 August 2006 after battling pancreatic cancer. Stewart was known for a lifetime of dedication to science, to the University, and to biological conservation. An outstanding teacher who lectured in many different courses, she was particularly interested in mentoring female students. Her graduate trainees are themselves a distinguished group of scientists and academics. Despite her advancing illness, she continued to attend student seminars and thesis defenses until very recently.
Known internationally for her studies of amphibians, turtles, and reptiles, Stewart joined the biology faculty of the University at Albany in 1956. While she officially retired in 1997, Stewart remained an active presence on campus as founding director of the Graduate Program in Biodiversity, Conservation, and Policy.
Associate Professor George Robinson of the Department of Biological Sciences said, "She spent a lifetime doing the difficult things that others shirked, and her fierce Scots integrity stands out in all her accomplishments."
Stewart was honored in June 2004 with a proclamation honoring her 12 years of service as a member of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission. She played a leading role in the Eastern New York Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, and was awarded the Oak Leaf Award in 1997. Stewart was the recipient of the University at Albany's Citizen Laureate Award in 1987. In June, the Epsilon chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at UNC-Greensboro (her undergraduate alma mater) elected her as an alumna member in honor of her extraordinary career as a scientist and University professor.
Stewart wrote the landmark text, Amphibians of Malawi. One African frog, which she first collected, was later named for her (Phrynobatrachus stewartae) and is known as Stewart's Puddle Frog. She also studied the Mink Frog of the Adirondacks, the frogs of Jamaica, and the Coqui Frog of Puerto Rico. Her distinguished work on the Coqui resulted in an honorary doctorate from the University of Mayaguez in 1996.
In 1979, Stewart became the first woman to lead a professional herpetological organization when she was elected president of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR). The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) awarded her its Robert K. Johnson Award in 2005 for excellence in service to the society. The same year, she received the ASIH's highest award, the Henry S. Fitch Award, for long-term excellence in the study of amphibian, chelonian, and/or reptilian biology.
Survivors include her husband, George E. Martin, mathematics professor emeritus at the University at Albany; and her brother, John M. Stewart, a renowned peptide chemist at the University of Colorado Medical School in Denver; as well as two nieces and two nephews.
A memorial service will be announced in the fall. Gifts in Stewart's memory may be made to The University at Albany Foundation with notation for the Margaret Stewart Biodiversity Fund and sent to Sorrell Chesin at the foundation, UAB-201, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12222.
In Memoriam: Michael Ewert
Saturday, June 11, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
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Lawrence, Kansas
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11 June 2005
In Memoriam Michael Ewert
Michael Ewert, herpetologist at the University of Indiana, Bloomington, passed away on 7June 2005 from renal-cell carcinoma. Mike was a dedicated and skilled biologist who had diverse interests but specialized in turtle reproductive biology. He was a pioneer in studies of turtle embryology, incubation, development, and sex determination, and authored or co-authored many important publications on these topics. Mike taught and influenced many students and colleagues. Many herpetologists use successful turtle egg incubation techniques based on Mike's research and recommendations. His contributions to the conservation of turtles and understanding of their biology will go on long after his passing.
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sincere sympathy to the Ewert family and friends.
In Memoriam: Nelson Hairston
Tuesday, August 05, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
5 August 2008
IN MEMORIAM NELSON HAIRSTON, SR. (1917-2008)
Noted Salamander Biologist
Nelson Hairston of Carolina Meadows, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, died at age 90 in his sleep on 31 July 2008. He was an internationally renowned ecologist, known for his research on the structure of the communities of organisms in nature and as an early contributor to the field of ecological parasitology. Hairston was born on 16 October
1917 and grew up on his family's Cooleemee Plantation near Mocksville, North Carolina. His early schooling was at Virginia Episcopal School and he obtained BS and MS degrees in Zoology from the University of North Carolina. His PhD studies at Northwestern University, under the advice of Orlando Park, were interrupted by the Second World War, during which he served in the South Pacific working on malaria transmission and treatment. He returned to graduate study at the end of the war and completed his dissertation in 1949 studying the distribution of salamander species in the North Carolina Appalachian Mountains.
Hairston married Martha Turner Patton of Swananoa, North Carolina, on 19 August 1942, and after completing his PhD the two of them moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he accepted a faculty position in Zoology at the University of Michigan. He served on the faculty at UM for 27 years, helping to establish there one of the premier programs in the nation in ecology. During this period, he also served for a decade as Director of the Museum of Zoology, and for extended periods as a consultant for the United Nations World Health Organization as an expert on schistosomiasis in the Philippines, Switzerland, Iraq, Kenya, Egypt, Western Samoa and Rhodesia.
In 1974, Hairston accepted a Kenan professorship in the Department of Biology at the University of North Carolina where he served for twelve years teaching a very popular course in Vertebrate Zoology. Near the end of his career, he was given the Eminent Ecologist Award of the Ecological Society of America and was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He retired in 1986 and soon thereafter wrote three books, one of which, "Ecological Experiments," was translated into several languages.
Nelson Hairston is survived by his wife, Martha of Carolina Meadows, Chapel Hill; daughter, Margaret Hairston Searcy of Miami, Florida; son, Nelson G. Hairston, Jr., of Trumansburg, New York; and five grandchildren. His daughter, Martha Hairston Weston, died five years ago. Friends interested in making a donation in his memory are asked
to contribute to the Graduate Student Fund of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Michigan, or to the Department of Biology at the University of North Carolina, two departments to which he dedicated his career and remained deeply loyal.
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors expresses its sympathy to the family, friends, and colleagues of Nelson Hairston.
In Memoriam: Phil Humphrey
Sunday, December 06, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
6 December 2009
IN MEMORIAM: PHILIP S. HUMPHREY (1926-2009)
Dr. Philip Strong Humphrey, 83, former director of the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History from 1967 to 1995, died on 13 November 2009 at Brandon Woods, Lawrence, Kansas. Phil was born on 26 February 1926 in Hibbing, Minnesota, the son of Watts Sherman and Katharine Strong Humphrey. His family moved to Litchfield, Connecticut, when he was a young child and he graduated from The Forman School in Litchfield. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II. Phil graduated from Amherst College in 1949 and received a master’s degree and a doctorate in ornithology from the University of Michigan in 1955. He was an assistant professor of ornithology and curator of birds at the Peabody Museum at Yale University from 1957 to 1962. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1960-1961 to study the birds of Argentina. In 1962, he went to the Smithsonian Institution and served as curator of ornithology and then curator of vertebrate zoology until 1967.
*****
A RECOLLECTION
© 2009 by Joseph T. Collins
In 1967, Phil Humphrey was appointed director of the Museum of Natural History and professor of zoology at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. He served in that position for 28 years until his retirement in 1995. During his tenure at the KU Museum of Natural History, he started a number of programs that endure to this day. In 1969, he encouraged Ray E. Ashton and me to establish the live snake exhibit on the sixth floor of the museum, an exhibit that remains as popular today as it was at its inception. In addition, he initiated a series of volumes on the vertebrates of Kansas that ran from 1974 to 1995 and resulted in the publication by the museum of eight books (all of them with me as author, co-author, or editor). The last book in this series was published in 1995.
I spent 28 of my nearly 30 years (1968-1997) in the KU Museum of Natural History with Phil Humphrey as its director. I think I was the first person he hired after he arrived. Obviously, we spent a fair amount of time together (he came out to fish for Largemouth Bass in my pond on numerous occasions), and a few of my memories of him might be of interest and are here briefly recounted (as best I can recollect). Both Phil and I were morning people, each arriving at the museum about 6:00 am. From the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, we would drink coffee together for an hour or so in his office. This took place two to three times each week when he was in town and was a pleasant (and sometimes interesting) way to begin the workday. Although I learned much from Phil about his personal philosophy for running a museum and his vision for it, I suspect he got as much out of these gatherings as I did. I soon determined that he was sometimes using me as a sounding board for new ideas or directions that he might (or might not) implement in the museum. I was flattered that he occasionally sought my opinion on how to resolve situations in the museum. On rare occasions he counted on me to let him know when potential problems needed his attention.
In 1972, he asked me to write "Amphibians and Reptiles in Kansas," my first book (published in 1974) with the idea of beginning a series on the state of Kansas that would cover all vertebrate animals. But we didn't have much funding. So he "borrowed" money from elsewhere on campus with the promise to pay it back from sales of my book. Fortunately, he was able to do this, and thus began a long run of book publishing that lasted until just before his retirement in 1995. But first we had to raise more money, something not easy to do under the constraints before us at the time. So, although he never directly told me to do it, somehow I knew it was time to make some contacts in the corporate world and I did so. We were able to publish seven more books in the series. The set became the envy of many other museums and states across the nation, and provided a tremendous service to the people of Kansas. In between writing or editing the books, I continued to raise small amounts of money for Phil's various other projects -- we both continued to express amazement at the generosity of the entities that donated money to our museum, he with a twinkle in his eye as he sometimes mused about how they knew we needed such a specific amount for an individual project.
With Phil’s support and blessing, my position and responsibilities in the museum evolved through time. I started in the museum as a vertebrate preparator in the divisions of herpetology and ichthyology, a position that had all the attributes of a collection manager, although such a title was not in general use in natural history museums at the time. Eventually my responsibilities came to include managing editor of the museum's scientific publications. When the museum finally was able to hire a full-time collection manager for herpetology, Phil transferred me (at my request) to half-time editor, half-time zoologist in the division of ichthyology in 1987, and within a few years we had the good fortune to hire Kate Shaw as collection manager in ichthyology, and I became a full-time editor and managing editor. At my retirement, the business cards prepared for me by the museum listed my working titles as herpetologist and editor, positions only distantly related to my first responsibilities when I arrived at the museum back on 1 January 1968. During our morning meetings, Phil and I had often discussed and planned my changing duties (and titles); I was always amazed at his ability to make such things happen with little apparent discomfort to the museum community.
Phil Humphrey early on recognized that the KU Museum of Natural History needed good press, and I had long known that reptiles were very good press. Thus began an interesting quarter of a century of news coverage for the museum that kept us before the public eye statewide on an almost weekly basis. The highlight of this effort was reached in the mid-1980s when Phil came to me one day in the spring and asked if I would put together a set of all the newspaper clippings I had generated during the previous fiscal year. I agreed and asked why. He said, with a smile, that he wanted to show them to the Chancellor during budget discussions for the coming year.
My favorite memories of Phil were those times when Suzanne and I joined he and Mary Lou at their lovely Old West Lawrence home on Louisiana Street for dinner parties, usually with Bob and Sally Hoffmann. He never discussed the museum in these informal settings, and was simply a pleasant, relaxed host. I will always remember him fondly. And I will always be so deeply grateful that he let me pursue my dreams and ideas and projects while protecting me from those that might try to suppress them. He was my patrón.
*****
From various sources . . .
While at KU, Phil continued to do field work in Argentina, and in 1981 he discovered a new species of Steamer Duck. His publications include The Birds of Tierra del Fuego and various titles in the field of ornithology. He was also co-editor of The Darwin Reader. Phil was a member of the American Association of Museums, Sigma XI, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a fellow of the American Ornithologists Union, and served on the boards of the National Audubon Society and the World Wildlife Fund.
Phil married Mary Louise Countryman on 1 January 1946. She survives. Other survivors include a daughter, Margaret Humphrey, Ashland, Oregon; a son, Dr. Stephen Humphrey and wife Susan, Santa Elena, Costa Rica; two brothers, Watts S. and wife Barbara, Sarasota, Florida, and William M. and wife Ruth, Auckland, New Zealand; a sister, Dorothy Bedell and husband, Peter, Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania; two stepsisters, Anne Swain and husband Adrian, Sarasota, Florida, and Patricia Smith and husband Wally, Pittsburgh; a stepbrother, Peter Rowley and wife Terez, New York City; three grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.
He was an avid fly fisherman and enjoyed tying flies and making fly rods. He enjoyed many fly-fishing trips to various parts of the world. He especially enjoyed fly-fishing in Montana and Wyoming. He also loved playing the piano.
A celebration of life service for Philip Strong Humphrey was held on 16 November 2009 at Plymouth Congregational Church. Inurnment was in Pioneer Cemetery.
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathies to the family and friends of Phil. He was a great museum director and a kind person, and he will be missed so much by so many.
In Memoriam: R. C. Bothner
Saturday, March 01, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
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1 March 2008
In Memoriam: Richard C. Bothner (1929-2008)
Dr. Richard C. Bothner, Professor Emeritus at St. Bonaventure University passed away at his home in the company of his wife Peg, early Friday morning, 15 February 2008. He was born in Bronx, New York, where he attended Fordham University and from which he received a Bachelor of Science and a Doctor of Philosophy in Biology. In the interim period between these degrees, he served as a First Lieutenant in the United States Air Force for three years. He and Peggy were married in 1958. He was hired as a Professor of Biology at St. Bonaventure in September of that same year where he quickly became a popular professor at the university until his retirement in 1993. Following retirement, he was named Professor Emeritus and continued to teach part time for several years.
Dick was a passionate naturalist, best known for his mischievous sense of humor and enthusiastic "snake lectures" delivered to countless schools and scouting troops throughout his career. He was a long time member of the three major herpetological societies and authored the SSAR catalog account for Thamnophis brachystoma. In New York, he was the authority on the herpetofauna of western New York, especially the Eastern Hellbender, Shorthead Garter Snake, and Wehrle's Salamander. His field work was cited in numerous publications and most recently he co-authored "The Amphibians and Reptiles of New York State," published in 2007 by Oxford University Press.
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathies to Dick's wife, Peg; sister, Patricia Carrol; Dick's children Carl (Rose) Bothner of Rochester, New York, Patricia (Miguel) Villafranca, Peter (Dionne) Bothner, Jane (William) Harkin, nine grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. We are all saddened by the loss of a great scientist, field companion and conservationist.In Memoriam: R. F. Clarke
Friday, April 04, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
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Lawrence, Kansas
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4 April 2008
IN MEMORIAM: ROBERT F. CLARKE (1919-2008)
Dr. Robert F. Clarke, Emporia, Kansas, passed away on, Wednesday, 2 April 2008, at Newman Regional Health in Emporia, Kan. He was born 18 October 1919 in Portsmouth, Virginia, He married Elaine McNabb of Melvern, Kansas, in 1947. In 1948, he and Elaine moved to Emporia, Kansas, where he was a stationary engineer for the Santa Fe Railroad and a freelance illustrator. Dr. Clarke had always had a passion for reptiles, turtles, and amphibians, and had amassed a large collection of them. After a rain, one of the biology professors from Kansas State Teachers College (now Emporia State University) found him collecting frogs in a ditch and encouraged him to begin college to pursue his passion, which he did in 1952 at the age of 33. He completed his Bachelors Degree in 1955 and Masters Degree in Biology in 1957 at Emporia State University. He received a prestigious National Academy of Science Fellowship to complete his Doctorate in Zoology at the University of Oklahoma in 1963. The family returned to Emporia and he taught at Roosevelt High School on the Emporia State University campus, then became a Biology Department faculty member at Emporia State University in 1968. He was Chairman of the Department of Biology at Emporia State University from 1972 to 1979. He was Assistant to the Vice-President of Academic Affairs from 1969 to 1970, where he helped to start sabbatical leave and tenure policies. He retired from Emporia State University in 1985.
As a naturalist/educator, Robert Clarke taught several areas of biology for more than 30 years, published over 50 works on herpetology, established CPR training programs in Emporia, was instrumental in starting the Chickadee Check-Off Program to assist non-game research in Kansas, was a frequent speaker at colleges and universities as part of the American Institute of Biological Scientists, and was the editor, and editor emeritus, and one of the creators of the Kansas School Naturalist. As an artist/naturalist, he was ranked in the top 10 of Kansas wildlife artists. He designed and illustrated numerous association conference covers and illustrated several of the Kansas School Naturalists. He developed and illustrated over 100 cartoon-like panels entitled "Something Wild" that appeared in over 25 Kansas newspapers.
Dr. Clarke held the office of President for the following organizations: Southwest Association of Naturalists (1971), Kansas Herpetological Society (1972), and Kansas Academy of Science (1981). He was co-founder of the Kansas Conservation Forum and held over 20 professional memberships. Dr. Clarke received the following awards: The Robert L. Packard Outstanding Educator Award by the Southwestern Association of Naturalists (1989), Kansas Wildlife Federation Conservation Communicator Award (1991), The Governor's Kansas Conservationist of the Year Award (1982). He was a Distinguished Alumnus in 1991 from Emporia State University, Emeritus Professor (1986), and Xi Phi Outstanding Graduate Student in Biology from the University of Oklahoma (1961). In his primary profession of herpetology, the pinnacle of his long and productive career was being invested as a Distinguished Life Member of the Kansas Herpetological Society.
Robert is survived by a daughter, Linda Clarke (Emporia), son, John Clarke (Wichita), and four granddaughters, Jessica, Lacy, Tara, and Kristi Clarke (Wichita). His wife, Elaine preceded him in death. He loved his family, lizards and nature, his art and friends, his Model A, making jokes and laughter. His smile and Virginia accent will be missed.
Modified from an obituary published in the Topeka Capital-Journal on 4 April 2008.
*****
The Board of Directors of The Center for North American Herpetology extends its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Robert F. Clarke. He will be missed by us all.
*****
In Memoriam: Ray Ashton
Friday, March 19, 2010: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
19 March 2010
IN MEMORIAM: RAY E. ASHTON (1945-2010)
© Joseph T. Collins, 2010
Ray E. Ashton, Jr., a well-known herpetologist who specialized in Gopher Tortoise conservation and operated a research and conservation facility devoted to them in Archer, Florida, died on 11 March 2010 of pancreatic cancer. He was 64. Ray was head of the Ashton Biodiversity Research and Preservation Institute, a 200-acre preserve near Watermelon Pond in southwestern Alachua County. The facility includes an office, laboratory, library, herbarium, wet-lab, limited researcher/student housing, tortoise isolation and breeding facilities, and a diversity of native habitats.
Ray was born in Middletown, Ohio, on 30 March 1945 and came of age in herpetology at an auspicious time in the Buckeye state. During his teenage years in southwestern Ohio, he soon met an astonishing number of budding herpetologists from across that state, like-minded folks whose interest in these animals was so intense and so compelling that, to this day, they are often referred to (sometimes affectionately, sometimes otherwise) as "The Ohio Mafia." And Ray was one of them, pursuing undeterred with a single-minded purpose the knowledge necessary to have a notable career in herpetology that spanned nearly a half century.
In 1971, Ray Ashton received a master's degree in biology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, with a thesis entitled "A Study of the Movements, Home Range, and Winter Behavior of Desmognathus fuscus (Rafinesque)." He went on to write many scientific articles as well as handbooks to the reptiles, turtles, crocodilians, and amphibians of Florida, and in 2008 published his best-known work, “The Natural History and Management of the Gopher Tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus (Daudin),” co-authored with his wife, colleague, best-friend, and close companion, Pat. He was also co-owner of Ashton, Ashton and Associates, an environmental consulting firm that specializes in sustainable and environmentally sound projects with an emphasis on ecotourism, tourism, greenways, parks, museums, and similar developments.
Ray also served on a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission panel that helped draft guidelines for the protection of Gopher Tortoises, classified as a threatened species in the state. His conservation efforts also took him around the world and across the nation. He was one of the founders of a number of herpetological organizations in several states, including those in North Carolina and Florida.
Ray Ashton served as education director at two state museums (in Lawrence, Kansas, at the KU Museum of Natural History and in Raleigh, North Carolina, at the State Museum of Natural Science), as director of travel planning for three major travel firms including the Massachusetts Audubon Society, and worked for two consulting firms before semi-retiring to found the institute and develop the Ashton research station.
His mother, Betty, wife Patricia, children Kevin and Elizabeth, and grandchild Xander survive Ray. For more information about Ray Ashton's accomplishments, please see
AshtonBiodiversity.org
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Ashton Fund at
SunTrust Bank
14420 West Newberry Road
Newberry, Florida 32669-2765
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathies to the family and friends of Ray Ashton, particularly to Patricia. Ray was a champion of all wildlife, and a fun person to be with in the field; his passing is a great loss to us all. Many a Gopher Tortoise will safely walk a Florida sand ridge because Ray was alive and watchful in protecting them.
In Memoriam: Roger Conant
Friday, December 19, 2003: Albuquerque, New Mexico - USFWS
Roger Conant, co-author of the Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and
Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, died peacefully in
his sleep at age of 94 on December 19th at about 12:30 am in
Albuquerque from cancer. His final wishes for cremation and no
funeral will be honored. There will be a memorial service in his
honor at the University of New Mexico in January 2004.
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sincere sympathy to the Conant family and friends.
In Memoriam: Ron Goellner
Monday, February 27, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
27 February 2006
In Memoriam Ronald Goellner (1945-2006)
It is with great sadness that I report the death of Ron Goellner, Director of Animal Collections at the Saint Louis Zoo. Ron passed away early this morning, February 26, 2006, in the comfort of his home with his loving wife Karen at his side. The entire Saint Louis Zoo community is profoundly saddened by the loss of a man who touched the lives of so many, yet we know that Ron would be the first to tell us to "keep smilin." You cannot conjure memories of Ron and not follow his advice, because he sowed smiles wherever he went.
Born on November 4, 1945, Ron’s career at the Saint Louis Zoo spanned 35 years. He started in the Reptile House in 1970 as a keeper and within a few years was promoted to Curator of Reptiles, a position he held until 1995. For the past ten years, Ron served as the Director of Animal Collections for the Zoo. Although Ron was intensely interested in all reptiles and amphibians, his true passions were Tuataras and Hellbenders. In 1980, Ron traveled to Stephen’s Island in New Zealand to collect environmental data that could be utilized in the construction of a new off-exhibit enclosure for the Zoo’s Tuatara group, which have been in the collection since 1973. In recent years, Ron founded the Center for Hellbender Conservation, which included the construction of a dedicated off-exhibit facility for captive propagation efforts. In addition, he established valuable links with the Missouri Department of Conservation, universities, etc. to forge ahead with cooperative in situ initiatives for the Hellbender in Missouri.
Ron was an avid gardener and had built several ponds around his house to attract local amphibians. He enjoyed a wide array of outdoor activities and particularly loved camping in the Big Bend region of Texas as well as the mountains of southeastern Arizona.
Ron was my zoo mentor and colleague, but most of all he was a dear friend who I will miss.
Jeff Ettling
Curator of Herpetology
Saint Louis Zoo
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathy to the family and friends of Ron Goellner.
In Memoriam: Sean McKeown
Friday, July 19, 2002: Honolulu, Hawaii - Modified from the Star Bulletin 17 July 2002
Herpetologist Sean McKeown, former curator of reptiles at the Honolulu Zoo, died Thursday, July 11th, 2002, at Stanford Medical Center in California. He was 58 years old. McKeown spent twenty years as a curator of reptiles at the Honolulu Zoo and the Chafee Zoological Gardens in Fresno, California. During that time, he helped promote the importance of conservation and captive management and breeding of endangered reptiles and amphibians worldwide. McKeown was an expert on ecology and conservation of reptiles and amphibians. He wrote more than 100 articles on the care and breeding of reptiles and amphibians. His most important published work was Hawaiian Reptiles and Amphibians, which today remains the standard reference to the herpetofauna of the islands. McKeown remained an advocate for Hawaiian wildlife preservation after he moved to Los Osos, California, from Hawaii. He worked closely with former Honolulu Zoo director Paul Breese to help keep Brown Tree Snakes out of Hawaii. The country has lost one of its most brilliant, hardworking and active leaders in wildlife conservation of this era. CNAH extends its deepsest sympathy to the family and numerous friends of Sean McKeown.In Memoriam: V. R. McDaniel
Tuesday, August 04, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
4 August 2009
IN MEMORIAM VAN RICK MCDANIEL (1945-2009)
Van Rick McDaniel, former Professor of Zoology and Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, passed away on 31 July 2009 at St. Bernard's Medical Center. He is survived by his wife, Peggy McDaniel, two sisters, Sherry and Betty, three sons, Nathaniel, Jonathan, and Zachary, five daughters, Kimberly, Lana, Catherine, Stacey, and Cynthia, and numerous grandchildren.
Born on 29 October 1945, Rick received his Bachelor of Science Degree in biology and chemistry (1967), and Masters Degree in biology and geology (1969), both at Texas A&I University, and his Doctorate in zoology and paleontology in 1973 from Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He began his academic career as an assistant professor of zoology at Arkansas State University in 1973, and remained at that institution until his retirement as an administrator 35 years later.
Although primarily a mammalogist, Rick maintained a steady interest in amphibians, reptiles, and turtles throughout his distinguished career, publishing a total of 22 papers on them during the span from 1969-1999. He chaired or served on the committees of many students that studied herpetofauna, and some of them went on to academic careers in herpetology, most notably Chris T. McAllister, Brian Butterfield, and Walter E. Mashaka, Jr. As an adminstrator at Arkansas State University, he was responsible for bringing to the faculty the well-known and distinguished herpetologist, Stanley Trauth.
*****
The CNAH Board of Directors extends its sympathy to the family and friends of Rick McDaniel. He will be missed by all who knew him.
In Memoriam: Wilfred T. Neill, Jr.
Monday, February 26, 2001: Wilfred T. Neill, Jr., died on February 19, 2001, of pulmonary pneumonia. He was 79. Neill was born in Augusta, Georgia, on January 12, 1922. He received a B.S. from University of Georgia in 1941 (at age 19). After serving in the Army Air Force in W.W. II, he taught at Augusta Junior College, attaining the rank of Professor of Zoology. From 1949 to 1962, he was Research Director at Ross Allen's Reptile Institute. He did some graduate work at the University of Florida in 1964, but left without completing his doctoral degree. He continued to publish research articles and books through the 1960s and 1970s, yielding a cumulative total of about 300 articles and six books (including four for Columbia University Press) in herpetology, biogeography, archaeology, anthropology and various other fields.
His health declined steadily after a near-fatal snakebite in 1978. He was a resident at MeadowView Life Center (formerly Lakeland Health Care Center) in Lakeland, Florida, since 1985. He is survived by his son, W. Trammell Neill, III, and his grandson, Daniel B. Neill.
A "Biographical Sketch and Bibliography of Wilfred T. Neill" was published in 1993 by the Smithsonian Herpetological Information Service (No. 95). The bibliography is fairly comprehensive.
In 1966, Sam Telford honored Neill by describing a new subspecies of snake for him, Tantilla relicta neilli. In addition, Wilfred T. Neill described the following North American taxa: Amphiuma pholeter (1964),
Pseudobranchus striatus lustricolus
(1951),
Elaphe obsoleta rossalleni
(1949), and
Farancia erytrogramma seminola
(1964). CNAH expresses its sympathy and support to the family and friends of Wilfred T. Neill, Jr. He will be missed by all of the herpetological community.
Lithobates Loss
Tuesday, April 28, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 174
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
28 April 2009
LOOKING AT LEOPARD FROG LOSS
I am a graduate student at Marshall University in Thomas Pauley's Herpetology lab. Dr. Pauley and I have been working on a distribution and status study for Lithobates (formerly Rana) pipiens in West Virginia and have achieved some interesting results. I have found a sharp decline of this species throughout the state. In addition, several well-known West Virginia populations that have been present since the 1960s are no longer extant. I currently have one viable population of the Northern Leopard Frog in the state, and this is cause for concern. I am unsure of the cause of the decline of this species and Dr. Pauley and I were wondering if anyone has heard of any of trends similar to this with the species in other states? Any information about this topic would be very helpful. I can be contacted at the email address below.
Amanda Spriggs
Marshall University
Huntington, West Virginia
spriggs@marshall.edu
Lithobates Lust Looms
Friday, June 05, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 176
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
5 June 2009
LITHOBATES LUST LOOMS
My lab is in need of six to twelve adult male Northern Leopard Frogs (Lithobates pipiens) as soon as possible. Our normal suppliers are all out of stock and we have gravid females ready to lay eggs.
I can pay for any shipping costs. Any help would be much appreciated. Specimens must be obtained under a valid scientific collecting permit from their state of origin.
Jason Rohr
Integrative Biology
University of South Florida
4202 East Fowler Avenue, SCA 110
Tampa, Florida 33620
(813) 974-0156
jrohr@cas.usf.edu
Masticophis Motion Monitored
Thursday, October 13, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 63
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
13 October 2005
Masticophis Movement to be Monitored
A student and I are conducting some behavioral trials of anti-predator behavior in lizards and we are in need of a few more live individuals of the Coachwhip, Masticophis flagellum. We have a couple, but the weather has turned cold in Oklahoma and we have doubts that we can capture more before the active season ends. Does anyone have live Coachwhips that we could borrow? It would be best if they were 30-100 cm in length. The animals would not be harmed and would be returned in good condition after a few weeks of trials. We have an IACUC permit to conduct the work here at Oklahoma State University.
If you have a snake that you would be willing to loan to us for a bit, please contact me.
Dr. Stanley Fox
Oklahoma State University
Department of Zoology
430 Life Sciences West
Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078-3052
405/744-9682
Fax: 405/744-7824
foxstan@okstate.edu
Necturus Needed
Wednesday, April 19, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 80
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
19 April 2006
Midwest Mudpuppy Molecules
I am currently working on an undergraduate project involving population genetics of the Common Mudpuppy, Necturus maculosus. I need samples from the Ohio River and Illinois River populations (Detroit River samples have already been obtained) to compare geographically distinct populations. If anyone has access to known populations in these areas, I would appreciate blood (preferably), tissue, or saliva samples. Also, if any museum or university has specimens with known localities, information on those specimens would also be appreciated.
Thank you.
Rachel Bradfield
Biological Sciences
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio 43403
rbradfi@bgsu.edu
Neoseps Notes Needed
Monday, February 06, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 70
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
6 February 2006
SAND SKINK LOCALITY DATA REQUEST
We are working on compiling range-wide locality data of the Sand Skink (Neoseps reynoldsi) in Florida. The goal of our project is to determine the macro-scale habitat characteristics affecting skink distribution and to quantify the lands where skinks occur (e.g., private, protected, developed) to determine how development has affected populations over time. All data contributed will be kept confidential and only broad-scale range maps or locations will appear in publications stemming from this research.
If you have data on Sand Skink occurrences (either visual sightings or sightings of Sand Skink trails left in the sand) that you are willing to contribute, all we need is the year of the observation and the approximate location. Any locality information you have is useful – ranging from exact GPS coordinates to general localities (i.e., XXX State Park). Also, we will take the data in any format (i.e., photocopied field notes, email correspondence, etc.), and every record contributed is important to the success of this project.
All contributions will be properly acknowledged, and if you would like more information about our project, please feel free to contact me. We would like to receive all observation data by 1 March 2006, if possible.
Thank you for taking the time to read this; please direct any inquiries to:
David Pike
Ecologist, Research Coordinator
Environmental Services Group
Glatting Jackson, Inc.
33 East Pine Street
Orlando, Florida 32801
work: 407-284-4718
cell: 443-570-1395
fax: 407-839-1789
dapike22@hotmail.com
Nerodia Data Needed
Wednesday, November 22, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 105
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
22 November 2006
WATER SNAKE DATA WANTED AT WU
I am writing to request body size and/or head dimension data for both males and females in the snake genera Nerodia as well as Seminatrix and Regina. These data will be used to examine patterns of SSD in Water Snakes (both intra- and interspecific). As such, multiple populations of multiple species are necessary. I am trying to get the maximum geographic coverage possible for these species. Necessary data include: species, sex, SVL and/or mass, head length, head width, locality represented by data (at least county and state), citation (if published data). If you are willing to provide published (or unpublished) data or have questions, please contact me at
gifford@biology2.wustl.edu
Thank you for your assistance.
Matthew E. Gifford
PhD Candidate
Campus Box 1137
Department of Biology
Washington University
St. Louis, Missouri 63130
(314) 935-5302 (office)
Pituophis Phylogeography
Wednesday, March 25, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 166
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
25 March 2009
COMPARATIVE PHYLOGEOGRAPHY OF THE EASTERN PINE SNAKE
We are using molecular markers to study the phylogeography of the Eastern Pine Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus), with special reference to potential restoration sites and other conservation issues for this species in the northeastern portion of its range. As such, we seek tissue samples (including shed skins) from all states within the distribution of the Eastern Pine Snake. Samples must be legally collected and come with locality and collector information, and we will acknowledge all contributors in our published reports. If you have available tissue samples that meet those requirements, please contact us for shipping information:
Michael Grundler
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Corson Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853-2701
mcg28@cornell.edu
Harry W. Greene
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Corson Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853-2701
hwg5@cornell.edu
607-254-4265
Plestiodon Procurement
Friday, June 09, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 85
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
9 June 2006
I am studying skinks of the Plestiodon (Eumeces) laticeps group and need to acquire a few specimens (5 males, 5 females) each of P. obsoletus and P. septentrionalis to study in the lab. If anyone is doing work (with appropriate permits) within the range of these lizards and has additional specimens available, I would much appreciate hearing from them. I would be happy to pay for shipping. Thank you
Charles M. Watson
Doctoral Candidate
The University of Texas at Arlington
cwatson@uta.eduPlethodon Paratype Pursuit
Wednesday, December 03, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 155
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
3 December 2008
PLETHODON PARATYPE PURSUIT
I am trying to determine the disposition of C. S. Brimley's personal collection of herpetological specimens, more specifically with regard to the paratypes of Plethodon clemsonae. Two of the paratypes (CSB 7763 & Clemson College 69) have been found at the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
The third specimen (CSB 7762) was kept in Brimely's personal collection, as mentioned by Brimley (1927). A check of the North Carolina State Museum in Raleigh did not turn up this paratype. If anyone has information about CSB 7762, I would much appreciate hearing from them.
Thank you.
Richard Montanucci
Clemson University
rrmnt@clemson.eduPseudacris Data Needed
Thursday, October 21, 2004: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 12
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
21 October 2004
Pseudacris Locality Information Needed
I am trying to locate areas in the southeastern U.S. where the Upland Chorus Frog (Pseudacris feriarum) and the Southern Chorus Frog (Pseudacris nigrita) can be found calling sympatrically. Areas where they call in the same ponds would be best, but otherwise, areas where they overlap geographically are very useful also. I have already located and worked in sympatric populations in Florida, southwestern Georgia, and Virginia. I need help finding sympatric populations in South Carolina, North Carolina, and eastern Georgia. If you are willing to go through your field notes to check for information on localities in these states, I would be extremely grateful for any leads. This information will help me to complete a study of geographic variation in advertisement calls in these two species. Your assistance would be most valuable. Please send any information to me at
chorusfrog@mail.utexas.edu
Thank you!
Emily C. Moriarty Lemmon, Ph.D. Candidate
Section of Integrative Biology (C0930)
Patterson Lab 141, 24th and Speedway
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas 78712-1064
office/lab phone: 512-471-5302
FAX: 512-471-3878
chorusfrog@mail.utexas.edu
Pseudacris Decline Data
Saturday, July 22, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 89
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
22 July 2006
PSEUDACRIS DECLINE DATA DESIRED
I'm gathering information about Chorus Frog (Pseudacris) declines across the North American continent as part of a project with Emily Moriarty-Lemmon, Alan Lemmon, and David Cannatella (University of Texas-Austin). I am interested in when, where, and why (if possible) the declines occurred, but where is most important component.
I would be interested in hearing from state or provincial herpetologists as to the conservation status of all their species of Pseudacris (common, threatened, endangered, etc.). I already have information on this species for Pennsylvania, but would be most interested in data (published or unpublished) from other states and provinces.
I can be contacted at:
Joseph T. Collins
State Herpetologist
Kansas Biological Survey
The University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas 66047
jcollins@ku.edu
Pseudacris Microsatellites
Monday, November 01, 2004: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 14
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
1 November 2004
Pseudacris Microsatellites
I am interested in contacting anyone who is developing (or knows of the development) of microsatellite primers for frogs of the genus Pseudacris. I am working on Pseudacris maculata population genetics in Yellowstone National Park. I am looking for microsatellite loci that are available (or soon to be available) for this or closely related species. I have found the Call 1998 reference which contains Pseudacris (Hyla) regilla primers, but have found no additional published microsatellite loci. My goal is to have a total of 15 microsatellites for the project, so I would be very interested in exchanging primer sets if I end up pulling some of my own or making other arrangements for collaboration. If anyone can assist me in this, please contact me at
Melanie Murphy
PhD Candidate
School of Biological Sciences
Washington State University
Pullman, Washington 99164
(509) 335-8015
mamurphy@wsu.eduPyromelana Pursuit Posted
Monday, April 05, 2010: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
5 April 2009
SONORAN MOUNTAIN KINGSNAKE SURVEY SET
Great Basin National Park and the Nevada Department of Wildlife will be hosting the fifth annual Sonoran Mountain Kingsnake (Lampropeltis pyromelana) survey from 24 May to 31 May 2010. During these surveys, we've accumulated an impressive amount of information about these secretive and rare snakes in the Great Basin and much of this is due to directly to the efforts of talented and dedicated volunteers.
Contact me for additional information if you think you might like to participate.
Bryan Hamilton - Wildlife Biologist
100 Great Basin National Park
Baker, Nevada 89311
(775) 234-7331 ext. 255
(775) 293-2518 (cell)
(775) 234-7210 (fax)
bryan_hamilton@nps.gov
Rana Research Request
Tuesday, October 04, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 60
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
4 October 2005
Frog Data Desired
I would like to contact herpetologists involved in size-assessment of amphibian populations of species that are of commercial interest. For example, in the U.S. specimens of the Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) are harvested in order to obtain the legs, which are sold on the commercial market (for consumption in restaurants).
We are requesting information because, in the Danube Delta of Romania, there have been requests submitted by various commercial firms for a license for frog-leg exploitation. Before issuing a permit to them, we feel we must establish a quota for existing frog populations, which might then put limits on the number to be harvested for the commercial market.
To set a quota, we are trying to find out any rsearch details or results that focused both on assessments of numbers of frogs in a given population and on establishment of numbers of frogs that might be removed from said population without long term damage to the a species.
Anyone involved in such research and willing to provide reprints or research results, please contact me at:
Zsolt TÖRÖK
Danube Delta National Institute
165, Babadag Street
Tulcea 820112
Tulcea County, Romania
(+04) 0240 524546, 534548, 524550
Fax (+04) 0240 533547
torok@indd.tim.ro
Regina Request
Thursday, July 31, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 145
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
31 July 2008
QUEEN SNAKE TISSUE SAMPLES SOUGHT
The Harper Lab at Hendrix College (Conway, Arkansas) is working on a DNA-based project to analyze the Queen Snake (Regina septemvittata) and we are looking for tissue samples from throughout the range of this species. We are starting with a number of samples from the disjunct population in the interior highlands of Arkansas and want to analyze that group in comparison with populations within the main part of this species distribution.
Samples can take the form of shed skin, bone, scale clippings, tail clippings (in ethanol), muscle or liver samples (in ethanol or frozen), or entire dead snakes (frozen). We are not set up to work on tissue that has been fixed in formalin, so we are not interested in those type of samples at this time.
If you have or know of any tissue samples that you would be willing to donate for our project, please contact me to discuss what you have available and how to ship it. We are willing to cover the cost of shipping. All samples need to be from legally collected specimens and we need to know date and location of collection.
Thanks to all in advance for help with this project.
George R. Harper
Assistant Professor
Department of Biology
Hendrix College
1600 Washington Avenue
Conway, Arkansas 72032-3080
501-450-1359 Office
501-450-4547 Fax
harper@hendrix.edu
Rhyacotriton Remains
Monday, March 30, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 167
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
30 March 2009
RHYACOTRITON REMAINS REQUESTED
We are trying to complete a synoptic skeletal collection of North American salamanders, at least at the family level. The only family we currently do not have represented in our holdings is Rhyacotritonidae. We wish to obtain a few specimens (must be adults) of Rhyacotriton. Since we want skeletons (which we can prepare here), the specimens to not have to be fluid perfect and we don't even have to have exact collection data. Perhaps there are folks out there, for example, doing drift fence studies in Rhyacotriton territory with some on-site mortality. We certainly would pay any shipping involved with getting a few deceased specimens.
Dennis Parmley
Paleoherpetology Lab
Georgia College & State University
dennis.parmley@gcsu.edu
(478) 445-0817
Sceloporus Search
Wednesday, October 25, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 101
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
25 October 2006
SCELOPORUS SEARCH FOR STUART
I am seeking citations and (if available) reprints of journal articles, books and book chapters, masters theses, doctoral dissertations, symposium proceedings, papers in press, etc. that concern Yarrow's Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus jarrovii) for a comprehensive literature review I am preparing for this species. Please send any information to my regular mail or email address below. Thanks in advance.
James N. Stuart
NMDGF-CSD
P. O. Box 25112
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-5112
jnstuart61@yahoo.com
Spea Samples Sought
Tuesday, October 31, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 102
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
31 October 2006
SEEKING SPADEFOOT SAMPLES
I seek tissue samples from the Plains Spadefoot (Spea bombifrons) for use in a phylogeographic study. I am especially interested in collections from central New Mexico and southern Texas. Any samples from Nebraska northward would also be of interest. I can only use tissues that have been either frozen or preserved in 95% ethanol.
If anyone has samples of Spea bombifrons from these areas (or anywhere else) and is willing to share, please contact me at
arice@email.unc.edu
or at the address below to arrange shipping.
Please do not collect specimens from any location unless you have a scientific collecting permit; please also note that state hunting licenses cannot be used to collect scientific specimens in a number of states; specimens taken with a hunting license generally are for personal use only and such specimens are not transferable to any entity, scientific or otherwise. Check your state regulations carefully before collecting specimens.
Thank you for your help.
Amber Rice
Graduate Student
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Biology Department
CB 3280 Coker Hall
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599
(919) 962-3595
http://www.unc.edu/~arice/
Storeria Shed Stash Search
Friday, August 25, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 94
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
25 August 2006
I am writing a natural history note regarding site fidelity during ecdysis in the Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi). If anyone is aware of any other instances of site fidelity during ecdysis in snakes in general or the Brown Snake in particular, I would very much appreciate a reprint or reference. Any personal observations would be greatly appreciated and acknowledged if used with the article. Thank you in advance.
Brian S. Gray
1217 Clifton Drive
Erie, Pennsylvania 16505-5215
(814) 453-4679
no email address available
Terrapene Tissue Travels
Thursday, April 02, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 168
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
2 April 2009
TERRAPENE TISSUE TRAVELS
With the field season fast approaching, Jim Koukl and I at the University of Texas at Tyler once again solicit any party interested in the conservation of North American Box Turtles (Terrapene spp.) to collect tissue samples from throughout their range for us. The recent economy and a freeze on travel by the University of Texas system precludes us from traveling extensively at this time, which is why we need the help of willing volunteers. We are interested in tissue samples from any of the various species and subspecies of the genus Terrapene found in North America. We are able to obtain DNA from toe nails, toes, tail clips, shell shavings, blood, livers, and any type of muscle tissue. Toe nail clips are probably the easiest to collect and the least invasive, because they grow back. We are interested in samples from both live and dead turtles.Pets (if you have some idea from where they were collected) and roadkill will work fine. We are interested in samples from animals preserved in ethanol and formalin. If you are interested in helping, please let me know and I can provide you with tissue sample collection kits, more details, and answers to any other questions you may have. Thank you.
John S. Placyk, Jr.
Assistant Professor
Department of Biology
University of Texas at Tyler
3900 University Boulevard
Tyler, Texas 75799
903-566-7147
John_Placyk@uttyler.edu
The Collins Award for 1998
Sunday, November 08, 1998: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
8 November 1998
First Collins Award goes to KU Medical Center Student
At the Saturday night (7 November) banquet of the Silver Anniversary Meeting of the Kansas Herpetological Society, Travis W. Taggart, first-year doctoral student at the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, was chosen as the first recipient of the Suzanne L. & Joseph T. Collins Award for Excellence in Kansas Herpetology. Taggart received his undergraduate degree in Kansas at Fort Hays State University, a Masters Degree from Southeast Louisiana State University in Hammond, and is currently enrolled at the KU Medical Center in pursuit of a doctoral degree in molecular biology. At the banquet, James L. Knight, formerly of Salina and now curator at the South Carolina State Museum, representing The Center for North American Amphibians and Reptiles, joined KHS President John Lokke in presenting Taggart with a commemorative plaque and a check for $1000.00, to the applause of the 150 meeting participants from across the state and nation. The Collins Award is the largest biological award given annually in the state of Kansas, and one of the largest annual presentations made nationally to further research on amphibians, turtles, and reptiles.
Recipients of The Collins Award, established in the early 1990s with an endowment from Western Resources, are selected from among those scientific talks and papers about Kansas amphibians, turtles, and reptiles that were given or published in the preceding two years (1996 and 1997). The award-winning paper published by Taggart, Status of Bufo debilis (Anura: Bufonidae) in Kansas, was sponsored by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, and provided extremely valuable information about the natural history and status of the Green Toad (Bufo debilis), a threatened species of amphibian in Kansas.
The Collins Award for 1999
Monday, November 08, 1999: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
7 November 1999
The Collins Award goes to Emporia State University Researcher
At the Saturday night social and auction of the twenty-sixth annual meeting of the Kansas Herpetological Society at Pratt County Community College in Pratt on November 6th, Dr. Gregory Sievert, Division of Biological Sciences at Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas, was chosen as the recipient of The Suzanne L. & Joseph T. Collins Award for Excellence in Kansas Herpetology. Sievert is the author of numerous scientific articles, and with his wife, Dr. Lynnette Sievert at ESU, recently publish a booklet, "A Field Guide to Reptiles of Oklahoma," featuring his color photography. At the banquet, Robert Powell, Professor of Biology at Avila College in Kansas City, Missouri, and representing The Center for North American Amphibians and Reptiles, joined KHS President Chris Mammoliti in presenting Sievert with a commemorative certificate and a check for $1000.00, to the applause of the 75 meeting participants from Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska. The Collins Award is the largest biological award given annually in the state of Kansas, and the largest annual presentation made nationally to further research on and photography of amphibians and reptiles.
The Collins Award for 2000
Saturday, October 22, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
22 October 2000
Third Annual Collins Award goes to Texas Researcher
The Kansas Herpetological Society held its 27th Annual Meeting at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday and Sunday. The meeting was co-hosted by the Missouri Herpetological Association and the Kansas City Herpetological Society. Over 125 participants attended scientific paper sessions to listen to 36 talks on amphibians, turtles, and reptiles by scientists and students from across the nation.
At the Saturday night festivities, Emily C. Moriarty, a graduate student at the University of Texas, Austin, was chosen as the third recipient of The Suzanne L. & Joseph T. Collins Award for Excellence in Kansas Herpetology. Moriarty is a former Lawrence, Kansas, resident, and recently graduated with honors from St. Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana. At the KHS Silver Anniversary Meeting in 1998, she presented a lecture on the molecular systematics of Western Chorus Frogs in Kansas, and this presentation was judged by the society as the best research on Kansas amphibians, turtles, and reptiles during the preceding two years (1998 and 1999). For her work, Ms. Moriarty was given a plaque and a check for $1000.00 by Robert Powell and Travis W. Taggart, Fort Hays State University and KHS Editor. The Collins Award is the largest biological award given annually in the state of Kansas, and the largest annual presentation made nationally to further research on (even-numbered years) or photography of (odd-numbered years) amphibians, turtles, and reptiles.
The Collins Award for 2001
Thursday, November 08, 2001: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
8 November 2001
Herpetological Society Recognizes Research and Art
The Kansas Herpetological Society held its 28th Annual Meeting at Topeka Collegiate School in Topeka, Kansas, on Saturday and Sunday, November 3-4, 2001. Over 100 participants attended scientific paper sessions to listen to 28 talks on amphibians, turtles, and reptiles by scientists and students from across the nation. Featured speaker was Dr. Walter Meshaka, curator of zoology at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. Dr. Meshaka spoke about the Cuban Treefrog, a species that has invaded Florida, spread across much of the state, and has impacted amphibians native to the sunshine state.
At the Saturday night barbecue and festivities, Daniel D. Fogell, instructor at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, was chosen as the fourth recipient of The Suzanne L. & Joseph T. Collins Award for Excellence in Kansas Herpetology. Fogell, a longtime KHS member, had his image of a Copperhead selected as the best photograph of a native Kansas amphibian, turtle, or reptile. For his beautiful image, Dan Fogell was given a commemorative certificate and a check for $1000.00 by Kelly J. Irwin, past president of the KHS and a member of the Board of Directors of The Center for North American Herpetology. The Collins Award, established in the early 1990s with an endowment from Western Resources, Topeka, is the largest biological award given annually in the state of Kansas, and the largest annual presentation made nationally to further research on (even-numbered years) or photography of (odd-numbered years) amphibians, turtles, and reptiles.
The Collins Award for 2002
Sunday, November 03, 2002: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
3 November 2002
Herpetological Society Recognizes KSU Research
The Kansas Herpetological Society held its 29th Annual Meeting at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, on Saturday and Sunday, November 2-3, 2002. Over 100 participants attended scientific paper sessions to listen to 28 talks on amphibians, turtles, and reptiles by scientists and students from across the nation. Keynote speaker was Dr. Frank T. Burbrink, professor at the College of Staten Island, Long Island, New York. Dr. Burbrink spoke about the diversity of North American snakes.
At the Saturday night auction and social, John Cavitt, professor of biology at Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, was chosen as the fifth recipient of The Suzanne L. & Joseph T. Collins Award for Excellence in Kansas Herpetology. Cavitt, a recent doctoral graduate at Kansas State University, Manhattan, had his paper, Fire and a Tallgrass Prairie Reptile Community: Effects on Relative Abundance and Seasonal Activity, chosen as the best scientific title published during the years 2000 and 2001 on native Kansas amphibians, turtles, and/or reptiles. For his published research, John Cavitt was given a commemorative plaque and a check for $1000.00 by Robert Powell, past president of the KHS and a member of the Board of Directors of The Center for North American Herpetology. The Collins Award, established in 1998 with an endowment from Westar Energy, Topeka, is the largest biological award given annually in the state of Kansas, and the largest annual award made nationally to further research on (even-numbered years) or photography (odd-numbered years) of amphibians, turtles, and reptiles.
The Collins Award for 2003
Sunday, November 09, 2003: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
SOCIETY RECOGNIZES ART AND RESEARCH
The Kansas Herpetological Society held its 30th Annual Meeting at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas, on Saturday and Sunday, November 8-9, 2003. Over 90 participants attended scientific paper sessions to listen to 21 talks on amphibians, turtles, and reptiles by scientists and students from across the nation. Featured speaker was Steven Beaupre, professor at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Dr. Beaupre spoke about Timber Rattlesnakes in Arkansas.
At the Saturday night auction and social, Larry Miller, Northern Hills Junior High School, Topeka, was chosen as the sixth recipient of The Suzanne L. & Joseph T. Collins Award for Excellence in Kansas Herpetology. Miller, a longtime KHS member, had his image of an Eastern Racer at Castle Rock selected as the best photograph of a native Kansas amphibian, turtle, or reptile. For his beautiful image, Miller was given a commemorative certificate and a check for $1000.00 by Dan Fogell, University of Nebraska at Omaha and a previous recipient of the award in 2001. The Collins Award, established in the early 1990s with an endowment from Westar Energy, Topeka, is the largest biological award given annually in the state of Kansas, and the largest annual presentation made nationally to further research on (even-numbered years) or photography of (odd-numbered years) amphibians, turtles, and reptiles.The Collins Award for 2004
Monday, November 08, 2004: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
8 November 2004
Society Recognizes Researcher from Bethel College
The Kansas Herpetological Society held its 31st Annual Meeting at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, on Saturday and Sunday, November 6-7, 2004. Approximately 110 participants attended scientific paper sessions to listen to 28 talks on amphibians, turtles, and reptiles by scientists and students from across the nation. Featured speaker was Alicia Mathis, professor at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield. Dr. Mathis spoke about salamander conservation.
Beginning the Saturday night auction and social, Dwight R. Platt, Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas, was presented as the seventh recipient of The Suzanne L. & Joseph T. Collins Award for Excellence in Kansas Herpetology. Dr. Platt, a Distinguished Life Member of the Society, had his article, Lizards and Snakes (Order Squamata) of Harvey County, Kansas selected as the best published paper on native Kansas amphibians, turtles, or reptiles during the years 2002 or 2003. For his published research, Dr. Platt was given a commemorative plaque and a check for $1000.00 by Dr. Eva Horne (KHS President) and Dr. Walter Meshaka (State Museum of Pennsylvania and a Board Member of The Center for North American Herpetology, which co-sponsors the award). The Collins Award, established in the 1997 with an initial endowment from Westar Energy, Topeka, is the largest biological award given annually in the state of Kansas, and the largest annual presentation made nationally to further research on and photography of amphibians, turtles, and reptiles.
The Collins Award for 2005
Monday, November 07, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
Kansas Herpetological Society
7 November 2005
SOCIETY RECOGNIZES RESEARCH AND ART
Topeka Teacher Receives The Collins Award
The Kansas Herpetological Society held its 32nd Annual Meeting at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, on Saturday and Sunday, November 4-6, 2005. Over 125 participants attended scientific paper sessions to listen to 31 talks on amphibians, turtles, and reptiles by scientists and students from across the nation. Featured speaker was Stanley Trauth, professor at the Arkansas State University. Dr. Trauth spoke about amphibians, turtles, reptiles, and crocodilians in Arkansas.
At the Saturday night auction and social, Larry L. Miller, Northern Hills Junior high School, Topeka, was chosen as the eighth recipient of "The Suzanne L. & Joseph T. Collins Award for Excellence in Kansas Herpetology." Miller, a longtime KHS member, had his image of a Common Snapping Turtle selected as the best photograph of a native Kansas amphibian, turtle, or reptile. For his beautiful image, Miller was given a commemorative certificate and a check for $1000.00 by David Oldham, KHS president. "The Collins Award," established in 1998 with an endowment from Westar Energy, Topeka, is the largest biological award given annually in the state of Kansas, and the largest annual presentation made nationally to further research on (even-numbered years) or photography of (odd-numbered years) amphibians, turtles, and reptiles. As provided for in the conditions of "The Collins Award," at next year’s meeting of the KHS in Hays, Kansas, the recipient will be chosen for the best scientific paper published or presentation made during 2004 and 2005 on a native Kansas amphibian, turtle or reptile.
In 2006, the Society will meet at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas.
The Collins Award for 2006
Sunday, November 05, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
Kansas Herpetological Society
5 November 2006
SOCIETY RECOGNIZES RESEARCH
The Kansas Herpetological Society held its 33rd Annual Meeting at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, on Saturday and Sunday, November 4-5, 2006. Over 100 participants attended scientific paper sessions to listen to 25 talks on amphibians, turtles, and reptiles by scientists and students from across the nation. Featured speakers were James L. Knight, curator of the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, and Jerry D. Johnson, professor of biology at the University of Texas-El Paso. Both grew up in Salina, Kansas.
During its business meeting, the KHS members chose Dan Carpenter of Derby, Kansas, as president-elect; Eric Kessler (Blue Valley North High School, Overland Park) was re-elected as treasurer, and Mary Kate Baldwin (Topeka Collegiate School) was re-elected as secretary. Ginny Weatherman (University of Kansas, Lawrence) currently is president-elect and takes office as president on January 1st, 2007. Curtis J. Schmidt (Fort Hays State University) served as president during 2006 and hosted the meeting in Hays this year. He will continue on the KHS Executive Council as past-president during 2007.
During the KHS banquet on Saturday evening, the Society presented a scholarship and a grant. The first was to David Bender, a student at Fort Hays State University, as the recipient of the 2006 Howard K. Gloyd/Edward H. Taylor Scholarship for $125.00, honoring the memory of two great biologists with strong ties to Kansas. The 2006 Alan H. Kamb Grant for Research on Kansas Snakes were made to George R. Pisani, Kansas Biological Survey, Lawrence. The Kamb Grant was for $125.00, and honors the memory of longtime KHS member Al Kamb of Lawrence, Kansas.
Dr. Eugene D. Fleharty was installed as the eighth Distinguished Life Member of the Kansas Herpetological Society. Dr. Fleharty is Emeritus Curator of Herpetology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort Hays State University.
Also at the Saturday night banquet, Henry S. Fitch, University of Kansas, Lawrence, was recognized as the ninth recipient of "The Suzanne L. & Joseph T. Collins Award for Excellence in Kansas Herpetology." Dr. Fitch, a Distinguished Life Member of the Society, had his article, "A field study of the Timber Rattlesnake in Leavenworth County, Kansas" (co-authored with George R. Pisani, Harry W. Greene, Alice F. Echelle, & Michael Zerwekh) selected as the best published paper on native Kansas amphibians, turtles, or reptiles during the years 2004 or 2005. For his published research, Dr. Fitch was given a commemorative memento and a check for $1,000.00 by Curtis J. Schmidt (KHS President). "The Collins Award," established in the 1997 with an initial endowment from Westar Energy, Topeka, is the largest biological award given annually in the state of Kansas, and the largest annual presentation made nationally to further research on and photography of amphibians, turtles, and reptiles.
After the banquet, the KHS auction was held and Joe Collins raised $2,300.00 for the Society's coffers, selling completely worthless stuff for large sums and absolutely exquisite items for well under their value. So it goes.
In 2007, the Society will meet at the Topeka Zoo in Topeka, Kansas.
For verification and further details about this meeting, presentations, and other activities, contact Joe Collins (785) 393-4757.
The Collins Award for 2007
Tuesday, November 06, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
7 November 2007
SOCIETY RECOGNIZES PHOTOGRAPHIC EXCELLENCE
The Kansas Herpetological Society held its 34th Annual Meeting at the Topeka Zoo in Topeka, Kansas, on Saturday and Sunday, November 2-4, 2007. Over 140 participants attended scientific paper sessions to listen to 30 talks on amphibians, turtles, and reptiles by scientists and students from across the nation. Featured speakers were Dr. Emily Moriarty Lemmon, University of Texas at Austin (and former resident of Lawrence, Kansas), and Jonathan Campbell, professor of biology at the University of Texas-Arlington (and a graduate of the University of Kansas).
During its business meeting, the KHS members chose Dan Johnson of Overland Park, Kansas, as president-elect; Eric Kessler (Blue Valley North High School, Overland Park) was re-elected as treasurer, and Mary Kate Baldwin (Topeka Collegiate School) was re-elected as secretary. Dan Carpenter (Friends University, Wichita) currently is president-elect and takes office as president on January 1st, 2008. Ginny Weatherman (University of Kansas, Lawrence) served as president during 2007 and hosted the meeting in Topeka this year. She will continue on the KHS Executive Council as past-president during 2008.
Prior to the KHS auction and social on Saturday evening, KHS President (and KU student) Ginny Weatherman presented a scholarship and a grant. The first was to Melissa Boetig, a student at Washburn University in Topeka, recipient of the 2007 Howard K. Gloyd/Edward H. Taylor Scholarship for $100.00, honoring the memory of two great biologists with strong ties to Kansas. The 2007 Alan H. Kamb Grant for Research on Kansas Snakes was made to Page Klug, Kansas State University, Manhattan. The Kamb Grant was for $150.00, and honors the memory of longtime KHS member Al Kamb of Lawrence, Kansas.
George R. Pisani of the Kansas Biological Survey at the University of Kansas was introduced by Joseph T. Collins as the ninth Distinguished Life Member of the Kansas Herpetological Society. George received a commemorative plaque recognizing his lifetime research accomplishments in herpetology.
Also prior to the Saturday night auction and social, J. Daren Riedle, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, was chosen as the tenth recipient of "The Suzanne L. & Joseph T. Collins Award for Excellence in Kansas Herpetology." Daren, a long time KHS member, had his image of a Common Map Turtle selected as the best photograph of a native Kansas amphibian, turtle, or reptile. For his beautiful image, Daren was given a commemorative certificate and a check for $1000.00 by Daniel D. Fogell, KHS Awards Committee Chairperson. "The Collins Award," established in 1998 with an endowment from Westar Energy, Topeka, is the largest biological award given annually in the state of Kansas, and the largest annual presentation made nationally to further research on (even-numbered years) or photography of (odd-numbered years) amphibians, turtles, and reptiles. As provided for in the conditions of "The Collins Award," at next year’s meeting of the KHS in Wichita, Kansas, the recipient will be chosen for the best scientific paper published or presentation made during 2006 and 2007 on a native Kansas amphibian, turtle or reptile.
At the KHS auction, Joe Collins raised $1,385.00 for the Society's coffers, selling completely worthless stuff for large sums and absolutely exquisite items for well under their value.
In 2008, the Society will meet at Friends University, Wichita.
The Collins Award for 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
Kansas Herpetological Society
14 November 2008
THE COLLINS AWARD FOR 2008
The Kansas Herpetological Society held its 35th Annual Meeting at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, on Saturday and Sunday, November 8-9, 2008. Over 100 participants attended scientific paper sessions to listen to 26 talks on amphibians, turtles, and reptiles by scientists and students from across the nation. Featured speaker was Dr. Ronald Bonett, professor of biology at the University of Tulsa. He spoke eloquently about cave-dwelling salamanders, creatures most of us rarely get to observe.
During its business meeting, the KHS members chose Kathy Ellis of Wakarusa, Kansas, as president-elect; Eric Kessler (Blue Valley North High School, Overland Park) was re-elected as treasurer, and Mary Kate Baldwin (Topeka Collegiate School) was re-elected as secretary. Dan Johnson (Overland Park, Kansas) currently is president-elect and takes office as president on January 1st, 2009. Dan Carpenter (Friends University) served as president during 2008 and hosted the meeting in Wichita this year. He will continue on the KHS Executive Council as past-president during 2009.
During the KHS Awards Ceremony on Saturday evening, the Society presented a scholarship and a grant. The first was to Ashley Inslee, a student at Fort Hays State University, as the recipient of the 2008 Howard K. Gloyd/Edward H. Taylor Scholarship for $275.00, honoring the memory of two great biologists with strong ties to Kansas. The 2008 Alan H. Kamb Grant for Research on Kansas Snakes was made to Page Klug, a student at Kansas State University. The Kamb Grant was for $300.00, and honors the memory of longtime KHS member Al Kamb of Lawrence, Kansas.
Also at the Saturday night ceremony, Dustin J. Wilgers, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, was recognized as the eleventh recipient of "The Suzanne L. & Joseph T. Collins Award for Excellence in Kansas Herpetology." Dustin, a long-time member of the Society, had his article, "Effects of Different Burn Regimes on Tallgrass Prairie Herpetofaunal Species Diversity and Community Composition in the Flint Hills, Kansas" (co-authored with Eva A. Horne) selected as the best published paper on native Kansas amphibians, turtles, or reptiles during the years 2006 or 2007. For his published research, Dustin was given a commemorative plaque and a check for $1,000.00 by Daniel Fogell (KHS Awards Committee Chairperson). "The Collins Award," established in the 1997 with an initial endowment from Westar Energy, Topeka, is the largest biological award given annually in the state of Kansas, and the largest annual presentation made nationally to further research on amphibians, turtles, and reptiles.
After the ceremony, the KHS auction was held and Joe Collins, Dan Fogell and Chad Whitney raised $1,470.00 for the Society's coffers, selling completely worthless stuff for large sums and absolutely exquisite items for well under their value.
At the conclusion of the KHS annual meeting on Sunday, 9 November, the first annual George Toland Award for the best student paper presented at this gathering was given to Steve D. Grant, West Texas A&M University, Canyon. For his talk, entitled "Spatial Ecology of Ornate Box Turtles in a Sand-sage Prairie Ecosystem," Steve received a commemorative memento and a check for $100.00.
In 2009, the Society will meet in or near Overland Park in northeastern Kansas.
The Collins Award for 2009
Monday, November 09, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
9 November 2009
THE COLLINS AWARD FOR 2009
The Kansas Herpetological Society held its 36th Annual Meeting at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas, on Saturday and Sunday, November 7-8, 2009. Over 135 participants attended scientific paper sessions to listen to 28 talks on amphibians, reptiles, and turtles by scientists and students from across the nation. Researchers from the following states gave papers: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Keynote speaker was DR. R. ALEXANDER PYRON, post-doctoral researcher at Stony Brook University in New York. Dr. Pyron opened the Saturday morning session and spoke about Kingsnakes; his excellent talk was enthusiastically received.
NEW OFFICERS
During its Saturday afternoon business meeting, the KHS members chose DEREK SCHMIDT (Overbrook, Kansas) as president-elect; Eric Kessler (Blue Valley North High School, Overland Park) was re-elected as treasurer, and Mary Kate Baldwin (Topeka Collegiate School) was re-elected as secretary. Kathy Ellis (Wakarusa) currently is president-elect and takes office as president on January 1st, 2010. Dan Johnson (Overland Park) served as president during 2009 and hosted the meeting in Olathe this year. He will continue on the KHS Executive Council as past-president during 2010.
AWARDS CEREMONY
At the Society Awards Ceremony, held Saturday evening at the Olathe Hampton Inn, the KHS presented three awards, one each for photography, research, and scholarship, and designated a new Distinguished Life Member. The Saturday night awards were:
THE COLLINS AWARD
PAUL RODFRIGUEZ, University of Nebraska at Omaha, was chosen as the twelfth recipient of "The Suzanne L. & Joseph T. Collins Award for Excellence in Kansas Herpetology." Paul, a long time KHS member, had his image of a Copperhead selected as the best photograph of a native Kansas amphibian, turtle, or reptile. For his stunning image, Paul was given a commemorative certificate and a check for $1000.00. "The Collins Award," established in 1998 with an initial contribution from Westar Energy, Topeka, is the largest biological award given annually in the state of Kansas, and the largest annual presentation made nationally to further research on or photography of amphibians, turtles, and reptiles.
KHS DISTINGUISHED LIFE MEMBER
At the Saturday night KHS Awards Ceremony, Joseph T. Collins, by the authority of the KHS Executive Council, proclaimed and invested his longtime friend, LARRY L. MILLER of Wakarusa, Kansas, as the tenth KHS DISTINGUISHED LIFE MEMBER. For his nearly 70 herpetological publications spanning 1976 to 2009, for his service to KHS over three decades as the Society’s unofficial photographer, and for his successful campaign to have the Ornate Box Turtle declared a state symbol by the Kansas Legislature in 1986, Larry received a commemorative plaque to the enthusiastic applause of the audience.
THE GLOYD-TAYLOR SCHOLARSHIP
J. KENT DANIEL, a student at PITTSBURG STATE UNIVERSITY, received the 2009 "Howard K. Gloyd/Edward H. Taylor Scholarship" for $300.00. The award honors the memory of two world-renown biologists with strong ties to Kansas. Gloyd was born in Ottawa, Kansas, graduated from Ottawa University, received a doctorate from the University of Michigan, and retired as a professor of zoology from the University of Arizona, Tucson. Taylor was a longtime professor of zoology at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, whose research and scientific writings spanned the globe. Both were Distinguished Life Members of the KHS.
THE ALAN H. KAMB GRANT
The 2009 "Alan H. Kamb Grant for Research on Kansas Snakes" was made to MINDY WALKER, professor of biology at ROCKHURST UNIVERSITY. The Kamb Grant was for $300.00, and honors the memory of longtime KHS member Al Kamb of Lawrence, Kansas, whose interests and enthusiasms for fieldwork on the serpents of the Sunflower State were legend.
THE TOLAND AWARD
On Sunday at the noon conclusion of the KHS meeting, EMILIE BLEVINS from Kansas State University was presented with the second GEORGE TOLAND AWARD for the best student paper given at the gathering. Emilie received a commemorative certificate and a check for $200.00 from Dan Johnson (KHS President) and assembled members of the George Toland family. This award was established to honor the memory and career of George Toland, a Salina high school biology teacher, who had a strong interest in herpetology, an interest that he used to mentor so many students.
Uma Needed
Sunday, July 18, 2004: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 3
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
18 July 2004
ATTENTION UMA RESEARCHERS
For a study of chemosensory responses to food in omnivorous Uma, I need access to between 15 and 20 individuals of any Uma species. If anyone is working with these animals currently or has legal access to them, please contact Bill Cooper at
cooperw.ipfw.edu
about a possible collaboration.
CNAH is pleased to assist herpetologists in their scientific endeavors involving the North American herpetofauna.
Uma User Request
Wednesday, February 22, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 73
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
22 February 2006
WANTED: Live Coachella Valley Fringe-toed Lizards
If you are currently studying Uma inornata and have permit-covered living specimens or have a permit that allows them to be collected, please contact me about the possibility of a chemosensory study. Although insectivorous phrynosomatid lizards are generally ambush foragers, omnivory has evolved in the genus Uma, and because plants may make up a bigger proportion of the diet in Uma inornata than in other members of the genus, the presence or absence and strength of food chemical discrimination in this species are of great theoretical interest to me.
William E. Cooper
Department of Biology
Indiana University-Purdue University
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46805
cooperw@ipfw.edu
(260) 481-6311
(260) 481-6087 fax
11th Running of the Lizards
Saturday, September 13, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
13 September 2008
THE ELEVENTH ANNUAL RUNNING OF THE LIZARDS
. . . from the Christian Science Monitor, 9 September 2008
by David Conrads
(913) 901-0205
Keith Arkenberg, a college senior, has honed his own technique. When trying to catch a lizard, he doesn't sneak up behind it or flash a butterfly net. He just gets down in front of it, stares it in the eye, and snatches it before it darts off.
Which is why Arkenberg, a tall, slender biology major with a brown ponytail, is hunched down in an alley near an auto-parts store here in Topeka, Kansas, across from Dimple Donuts. He is stalking the elusive Italian Wall Lizard. His technique proves triumphant: Over the course of two hours on a sun-dappled day, he snares four of the slithery creatures. "I used to catch a lot of frogs to feed my snakes when I was younger," says Arkenberg. "It's just a matter of getting down in front of them and grabbing them before they take off."
The point, in the end, may not be how he actually catches them. It may be why anyone who is pursuing a college degree, and thus presumably in his right mind, would be chasing lizards on an afternoon in Topeka, Kansas, anyway. In fact, some 30 adults and children are gathered to hunt the four-inch reptiles. They are part of an annual ritual to collect Italian Wall Lizards in the name of science and a little fun.
Pamplona, Spain, has its running of the bulls. Anchorage, Alaska, its running of the reindeer. San Juan Capistrano, California, its swallows. Here in Topeka, it's the Running of the Lizards. For 11 years, college students and a few local residents have been trying to collect and count as many lizards as they can as part of an informal census of the reptiles and to engage in the outdoors.
It isn't a big civic event, really. It's more a part of the career of Joe Collins, a herpetologist for the Kansas Biological Survey at the University of Kansas and an instructor of herpetology at Washburn University in Topeka. It may take a herpetology degree, in fact, to fully appreciate the joys of scampering after lizards in alleyways -- and to actually ambush one.
"Those who have done it before know what has to be done to catch these lizards," Collins told the gathered crowd before the hunt. "Those who haven't, learn just how fast little lizards can be. They really like to hide under the air conditioners at Kentucky Fried Chicken. It's their natural habitat."
_ _ _
The Italians apparently brought the Wall Lizard up right: It is a highly adaptable creature cloaked in a skin of bright colors suitable for a Milan fashion runway. The reptiles have Kelly green backs mottled with black and brown patterns. Turquoise spots dimple their sides.
The size of a large Tootsie Roll, the Italian Wall Lizard is found in various parts of Europe and is the most abundant lizard species in southern Italy. Its presence in Topeka, one of the few American cities with a sizeable colony, is rooted in a bit of serendipity and mystery.
Local experts trace its origins here back to a biological supply house, Quivira Specialties, that was operated by Dr. Charles Burt on SW 21st Street some 40 years ago. Professor Burt -- as he was known in the neighborhood (he received his doctorate in herpetology from the University of Michigan) -- imported a wide variety of reptiles, birds, insects, and other species and sold them to researchers and universities all over the country.
Perhaps it was inevitable, but some of the animals escaped, as captive animals are wont to do. Keith Coleman, who has attended many lizard runs over the years, grew up in a house next door to the supply store. He remembers occasionally seeing exotic birds and snakes and other non-native species in the neighborhood.
Legend has it that when Dr. Burt died, sometime in the 1960s, his widow let all the animals go. Most perished in the cold winter, but since southern Italy is roughly the same latitude as Kansas, the lizards survived, even thrived.
Now, 40 years later, it's estimated that tens of thousands of Italian Wall Lizards, also know as ruin lizards, have taken up residence in the southern section of the state's capital city.
As it turns out, two different lizards have adapted to urban Topeka, the other one being the Western Green Lacerta, which is all green and much larger then the Italian Wall Lizard. It is also far more scarce. The Green Lacertas are more arboreal, living primarily in bushes and low trees and are rarely seen and even more rarely caught. "If you get one of those, that's extra special," Collins tells the group, then adds with a audible wink, "If you're in my class, that's a really good grade."
Many of the gathered reptile hunters are, in fact, Collins's students. Others include former students, a coterie of amateur herpetologists, and interested citizens, among them lots of children, who seem to view the event as a cross between an Easter egg hunt and a reptilian petting zoo.
The primary objective of the event is pure enjoyment. But it also serves to give the students in Collins's class a tuneup before he takes them out on a longer field trip into the woods, where they'll have to wear boots and gloves, grapple with chiggers, and forgo ready access to doughnuts, fast food, and, if possible for this generation, Facebook.
Collins himself looks like a good fit to be a Marlin Perkins of the lizard world. He has a bald pate and a bushy white beard. He looks out from behind wire-rim glasses and smiles readily.
_ _ _
Collins starts the event in a parking lot at SW 21st Street and Gage Boulevard. It is a warm day with peekaboo sunshine – good but not perfect for catching lizards, which come out in the sun and heat. Wearing jeans and sturdy cowboy boots, Collins encourages the crowd to work in groups to better corner the wily creatures.
Then he leads them, Moses-like, across four lanes of traffic to the rear parking lots of several commercial buildings -- an auto-parts store, a dry cleaner, a gas station, an empty video game store. The group fans out over a two-block area, hunting in weeds and tall grass, under rocks and debris, behind dumpsters.
Three college sophomore biology majors work together and manage to catch four among them. Middle-school seventh-grader Jenna Brunkow has a good day, too, corralling two in her first event. Fourth-grader Shania Edmonds's catch is truly a joint effort: A lizard jumps on her back and one of the adults puts it in her bucket.
Others aren't so fortunate. Young Michael Cantrell decrees the whole thing "boring," as he and his brother go home with only a single lizard -- and that one caught by someone else. But Jacob Van Hoye, 12, is so excited by his multiple-lizard outing, he vows to return the next day after school.? (My own scientific conclusion, gleaned from two hours of close study and observation, echoes the common refrain about fishing: One's enjoyment of the Running of the Lizards is directly proportional to number of lizards one catches.)
By 2 pm, the lizard chasing is winding down. The lizard hunters head back across the street to their cars, many of them carrying jars, small plastic aquariums, and other containers holding their quarry. Collins estimates the participants caught more than 40 lizards and spotted at least 100. He plans to take a tiny blood sample from many of the 20 or so he caught and then release them into the "wilds" of urban Topeka. "Everyone had fun," he says of the day. "A lot of people got lizards to take home. The sale of crickets will go up. Life is good."
Abnormal Alligator Activity
Friday, July 07, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 87
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
7 July 2006
Abnormal Alligator Activity
I am researching American Alligator topics in Florida and I am looking for a herpetologist who studies alligator behavior. Specifically, I would like to contact anyone doing research on a possible correlation between American Alligator behavior and global warming. I hope to hear from someone on this topic and thank anyone in advance for taking the time to respond. My email is shown below.
Sakura Nakamura
Gazeta USA
sakura@gazetausa.com
Alabama Arrests
Tuesday, July 12, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
12 July 2005
Huntsville Times (Alabama)
Seven convicted on turtle poaching charges in federal investigation
Poachers nabbed in ongoing federal investigation
Six Alabama residents were convicted 28 June 2005 in Calhoun County [Alabama] on multiple counts of violating state laws regarding the possession or sale of protected non-game species related to an ongoing federal investigation into turtle poaching.
Aarion Tucker of Guntersville also was charged in the investigation and was convicted 5 July in Marshall County for five counts of the same violation. Tucker paid $500 in fines plus court costs and $500 restitution to the Alabama Wildlife Federation's Investigative Fund, according to information provided by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The undercover investigation has been ongoing for years and is believed to be centered in the Southeast, with illegal sales of turtles to restaurants and pet stores as far away as Asia and Europe. Dubbed "Operation Snapper," it involves numerous local and state law enforcement agencies working in conjunction with several state wildlife agencies and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Alabama Wildlife Federation's Investigative Fund is used to assist the state conservation department with covert operations and resource recovery.
In Calhoun County, James Robert Hall of Anniston was convicted on 19 counts and fined $1,900 as well as $500 restitution to the investigative fund. He also was sentenced to 30 days in jail, which was suspended. Hall was given two years probation.
Other convictions:
Teresa Hudson Whitaker, Anniston, 10 counts, $1,000 in fines and $300 restitution
John Edward Wright, Oxford, 9 counts, $900 in fines and $300 restitution
Donald Collins Lehr, Anniston, 5 counts, $500 in fines and $250 restitution
William Davis Lehr, Anniston, 10 counts, $1,000 in fines and $500 restitution
Alabama Turtle Sting
Wednesday, April 27, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
27 April 2005
Huntsville (Alabama) Times (17 April 2005)
NO MORE SHELL GAMES (Alan Clemons)
Operation Snapper Nets Seven Arrests
A Guntersville man is one of seven Alabama residents charged with multiple violations of state laws involving the illegal possession and sale of turtles to breeders involved with an international poaching network.
The breeders, many of whom are based in Louisiana, considered a major hub of the nation's illegal turtle trade, would raise the turtles and then sell them or their offspring to pet stores, collectors, meat distributors and overseas in Asia and Europe. The undercover investigation is ongoing, with indictments and arrests expected in a nationwide sweep that could include as many as 50 more people.
Aarion Ray Tucker, 39, of Guntersville has been charged with five counts of taking illegal species of turtles. Tucker also is licensed by the state as a commercial angler to operate gill nets. He pleaded guilty in Morgan County last February for two commercial fishing violations in Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge waters.
Operation Snapper involved enforcement officers with the Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources working with enforcement officials in four other Southeastern states, undercover officers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local agencies. Officials have been building the case for at least two years, if not longer, in an attempt to infiltrate the widespread network.
The seven Alabama residents, who range in age from 25 to 80 years old, face a total of 65 counts. If convicted, they face fines up to $500 and six months in jail for each count. None of the seven are charged with violating the federal Lacey Act, which involves interstate wildlife transportation and carries stiffer penalties. However, officials are expected to soon indict or arrest about 50 other people across the country. Approximately 40 may face felony or misdemeanor charges of the Federal Lacey Act, while about 10 others will face lesser state violations in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas.
The seven Alabama people arrested caught more than 7,000 Sliders, River Cooters, Mud, Musk, Painted and Box Turtles. An additional 30,000 pounds of Common Snapping Turtles and 2,500 pounds of Softshells also were caught. Conservation department officials said the "vast majority" of the turtles were legally caught and sold, but about 340 were illegally caught and sold in violation of state or federal laws. The seven made more than $30,000 from sales of legal and illegal turtles.
The suspects were arrested, without incident, based on warrants from the investigation. The two oldest suspects, 67-year-old Robert Hall and 80-year-old William Davis Lehr, both of Anniston, are considered by state officials to be the major ringleaders. The turtles were caught on various state waterways, including Lake Guntersville, with wire traps or hoop nets in shallow waters baited with fish or chicken.
Once captured, state officials said, the turtles were sold to turtle farms in Lousiana, Arkansas and Florida. Farmers would keep breeding size turtles in special ponds that prevented their escape, collect the eggs laid by females, incubate them and then sell the hatchlings to buyers in Asia, Europe and throughout the United States.
Turtle meat, prized by restaurants primarily for soups, is sold domestcally and overseas. Asian interests are among the main buyers of turtle meat, along with restaurants in the United States. Smaller turtles were sold to pet stores or over the Internet to collectors. Officials say pet stores are not being targeted for any involvement in the network.
AMNH Herp Pubs Gratis
Wednesday, January 11, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
11 January 2006
All AMNH Herp Publications Available Gratis
The American Museum of Natural History Library announces the availability of the full legacy of the museum's scientific publications. Both back issues and current-ongoing publications have been digitized and all publications are now available on the web at:
http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/dspace
Darrel Frost
Associate Dean of Science for Collections
Curator-in-charge, Herpetology
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
New York, New York 10024
Amphibian Accts Announced
Thursday, September 07, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
7 September 2006
NEW AMPHIBIAWEB ACCOUNTS ANNOUNCED
AmphibiaWeb (http://amphibiaweb.org) is pleased to announce an agreement with the University of California Press that has enabled us to post all of the species accounts from "Amphibian Declines," edited by Michael Lannoo. We encourage authors to update these accounts. Another new feature of AmphibiaWeb is a monthly update of literature on amphibian declines, prepared by Tim Halliday of the Declining Amphibian Population Task Force. To access the list, go to the home page, click on "Amphibian Declines," then "VII. Recent Scientific Publications." The list is searchable on a month-by-month basis. We are grateful to Dr. Halliday for this useful service.
David B. Wake
Department of Integrative Biology
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
3101 Valley Life Sciences Building
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720-3160
Amphibian Aid
Monday, October 03, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
3 October 2005
Greenwire
AMPHIBIANS
Environmentalists say $404 million dollars needed for species protection
Environmentalists proposed a $404 million global action plan yesterday at a conference in Washington D. C. to protect and preserve amphibian species. The conference came in response to a study last year that revealed one-third of all amphibian species face a high risk of extinction.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Conservation International joined other wildlife groups to plan further research studies and long term initiatives to protect amphibian habitats. Next is the task of securing funds for the projects from private institutions and individual donors.
"The frogs are trying to tell us something," said Andrew Dobson, a Princeton University professor who studies infectious diseases in the wild. "We're making the world a sicker place and, mercifully, the frogs have picked up on it before humans."
The Global Amphibian Assessment, released last October, revealed that of 5,743 amphibian species, 34 are known to be extinct and more than a hundred others are believed to have suffered extinction. While scientists said the most common threat to amphibians appears to be the fungal disease chytridomycosis, viral disease, habitat loss, drought and pollution are other commonly cited reasons for population declines.
The effect of chytridiomycosis on frog populations in south and central America, Australia, Africa and Europe has become the primary cause for concern as scientists push for captive breeding programs to protect species from the disease.
Not all scientists agree that removing threatened amphibians from the wild is the answer. "We've been running a captive breeding program with the Boreal Toad since 1995," said Cynthia Carey, a professor at the University of Colorado. "We've tried reintroducing them to the wild seven or eight times, but every time they die within a couple of years; if you don't get rid of the fungus, all you're doing is providing it with lunch."
Amphibian Air Agitation
Wednesday, January 24, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 114
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
24 January 2007
AIR AGITATION OF AMPHIBIANS
Does anyone know of any publications dealing with or anyone doing research on the effects of low level vibrations on amphibians (this is related to wind turbines)?
Michael J. Oldham
Ontario Natural Heritage Information Centre (NHIC)
Biodiversity Section, Fish & Wildlife Branch
Ministry of Natural Resources
300 Water Street, 2nd Floor, North Tower
P. O. Box 7000
Peterborough, Ontario K9J 8M5, Canada
705-755-2160
michael.oldham@ontario.ca
Amphibian Ash Assessment
Monday, August 06, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 131
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
6 August 2007
FLY ASH AS AMPHIBIAN HABITAT
Although I am aware of several studies, most at Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, of the impact of chemical runoff from Fly Ash piles on amphibian larval development, I have not found any documentation that frogs and toads would avoid living (burrowing into) old fly ash piles. I would appreciate feedback from anyone who has evidence that anurans can actually inhabit old fly ash piles as I have been asked to investigate the possibility that Scaphiopus holbrookii (Eastern Spadefoot) could inhabit 15 acres of very old fly ash, 14 feet thick, at a site in Lawrence County, Ohio, where this state endangered species does exist. The fly ash is basically fine silica dioxide (sand) and vegetation is growing quite nicely on the site.
Any information on this topic would be appreicated and thank you in advance. I can be reached at:
Scott Moody
Ohio University
moody@ohio.eduAmphibian Road-Kill Mortality
Monday, October 06, 2003: Pennsylvania - HerpDigest
Amphibian Mortality By Road-Kill In A National Park
by John Serrao
Many of the causes of global amphibian declines are so complex in nature that they seem well beyond the ability of the amateur herpetologist or nature lover to become involved. Ozone layer depletion, global warming, agricultural chemicals, chytrid fungi and other phenomena have all been implicated. One other cause, however, is very localized as a possible major problem for amphibians, especially in the heavily-developed eastern United States: automobile traffic. On rainy spring evenings, for example, when the majority of adults of several species of amphibian migrate to their ancestral breeding sites, road-kill can represent a substantial mortality factor. A
high percentage of a given area's frogs and salamanders travel to breeding sites on just a few evenings when the weather is right, and many of these may be crushed beneath the wheels of cars along roads that must be crossed.
In the spring of 2002, such a slaughter occurred near a major breeding wetland in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Bushkill, Pennsylvania. The evening of March 9th was the first mild, rainy evening at the end of winter and the first night for the emergence of five species of amphibians: the Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum), Jefferson Salamander (A. jeffersonianum), Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens), Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer), and Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica). Along a 150 m section of the infrequently-traveled road bordering the large wetland, I counted 650 dead Wood Frogs and Spring Peepers, 30 dead Spotted Salamanders and at least 25 dead Eastern Newts. The National Park Service was notified of this mortality and advised to close the road under similar circumstances the following spring. The Park administration responded favorable to this idea, and on the evening of March 21st, 2003 (the first mild, rainy evening of the year) the road was closed with barricades and patrolled by Park Rangers to prevent any cars from travelling through the breeding area. Park biologists, newspaper reporters, photographers and myself walked the same 150 m stretch of road and watched hundreds of frogs and salamanders cross over safely. The road was also closed to traffic on three other rainy evenings to ensure the safe crossing of later amphibians. Future plans of the National Park may involve the construction of culverts to allow the passage of amphibians beneath the road.
Contact: John Serrao, 2113 Rosemont Drive, Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania 18466-3606
Amphibians & Asphalt
Wednesday, March 07, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
7 March 2007
Amphibians and Asphalt Analyzed
AMPHIBIAN ROADKILLS: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Miklós Puky
2006. Amphibian road kills: A global perspective. In: Irwin, C. L., Garrett, P. & McDermott, K. P. (eds). Proceedings of the 2005 International Conference on Ecology and Transportation. Raleigh, North Carolina. Center for Transportation and the Environment, North Carolina State University. pp. 325-338.
Abstract: Transportation infrastructure is a major factor determining land use forms. As globally changes in this driver are the most important for biodiversity, roads fundamentally influence wildlife. The effect of roads on wildlife has been categorised in several ways resulting in six to ten categories with road kill as an obvious and important component and amphibians are greatly affected by this factor. As this animal group has been documented to decline from multiple threats world-wide, the study and mitigation of their deaths on roads has become an important conservation priority. It was also detected as a single cause of decline and data has accumulated on related population fluctuations, isolation, decline and extinction in several countries. Genetical studies greatly improved our insight into these processes e.g. by repeatedly proving significantly low heterozigocy in populations of several species living near roads.
Amphibian road kills are known and described for long due to their spectacular nature but the overall effect of transportation infrastructure on amphibians was often underestimated also due to contrasting research results. The speed of transport and the duration and timing of the surveys in which information was collected turned out to be decisive causing 5.5-16 times differences in the number of road killed amphibians recorded mainly in connection with the low visibility and retention time of amphibians on roads. In light of such amphibian-related differences, the often cited national road kill estimates may well be considerably higher in practice, as well.
Amphibian road mortality studies were made nearly exclusively in developed countries, mostly in Europe and North America, and under temperate zone conditions. In general, all terrestrial and semi-aquatic amphibian species can suffer from road kills where they have populations near roads. However, different amphibian species are threatened to a different extent by traffic because of their specific life history characteristics. Besides amphibian specific factors (amphibian movement types, length and direction of movement, velocity, temporal movement pattern, behavioural changes on roads), the spatio-temporal pattern of amphibian road kill is also influenced by habitat and transportation characteristics (especially aquatic habitats and vegation, road density, traffic intensity, vehicle speed, position and structure of roads, awareness of drivers, respectively) and weather conditions (precipitation, temperature, wind). The effect of these factors must be understood before the need for mitigation can be evaluated and measures be designed and built.
Many mitigation measures have been built since the first amphibian tunnels had been created in 1969 near Zürich, Switzerland and a high diversity of technical solutions proved to lower amphibian road kills under different conditions. New research results also highlighted that amphibian tunnels can also be permeable for reptiles, such as snakes and small mammals. However, the lack of maintenance and construction deficiencies are common problems, which lower the efficiency of these measures world-wide.
Road kills also have socio-ecological importance. Successful road-kill related projects have the potential to help the understanding of decision-makers of road-related problems, also leading to the launching of more complex conservation projects including, for example, habitat restoration or compensatory developments near roads. The information of the general public on conservation efforts on roads to reduce road kill, such as the setting up of frog fences in the USA and toad saving campaigns in Europe, through the media clearly help to realise this aim by influencing support provided by different authorities.
*****
This article can be viewed or downloaded on the CNAH PDF Library at
http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.asp
Amphibians & Atrazine
Monday, October 01, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
1 October 2007
EPA Pesticide Program Update from EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs
09/25/07
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY PANEL TO DISCUSS POTENTIAL FOR ATRAZINE TO AFFECT AMPHIBIAN GONADAL DEVELOPMENT; WHITE PAPER POSTED TO DOCKET
On October 9-12, 2007, EPA will be presenting to the FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) the Agency’s analysis of the latest data from laboratory and field studies investigating a possible connection between amphibian gonadal development and the herbicide atrazine. Based on this thorough analysis, EPA finds that atrazine does not adversely affect amphibian gonadal development, and believes there is no compelling
reason to pursue additional testing of atrazine for amphibian gonadal effects at this time. EPA is seeking comments and recommendations from the SAP on our analysis of the studies and our conclusions. This SAP meeting will focus on the Agency’s analysis of atrazine and amphibian gonadal development. The Agency is also awaiting the results of atrazine human cancer studies, and has received and is analyzing additional monitoring data from community water systems and data from an ecological watershed monitoring program.
In the October 2007 SAP meeting, EPA will be asking the Panel to comment on the Agency’s approach and criteria for evaluating all the studies. The Agency has also posed a number of specific questions to the SAP regarding studies that the registrant conducted at EPA's request. Because the Agency had access to all the raw data supporting these studies and conducted audits on the independent laboratories performing them, the Agency’s analysis of the studies conducted by Syngenta, the primary registrant, was very rigorous.
The June 29, 2007, FR notice announcing the SAP meeting included a solicitation for members of the public to present comments on this issue to the SAP. The meeting agenda puts a priority on public involvement, with almost the entire first day of the four-day meeting reserved for public comments.
Information concerning how to participate in this SAP meeting can be found at:
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-MEETINGS/2007/June/Day-29/m12571.htm
You can find the White Paper and other background information on EPA’s regulatory actions and decisions for atrazine by referring to the atrazine docket, EPA-HQ-OPP-2007-0498, at
http://www.regulations.govAnuran Agreement Arranged
Monday, December 08, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
8 December 2008
CONSERVATION GROUPS AND STATE REACH AGREEMENT ON MEASURES TO PROTECT NATIVE FISH AND AMPHIBIANS FROM FISH-STOCKING
Pact Requires California Department of Fish and Game to Halt Stocking in some State Waters while Impacts are Considered
Sacramento, California — Two conservation groups, Pacific Rivers Council and the Center for Biological Diversity, have reached agreement with the California Department of Fish and Game on interim measures to limit harm to native species caused by fish stocking. The intent is to minimize the harm that hatchery-raised fish inflict on sensitive native fish and amphibian species while the Department prepares an Environmental Impact Report under the California Environmental Quality Act. The Agreement was spurred by a tentative order issued by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette finding that stocking could cause irreparable harm to native species.
"Interim measures limiting stocking are needed to help save California's native fish and frogs from extinction," said Noah Greenwald, biodiversity program director for the Center for Biological Diversity. "Fish and Game will still be able to stock hatchery fish, but mainly in places where they won’t harm native species."
During the past week, biologists from the two conservation groups have held daily conferences with the Department, successfully negotiating interim protections that will allow much of the Department’s research, educational, anadromous fish conservation, native fish reintroduction, and recreational angling programs to continue, while requiring limits on stocking in areas where native species are especially at risk from stocking due to predation, competition, disease, and invasive species.
"The Department needs to consider the environmental impacts of its fish-stocking program before it stocks more fish into waters that are still strongholds for native species," said Dr. Chris Frissell, director of Science and Conservation for Pacific Rivers Council. "This is the only way that the Department can be sure that it is not causing or contributing to the loss of the last remaining populations of these native California animals and the habitat they depend upon."
The Court ruled in May 2007 that fish stocking has "significant environmental impacts" on "aquatic ecosystems" and "in particular, on native species of fish, amphibians and insects, some of which are threatened or endangered." The Court ordered the Department to analyze and mitigate the impacts of the stocking program in an Environmental Impact Report, or EIR, by the end of 2008. The Department returned to court last month to ask for a one-year extension, to January 2010, because the agency has made little progress on the EIR.
To reduce the impact of the Department’s delay, the Center and Pacific Rivers Council asked for interim restrictions on stocking, including not stocking in areas where sensitive native species such as California golden trout, Santa Ana sucker, mountain yellow-legged frog, and Cascades frog, are known to be present or where the Department has yet to survey. In his tentative order, Judge Marlette agreed that interim measures are necessary, but gave the Department until November 24th to negotiate an agreement with the two organizations to determine where stocking could take place pending completion of the EIR.
"The far reaching, often disastrous consequences of stocking hatchery fish on top of native trout and other aquatic species have been known for decades," said Frissell, who has published numerous scientific articles on the ecology of native fish and wildlife species. "It’s far past time the Department of Fish and Game completed a credible review of the environmental impacts of its hatchery program and identified the steps needed to limit its impacts to sensitive native species, as many other states have done. Interim measures are merely a short-term safety net to protect vulnerable species and waters until the State meets its legal mandate to produce a report."
Removing non-native fish once they have been introduced is difficult, expensive and can cause further damage to sensitive species. Many of the sensitive fish and amphibian species are already so seriously depleted by past impacts, including the decades of unmitigated fish stocking, that even one more year of stocking could cause irreversible loss of some populations.
"The mountain yellow-legged frog has disappeared from more than 90 percent of its former range in the Sierra Nevada, and introduced trout are an important cause of this decline," stated research biologist Dr. Roland Knapp. Likewise, unintended consequences of stocking nonnative trout without needed precautions have seriously compromised and set back the State's own conservation and recovery efforts for its imperiled native golden and redband trout. "On a hopeful note, a cessation of stocking and the removal of non-native trout from key sites can allow the recovery of mountain yellow-legged frogs and other native species," Knapp said.
The negotiated agreement allows several important categories of fish stocking carried out or permitted by the Department of Fish and Game to move forward in the coming year. These include stocking that is necessary for reintroduction of native fishes to their historical range; stocking deemed necessary for salmon or steelhead recovery; stocking that is specifically required by ongoing mitigation orders or other legal provisos; specific salmon stamp-funded enhancement stocking programs; most stocking in farm ponds and large, man-made reservoirs; and previously permitted private party stocking. Stocking will be curtailed for the time being in waters where any of 25 native fish and amphibian species (see list below) considered sensitive to fish stocking are known to occur. The agreement provides a basis for further information exchange between the state and conservation groups and allows for amending the provisions to accommodate new information.
The Pacific Rivers Council and Center for Biological Diversity are represented by the Environmental Law Clinic, Mills Legal Clinic at Stanford Law School. For more information about the lawsuit, go to
http://www.pacrivers.org
or
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org
*****
Herpetofaunal Species Protected by today’s agreement:
Rana draytonii California Red-legged Frog, Rana cascadae Cascades Frog, Rana boylii Foothill Yellow-legged Frog, Lithobates pipiens Northern Leopard Frog, Rana muscosa/Rana sierrae Mountain Yellow-legged Frog, Rana aurora Northern Red-legged Frog, Rana pretiosa Oregon Spotted Frog, Ascaphus truei Pacific Tailed Frog, Anaxyrus californicus Arroyo Toad.
Jeff Miller
The Center for Biological Diversity
jmiller@biologicaldiversity.org
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/
Contacts:
Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity
(503) 484-7495
Chris Frissell, Pacific Rivers Council
(406) 471-3167
Roland Knapp, University of California, Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory
(760) 647-0034Anuran Allergy Advice
Wednesday, September 26, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 134
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
26 September 2007
ANURAN ALLERGY ADVICE
As a part of our orientation process for the Montana State University Animal Resource Center, I provide training on the occupational health and safety issues pertaining to animal research activities. Two staff members from our College of Nursing will be using wild-caught North American Leopard Frogs (Lithobates) in their research.
The resource materials I utilize for training purposes only refer to mice, rats, rabbits, etc. Amphibians are conspicuously absent from literature available to me. I was wondering if anyone could provide any information as to exposure concerns related to allergies or illnesses being passed from Leopard Frogs to humans and/or humans to Leopard Frogs?
Any literature citations would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
I can be contacted at
Laurie Bachar, REHS
Occupational Health & Safety Specialist
Montana State University
1160 Research Drive
Bozeman, Montana 59718
406-994-7384
406-994-7040 fax
lbachar@montana.eduAnuran Ark Calendar
Thursday, January 17, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
17 January 2008
I am working with a group of five other professionals representing the Wildlife Conservation Society, Conservation International, Disney, Smithsonian, and Audubon. We are trying to raise awareness about the fact that 2008 is the "Year of the Frog," and also for the Amphibian Ark project (AArk). AArk is a global response to our planet’s amphibian crisis. As many of you are aware, 30 % of the species of frogs worldwide are predicted to go extinct within the immediate future in the worst extinction event since that of the dinosaurs, unless something is done to protect them. We feel this is the consensus wildlife conservation issue for the year 2008. In a historical conservation effort, hundreds of zoos, conservation organizations, and other institutions from around the world will be working together in this cause.
Our group is trying to raise money for this cause and have sold 4000 Year of the Frog calendars that we created. The calendars feature incredible photos donated by leading wildlife photographers and information about the frogs featured, the Year of the Frog, the amphibian crisis, and the Amphibian Ark project. We are not doing this for profit; all proceeds go to helping frogs. Of the 4200 calendars we created, we have roughly 190 left and are hoping to sell those quickly so that the cost of the unsold calendars does not come off the bottom line.
Herpetologists and other biologists wishing to support this effort can take a look at the calendar and see if they are interested in purchasing one (or several) at
http://www.helpafrog.com/
Thanks so much for your help.
Scott Smith
Wildlife Conservation Society
sSmith@wcs.org
Anuran Audio Asking
Friday, February 09, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 118
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
9 February 2007
SOUTHERN LEOPARD FROG CALL RECORDINGS SOUGHT
I am investigating geographic variation in the mating call in the Southern Leopard Frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus utricularius). I would be appreciative of anyone willing to share recordings of Southern Leopard Frogs (choruses, mixed-species choruses, or individuals) within their natural range. Recordings can be in any format (e.g., digital, tapes, etc.), but must have locality data. Contributors will be acknowledged in any relevant publications. Please contact me at
spinifer@aol.com
Thanks in advance.
Nathan Nazdrowicz
Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology
University of Delaware
245 Townsend Hall
Newark, Delaware 19717
office (302) 831-8884
cell (302) 893-3645
Anuran Aural Access
Saturday, December 23, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
23 December 2006
Put Something Wild in Your Pocket: Free Endangered Wildlife Ringtones!
Thanks to one wild new web site, now you can use your cell phone for calls of an entirely different nature: rousing ringtones of the croaks, chirps and sensational songs of rare and endangered animals from around the world. Just go to the Center for Biological Diversity site
http://rareearthtones.com/
and easily download free ringtones featuring authentic sounds of some of the world’s most threatened owls, tropical birds, frogs, toads and marine mammals.
Our free Web site allows you to listen to all of the wildlife ringtones – including the Mountain Yellow-legged Frog (Rana muscosa) and Yosemite Toad (Anaxyrus canorus), or any one of 40 other endangered wildlife species – and have your favorites sent directly to your phone with one easy click.
And what’s more, while you’re sending the ringtones to your phone, you can learn a few things about how you can protect endangered animals and help stop the global extinction crisis. Life is precious. So why should your cell phone sound like everyone else’s? Why spend money to download tired Top 40 tunes when in just a few simple steps – and at no cost – you can pick your favorite call from among 40 rare animals with real star quality?
Trust us: You simply won’t find a free collection like this anywhere else.
At our web site, listen to and download such musical milestones as:
**The electronic-uh Uh Uh Uh Uh Uh by the California Red-legged Frog**
And who could forget:
**The soul-stirring-Barry-White-purring of the Gopher Frog’s Ohhhhhhhhh Oooooooooh (Baby)**
All these ringtones can be yours – but you must act now! Why? Because these ringtones belong to rare and endangered animals, and if you fail to act now, they may not be around much longer.
Friends, this is truly a limited-time offer. There’s no time to waste in learning more about endangered species and how you can protect them.
That’s why, when you go to our free Web site and listen to these unique ringtones, you can download a fact sheet to find out what makes the animals behind them so unique. Better yet, you can take action to help save them – with just one click.
The site features the calls of more than a dozen endangered and threatened North American frogs and toads – such as the Houston Toad, found at only a few locations in Texas.
Many new ringtones will be added soon, including many more North American amphibians.
Act now. Download your rare or endangered species ringtones today.
You’ll be the envy of all your friends. They’ll want to know where you found your wild ringtone. Imagine their faces as they wonder: Is that a frog in your pocket, or. . . ?
Just send them to
http://rareearthtones.com/
where they can get their own!
The Center for Biological Diversity works directly to protect many of the featured ringtone species, including the California Red-legged Frog (California), Foothill Yellow-legged Frog (California, Oregon), Mountain Yellow-legged Frog (Sierra Nevada and Southern California), Oregon Spotted Frog (Pacific Northwest), and Yosemite Toad (Sierra Nevada)
Jeff Miller
Bay Area Wildlands Coordinator
Center for Biological Diversity
1095 Market Street, Suite 511
San Francisco, California 94103
(415) 436-9682 ext 303
Fax (415) 436-9683
Applied Herpetology Gratis
Tuesday, July 31, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
31 July 2007
Trial Access to Applied Herpetology
The journal, Applied Herpetology, can be accessed gratis until 15 October 2007. Visit the web address at:
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/ah
Instructions for accessing articles are:
Use the following User Name and Password:
User Name: aphe_trial
Password: aphe_trial
Go to the issue or article of your choice and make sure to fill in the user name and password (shown above) in the "sign in" section on the right-hand side of the page.
CNAH encourages you to take advantage of this generous offer.
Arizona Roadkill
Wednesday, May 25, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
25 May 2005
Arizona Roadkill: Huge Toll on Park-Area Highways
(A. E. Araiza, Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) 16 May 2005)
More than 50,000 wild animals are run over on roads in and around Saguaro National Park each year, park researchers say. Taking a fresh look at old data, researchers have concluded that an earlier survey of park-area roadkills understated by roughly seven times the true casualty figures for toads, snakes, rabbits, lizards, javelina and other critters.
After five years of weekly surveys of 50 miles of roads that ended in 1999, National Park Service officials determined back then that about 7,100 animals were killed annually in and around the east and west units of Saguaro National Park. But researchers decided the original count was too low after reanalyzing the data to account for surveyor error, for animals that get taken off the road after they're killed and for the limitations of hunting for roadkills by car. "We weren't seeing everything," said Natasha Kline, who has worked as a Saguaro Park biologist nearly 13 years.
But while more animals are apparently dying on park roads than originally had been thought, some changes in road design are slowly occurring to make these and other thoroughfares more wildlife-friendly in the future. The changes will be aimed not just at preventing roadkills but at preserving connections for wild animals crossing roads from one large block of desert to another. As much as $10 million would be spent over the next 20 years on making roads safer for wildlife under a plan that appears to be headed to the May 2006 ballot. The Regional Transportation Authority's 20-year plan would require voter approval of a half-cent sales tax increase to raise $1.9 billion total for a host of other transportation improvements, including widened roads, transit, sidewalks and bike paths. Pima County and state highway planners are looking for other ways to better design roads for wildlife, and the Park Service and county last year collaborated on a large $78,000 culvert project to provide more space for javelina and other animals crossing Sandario Road in Saguaro National Park West.
A major concern stemming from the roadkill study is the effect of the kills on populations of toads and larger animals, including Desert Tortoises, Gila Monsters, badgers and rattlesnakes, said Kline, who worked on the roadkill study. The park is experiencing "massive" roadkill of three [amphibian] species - the Red-spotted Toad, Sonoran [Green] Toad and Couch's Spadefoot, she said. Researchers have, for instance, found that Sonoran [Green] Toads taken from East Speedway north of the park were significantly smaller than those taken from loop roads within the park that close after dark. "This is very suggestive" that the toads' populations are affected by roadkill - not just individual toads, Kline said.
Although no statistics exist directly linking roadkills to declines of larger animals, biologists are concerned about them because they have both low reproductive rates and low adult mortality rates, Kline said. Because they have low adult mortality rates, those creatures tend to live long lives. But because their birthrates are low, "once you start taking adults out of the population, you'll affect it very quickly," said Kline, who has emerged as Saguaro Park's spokeswoman for a study that involves many researchers and volunteers.
The operator of a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center just north of Saguaro National Park East said she's not surprised by the Park Service study's conclusions, because she regularly sees live wild animals in her center that were brought in after somebody found them lying on the road. "It's our No. 1 problem with animals that come in - that they're hit by cars," said Lisa Bates, who gets 300 to 350 injured animals each year at her Tucson Wildlife Center at 13275 E. Speedway, just north of Saguaro Park East. "I would guess that a majority of animals admitted here were hit by cars." When center volunteers go out to rescue wild animals, they're all over the highways every day. Volunteers see a huge amount of roadkill, Bates said.
The sight of wild animals sprawled dead along roads or shoulders makes Rincon Valley Farmers Market executive director Molly Eglin truly sad, she said last week. But while she sees roadkill regularly on the roads, the 50,000-a-year figure shocked her, she said. "I go to town practically every day, and I usually see something practically every day off to the side of the road. But I never imagined it was that many," said Eglin, whose market lies about one mile south of the park's southern border at 12500 E. Old Spanish Trail. "What's worse is the people who drive down Old Spanish Trail like a maniac," Eglin said. "They drive really fast around the curves, the double lines. It's really, really dangerous." One morning last week, as she drove down Freeman Road and then Speedway abutting Saguaro Park East, Kline said that she had already seen six dead animals along park-area roads: a Longnose Snake and a Coachwhip, two ground squirrels, a curved-bill thrasher and a rabbit. Then she stopped at a large wash along Speedway, about 16 miles east of Downtown Tucson, where she said she hopes to get grant money for a series of culverts to accommodate the toads and other animals so they can cross under Speedway instead of into the path of cars. Two years ago, the Park Service and the Pima County Department of Transportation applied for a $500,000 state grant to install two large box culverts and several smaller ones that would accommodate toads. The application failed, but Kline said she expects to seek the grant again. The area along Speedway where the culvert system would go had heavy concentrations of roadkills, ranging 85 to 1,000 in a small area, during the five-year study period ending in 1999, according to a Park Service map of the area.
A County Transportation Department official said he has not heard yet from the service about any effort to try again for the grant. But the department now has a written policy calling for more environmentally sensitive roads in areas known for their wildlife populations, said Rick Ellis, the department's engineering division manager. The county has had the policy since December 2003 and has used it twice. One project, connected with the county's Thornydale Road widening, was to build a higher, wider shoulder with taller trees along Thornydale to accommodate cactus ferruginous pigmy owls trying to cross the road. The second project was the Sandario Road culvert.
Four major state highways in Southern Arizona could also be in line for new, wildlife-friendly design in the next few years because of a grant just obtained by a Flagstaff researcher. That study will focus on how to make those and other roads in the state more hospitable to birds and mammals.
The tally
Estimated annual wildlife roadkills in and around Saguaro National Park East and West (Source: National Park Service)
Reptiles [& Turtles]: 27,000
Amphibians: 17,000
Mammals: 6,000
Birds: 1,000
Arizona Treefrog Action
Tuesday, December 11, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
11 December 2007
U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE UPDATES LIST OF CANDIDATES FOR ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT LISTING
ARIZONA TREEFROG (HYLA WRIGHTORUM) LISTED
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today released its yearly appraisal of the current status of plants and animals that are candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Candidate Notice of Review was published in the December 6, 2007 Federal Register. Four species were removed from the candidate list and five species were added since the last review in September 2006. There are now 280 species recognized by the Service as candidates for ESA protection.
As part of this review, the Service is soliciting public comment and additional information on these candidate species, as well as information on species that may be eligible for addition to future candidate updates. This information will be valuable in preparing listing documents and future revisions or supplements to the notice of review.
USFWS Director H. Dale Hall highlighted the important role conservation efforts play in reducing risks to species not yet listed. The Surprising Cave Beetle in Kentucky is one example. It was removed as a candidate after an assessment found that the species’ range was larger and the threats to its continued existence had decreased. In addition, Mammoth Cave National Park entered into a 15-year agreement to conserve the cave beetle and its habitat, which includes Surprising Cave and three other caves in the park. This conservation agreement is just one of many such agreements across the country helping to conserve at-risk species before they require ESA protection. More than 150 candidate and at-risk species currently benefit from candidate conservation agreements.
Three other species were removed from the candidate list this year:
The Basalt Daisy, a plant found in Washington, was removed from the candidate list due to conservation efforts and information indicating the species is more abundant than once believed. Surveying and monitoring led to the identification of two additional populations of this plant and the most recent survey further affirmed stable numbers suggested by earlier surveys, leading the Service to conclude that this species no longer meets the definition of a candidate.
The Warm Springs Zaitzevian Riffle Beetle, an insect found in Montana, was removed from the list due to conservation efforts. Through the implementation of a management plan since 1994, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Fish Technology Center has managed and protected the habitat for the beetle. That protection has been further reinforced by the commitments of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and Montana State University through a
Conservation Assessment and Strategy signed in 2006, leading to the removal of this beetle from the candidate list.
The Slender Moonwort, a plant known to occur in Alaska, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, and portions of Canada, was removed because it is more abundant than previously recognized and there is insufficient information to justify its continued candidate status.
This year, the Service evaluated several species under the candidate process and found that five warrant ESA protection. The five new candidate species are:
*****
Las Vegas Buckwheat, a species of plant found in Clark and Lincoln Counties, Nevada
New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse, a species of mammal found in Apache County, Arizona; a small portion of Las Animas County, Colorado; and in Colfax, Mora, Otero, and Sandoval Counties, New Mexico
Huachuca/Canelo Distinct Population Segment of the ARIZONA TREEFROG (HYLA WRIGHTORUM), a species of amphibian found in the Huachuca Mountains and adjacent Canelo Hills in Arizona and Rancho Los Fresnos in north-central Sonora, Mexico
Laurel Dace, a species of fish found in Bledsoe and Rhea Counties, Tennessee
San Bernardino Springsnail, a snail found in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico.
*****
Identification of candidate species provides resource managers with advance notice of species in need of consultation, allowing them to alleviate threats before the protection of the ESA is required.
The Service has several tools for protecting candidate species and their habitat including a grants program that funds conservation projects by private landowners, states and territories. Additionally, the Service can enter into Candidate Conservation Agreements (CAA), formal agreements between the Service and one or more parties to address the conservation needs of proposed or candidate species, or species likely to become candidates, before they become listed as endangered or threatened. The CAA participants voluntarily commit to implementing specific actions that will remove or reduce the threats to these species, thereby contributing to stabilizing or restoring the species.
The complete notice and list of proposed candidate species appears in today's Federal Register and can be viewed online at
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/candidates/index.html
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 97-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 548 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
For more information about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, visit
http://www.fws.gov
Questions concerning a particular news release or item of information should be directed to the person listed as the contact. General comments or observations concerning the content of the information should be directed to Malcomb Barsella (malcomb_barsella@fws.gov) in the Office of Public Affairs.Arizona Treefrog Art
Saturday, September 24, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 57
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
24 September 2005
Line drawing of Hyla wrightorum (formerly Hyla eximia) Needed
Is there an illustrator willing to provide to us a good line drawing of this species (Arizona Treefrog) for our agency magazine? If so, please contact:
James N. Stuart
Conservation Services Division
New Mexico Department of Game & Fish
P. O. Box 25112
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-5112
(505) 476-8107
FAX: (505) 476-8128
James.Stuart@state.nm.us
Ark Aspidoscelis Assist
Thursday, August 27, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 180
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
27 August 2009
WALKER WANTS WHIPTAIL DATA
I am searching for information on Cnemidophorus alpinus (= Aspidoscelis alpina), presently known from the Mexican states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Tlaxcala. I would much appreciate being contacted if you have knowledge of museum specimens of this species other than those in the collections of the University of Colorado Museum, University of Kansas Natural History Museum, University of Illinois Museum of Natural History, Los Angeles County Museum, and Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collection. In addition, I desire information pertaining to biologists engaged in biochemical, ecological, and other types of studies on this species.
Help on this project is much appreciated.
James M. Walker
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville
jmwalker@uark.edu
Ark Salamander Poster
Friday, September 10, 2004: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
www.cnah.org
10 July 2004
Re: The NEW POSTER on Salamanders of Arkansas by Kelly J. Irwin
The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission toll free telephone number, as printed by AGFC on other documents, apparently does not work.
Kelly Irwin does not have copies of the poster, so don't call him.
If you want a free poster, try calling this number (it may work):
1-800-482-8845Arkansas Herp Cards
Tuesday, January 02, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
2 January 2007
ARKANSAS HERPETOLOGICAL TRADING CARDS NOW AVAILABLE
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is pleased to announce the availability of a set of 25 trading cards of Razorback reptiles, crocodilians, and turtles. These distinctive 2.5 x 3.5-inch glossy cards display in vivid color the following species (common names as they appear on the cards):
American Alligator, Alligator Snapping Turtle, Common Snapping Turtle, Ornate Box Turtle, Southern Painted Turtle, Spiny Softshell, Eastern Box Turtle, Slider, Broadhead Skink, Five-lined Skink, Northern Fence Lizard, Green Anole, Western Rat Snake, Western Ribbon Snake, Copperhead, Cottonmouth, Diamondback Water Snake, Eastern Hognose Snake, Milk Snake, Mud Snake, Pigmy Rattlesnake, Ringneck Snake, Rough Green Snake, Speckled Kingsnake, and Timber Rattlesnake. Of particular note is the adoption of the modern, more scientifically accurate and informative reptilian generic names (Plestiodon and Pantherophis) and the correct spelling of Pigmy, as in Pigmy Rattlesnake.
For greater accuracy, comprehension, and ease of use, these trading cards adopted the traditional, standard common names for North American species maintained by Collins & Taggart (2002. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians. Fifth Edition), published by The Center for North American Herpetology (available as a pdf at the CNAH web site) and updated daily online.
The excellent photography is by Suzanne L. Collins and Eric Maynard.
A gratis set of the cards may be requested from:
April Layher
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
aolayher@agfc.state.ar.us
Arkansas Herp List Online
Friday, January 21, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
21 January 2005
New Checklist of the Arkansas Herpetofauna
The mission of this website is to distribute and share knowledge regarding the naturally occurring herpetofauna of Arkansas. An effort is made to dispel misconceptions and fears. Information is presented in a healthy, environmentally-conscious manner to promote the beauty and fascination of these spectacular creatures.
CNAH Note: An excellent state herpetofaunal site; highly recommended. Created and maintained by Kory Roberts.
Check it out at:
http://www.snakesofarkansas.com
Arkansas Snake Guide
Thursday, July 22, 2004: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
22 July 2004
New Booklet
ARKANSAS SNAKE GUIDE
by Kelly J. Irwin
A product of the skillful pen of state herpetologist Kelly J. Irwin, this publication is a quick and handy reference to Arkansas snakes, and supplements the information appearing in the recently (2004) published "Amphibians and Reptiles of Arkansas" by Stanley E. Trauth, Henry W. Robison, and Michael V. Plummer. Co-sponsored by The Center for North American Herpetology, this 50-page booklet features the exquisite color photography of Suzanne L. Collins (CNAH, Lawrence, Kansas), and includes text and images for all 36 kinds of serpents known to inhabit Arkansas.
Species included (by common name as they appear in the booklet): Copperhead, Cottonmouth, Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Timber Rattlesnake, Western Pigmy Rattlesnake, Texas Coral Snake, Scarlet Snake, Milk Snake, Mississippi Green Water Snake, Plainbelly Water Snake, Broad-banded Water Snake, Diamondback Water Snake, Northern Water Snake, Racer, Great Plains Rat Snake, Black Rat Snake, Eastern Hognose Snake, Prairie Kingsnake, Speckled Kingsnake, Coachwhip, Rough Green Snake, Western Ribbon Snake, Common Garter Snake, Mud Snake, Graham's Crayfish Snake, Glossy Crayfish Snake, Queen Snake, Eastern Worm Snake, Western Worm Snake, Ringneck Snake, Ground Snake, Brown Snake, Redbelly Snake, Flathead Snake, Rough Earth Snake, and Smooth Earth Snake.
An essential addition to the library of any North American herpetologist.
For greater comprehension and ease of use (both among herpetologists and the general public), this booklet adopts common names as they listed in the recently published (2002) Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians. Fifth Edition by Joseph T. Collins & Travis W. Taggart (Available gratis from The Center for North American Herpetology).
Publisher: Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, Little Rock
Published: 2004
Cost: Gratis
To request a copy, call 1-800-482-8845
For more information or to confirm this news release, contact
Joseph T. Collins
CNAH
1 (785) 749-3467
jcollins@ku.edu
Arkansas Snake Guide Pdf
Tuesday, August 31, 2004: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
31 August 2004
The recently published Arkansas Snake Guide by Kelly J. Irwin, which was out-of-print within weeks of its announcement by CNAH on 22 July 2004, is now available as a gratis downloadable reprint (in color) by accessing the following web site:
http://www.agfc.com/critters/wildlife_snake.html
Just scroll to the bottom and download it using Adobe Acrobat.
Ashton Award Announced
Wednesday, March 19, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
19 March 2008
RAY ASHTON RECEIVES AWARD FROM THE ENVIRONMENTAL & LAND USE COMMITTEE OF THE FLORIDA BAR FOR HIS WORK ON BEHALF OF GOPHER TORTOISES
Ray E. Ashton, Jr., President of the Ashton Biodiversity Research & Preservation Institute, Inc., in Newberry, Florida, and one of the founders of the activist group, The Gopher Tortoise Conservation Imitative, was awarded the 2008 Citizen’s Award at the 14th Annual Public Interest Environmental Conference held at the University of Florida Law School on 28 February 2008.
The award was presented for his outstanding contributions on behalf of Florida environmental and land use policy. Some of the contributions that Ashton has made include work with local county governments in developing policies that support local conservation of Gopher Tortoises and their habitats. Over the past two years, he has worked with seventeen counties to establish programs that will help protect tortoises. Meanwhile over the past ten years, he has been a strong voice attempting to change the old policies of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission from Incidental take to one of long term management and protection through up-listing the tortoise to threatened status in Florida and to encourage relocation of tortoises to well-managed and protected lands. He has proposed reasonable financing of tortoise management that would insure perpetual monitoring and management for generations to come. He and members of The Gopher Tortoise Conservation Imitative proposed a tax exemption to landowners that maintain natural lands. Today farmers cannot maintain their agricultural exemptions on these lands and pay the highest taxes on them. Thanks to the Florida Wildlife Federation and other stakeholders, this tax bill and many changes have been brought forward to create an entirely different way of doing conservation for a species.
All though Ashton is not totally pleased with the current rules being presented to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission in April 2007, he supports the direction they are going and hope that the Commission will follow up on promises to strengthen what is being presented in the near future. If they do not then we will see a continued decline of Gopher Tortoises and the need for them to be federally listed.
*****
Those wishing to congratulate Ray Ashton or wishing to contribute financially to the efforts of his foundation can reach him at:
Ashton Biodiversity Research & Preservation Institute, Inc.
14260 W Newberry Road, #331
Newberry, Florida 32669
www.ashtonbiodiversity.org
352-495-7449
tortfarm2@aol.comASIH Herp Survey
Tuesday, December 05, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
5 December 2006
SURVEY OF AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGICAL AND HERPETOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS
The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH) Collections Committee is conducting an on-line survey of American ichthyological and herpetological collections. This online survey will provide valuable data that will enhance long-term support and maintenance of collections. Based on previous surveys by Poss & Collette (1995) and Collette & Lachner (1976) of ichthyological collections, this survey captures general collection information, as well as more specific information on collection and data management policies (e.g., availability of electronic catalogs). This survey addresses a need for detailed information about ichthyological and herpetological collections, while other ongoing initiatives, such as the Legacy Infrastructure Network for Natural Environments (LINNE), seek to more broadly identify existing collections for inclusion into an accessible network for the scientific community. Results from the survey will be summarized and submitted for publication in Copeia and will be also be available from the main ASIH website, including an improved index to collections.
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO COMPLETE THE SURVEY AT:
http://chelydra.unm.edu/asihsurvey
If you have any questions, please contact any of the following:
J. Tom Giermakowski
Museum of Southwestern Biology
tomas@unm.edu
Nelson Rios
Tulane University Museum of Natural History
nelson@museum.tulane.edu
Christina A. Wolfe
Collection Manager, Herpetology
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
University of Oklahoma
2401 Chautauqua Avenue
Norman, Oklahoma 73026
(405) 325-7771
(405) 325-7699 (fax)
cwolfe@ou.edu
ASIH Travel Grants
Tuesday, February 16, 2010: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
16 February 2010
ASIH STUDENT TRAVEL GRANTS
Application for the ASIH student travel awards is now open. Travel Awards are designed to help with costs to attend the 2010 Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. The recipients will be chosen at random for awards of $300 ($500 for intercontinental travelers). In order to be eligible for this award the student must
a) currently be a graduate student and ASIH member
b) be presenting your research at the 2010 JMIH (poster or oral presentation)
c) have never received a travel award previously
If you are chosen, you must volunteer for four one-hour shifts at the graduate student book raffle table. More information regarding eligibility for intercontinental awards and your participation in the meeting can be found at
http://www.dce.k-state.edu/conf/jointmeeting/grad-student
In order to apply, you must fill out the form that is available for download at
http://www.asih.org/annualmeetings
and email it to me by 3 May 2010.
The form is available via a link for the 2010 annual meeting.
Ryan Chabarria
ryan.chabarria@gmail.com
Asking for Anaxyrus
Monday, March 17, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 141
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
17 March 2008
ASKING FOR ANAXYRUS
The Fort Worth Zoo is looking for biologists that may be collecting tissues from amphibians (especially bufonids) from the wild and that would be willing to share liver and kidney samples for a vitamin study. The samples should be kept in a cooler and then frozen prior to being shipped to me at the zoo (address below). If any researcher is willing to help, please contact me at:
dbarber@fortworthzoo.org
Thanks in advance for any help.
Diane Barber
Curator of Ectotherms
Fort Worth Zoo
1989 Colonial Parkway
Fort Worth, Texas 76110
817-759-7180
817-759-7183 FAXBalazs Recognized
Tuesday, April 19, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
19 April 2005
Honolulu Advertiser (Hawaii) 13 April 2005
Balazs receives prestigious award for turtle research
Hawai'i researcher George Balazs has been awarded the National Wildlife Federation Conservation Achievement Award for his work on the threatened Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle. Balazs, a biologist with NOAA Fisheries, helped place the turtles on the federal endangered species list in 1978 and has overseen research on the animals throughout his career -- during which the population has recovered significantly. His work with radio-tagging has shown that the turtles can take long open-ocean routes from their feeding sites to nesting areas and that they can navigate hundreds of miles without landmarks. Many of them make those voyages from the main Hawaiian Islands to nesting beaches in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Apr/13/ln/ln39p.html
Behaving Mpegs Sought
Monday, August 17, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 178
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
17 August 2009
BEHAVIOR MPEGS SOUGHT
I am about to start teaching a first year course for non-science majors on the natural history of Georgia. I'm looking for short video segments (hopefully mpegs) of amphibian, reptilian and chelonian behavior and wondered if there was some repository for materials like this.
Any information would be much appreciated.
Gary D. Grossman
Professor of Animal Ecology
Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources
University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia 30602
gdgrossman@gmail.com
Boreal Toad Bounced
Wednesday, October 05, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
5 October 2005
. . . from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Southern Rocky Mountain Population of Boreal Toad No Longer Candidate for Listing
USFWS Contacts: Al Pfister(970)243-2778 x 29 or Diane Katzenberger (303)236-4578
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced the withdrawal of the Southern Rocky Mountain population of the Boreal Toad (Bufo boreas boreas) from the list of species being considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
The Service has determined that listing this population of the Boreal Toad at this time is not warranted because it does not constitute a distinct population segment as defined by the ESA. Although no further action will result from this finding, the Service will continue to seek new information on the taxonomy, biology, and ecology of the population, as well as potential threats to their continued existence.
A distinct population segment of a vertebrate species can be treated as a species for purposes of listing if that population segment satisfies specific standards set by the Service's regulations. The standards require it to be discrete from the remainder of the population and significant to the species to which it belongs. The Southern Rocky Mountain population meets the standard for discreteness because it is geographically separated from other populations of the Boreal Toad. However, it does not meet the standard for significance because 1) the population does not persist in an ecological setting unusual or unique for the subspecies (it occurs in a wide variety of habitats across the western United States); 2) the gap resulting from loss of the population would be a relatively small proportion of the overall subspecies range; and 3) the best available scientific information does not permit the Service to conclude that this particular population differs markedly from other populations in genetic characteristics.
The Boreal Toad, the nominate subspecies of the Western Toad (Bufo boreas), is found from coastal Alaska south through British Columbia, western Alberta, Washington, Oregon, and northern California, and east through Idaho, western Montana, western and south central Wyoming, western and central Nevada, the mountains of Utah and Colorado, and extreme northern New Mexico. The range of the Southern Rocky Mountain population of the Boreal Toad is south central Wyoming throughout the mountainous portions of Colorado and into extreme northern New Mexico .
In September 1993, the Biodiversity Legal Foundation and Dr. Peter Hovingh, a researcher at the University of Utah, petitioned the Service to list the Southern Rocky Mountain population of the Boreal Toad as endangered throughout its range in New Mexico, Colorado, and southern Wyoming. The Service initiated a status review and determined in March of 1995 that proposed listing was warranted but precluded by other higher priority actions. The population then became a candidate for listing.
Candidate species are plants and animals for which the Service has sufficient information on their biological status and posed threats to propose them as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act, but for which development of a listing regulation is precluded by other higher priority listing activities.
After further review of new information and re-evaluation of previously acquired information, the Service determined that listing is not warranted at this time. That decision was based on the best available scientific and commercial information.
A recovery plan for the Southern Rocky Mountain Boreal Toad guides conservation efforts for the population. Management activities include annual monitoring of breeding populations, experimental reintroductions, coordinated habitat protection, and public education.
This finding regarding the withdrawal of the Southern Rocky Mountain Boreal Toad as a candidate species was published in the Federal Register on 29 September 2005.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
*****
For greater comprehension, this release used the standard common names as they appeared in Collins & Taggart (2002, Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians. Fifth Edition), published by The Center for North American Herpetology and available gratis as a pdf download at
http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.asp
The CNAH list is the most recent and most comprehensive list of the herpetofauna of North America, and is the only such list updated daily and available online continuously.
*****
Boyd Lyon Fund Established
Sunday, September 17, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
17 September 2006
BOYD N. LYON FUND FOR SEA TURTLE RESEARCH ESTABLISHED
It has been but a few weeks since the sudden and tragic death of our friend and colleague, Boyd Lyon, and we are now growing keenly aware of the incredible spirit and passion that Boyd carried with him each day. Its truly amazing how many lives Boyd touched through his sea turtle research, even though he was part of our community for only a few years.
And so I take this opportunity to announce the formation of the BOYD N. LYON SEA TURTLE FUND in his memory, the proceeds of which will be used to support student research projects on Sea Turtles in the future. At the request of Boyd's family and closest friends, the Ocean Foundation has generously reserved the following URL
www.boydlyonseaturtlefund.org
which tells the story of Boyd Lyon and provides a way to make online donations to the fund. If Boyd touched your life, or even if you simply want to help out budding Sea Turtle researchers in the future, I encourage you to visit this website and make a donation, no matter how small.
Both Peter Pritchard and I have agreed to work with Boyd's family to develop the final criteria for awarding these student research funds, and we expect this information will be posted on the website very soon. In the meantime, keep Boyd's spirit alive by living your lives to the fullest.
Jeffrey Seminoff
The Ocean Foundation
jeffrey.seminoff@noaa.gov
Brain Body Data Desired
Wednesday, November 12, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 151
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
12 November 2008
BRAIN BODY DATA DESIRED
I wish to conduct an Independent Contrasts analysis of brain body data. My sample of 62 species includes crocodilians, chelonians, and squamates (but not the tuatara). I would appreciate any suggestions for sources of one or more phylogenies at the species level. My main source at the moment is the textbook by Zug et al., although the Tree of Life web site (http://tolweb.org/) lists some references. Any suggestions would be much appreciated and can be sent to:
ghurlburt70@yahoo.com
Grant Hurlburt
Departmental Associate, Paleobiology Division
Department of Natural History
Royal Ontario Museum
Ontario M5S 2C6 Canada
British Columbia Herps
Monday, September 19, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 55
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
19 September 2005
We request any institutions that have specimens of reptiles, turtles, or amphibians in their preserved scientific collections that originated from British Columbia, Canada, please share these records with us (at the very least, let us know that you have some). We are compiling a database and updating our range maps for the province, and have very little in the way of historical data.
Hard copies or electronic databases can be sent to either of the addresses below. Please contact me if you have anything in your collections.
Thank you.
Brent Matsuda
Wildlife Biologist
Stillwater Sciences
279 Cousteau Place, Suite 400
Davis, California 95616
(530) 756-7550 x 228
Fax. (530) 756-7586
brent@stillwatersci.com
www.stillwatersci.com
or
984 West Broadway
P. O. Box 53510
Vancouver, British Columbia
V5Z 1K0 Canada
brent_matsuda@yahoo.ca
Brook Sallies for Beth
Thursday, January 22, 2009: St. George Island, Florida - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 156
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
22 January 2009
EURYCEA TISSUE SAMPLES SOUGHT
I am seeking tissues from Eurycea longicauda longicauda, E. l. melanopleura, and E. lucifuga for my graduate thesis project examining the geographic genetic variation and phylogeography of the E. longicauda complex. I am specifically looking for tissues collected from eastern Missouri, eastern Arkansas, southern Illinois and western Kentucky. Frozen or ethanol-preserved tail-clippings or liver/muscle samples are preferred.
If you have tissues collected from these areas (under proper permitting regulations), please contact me. Shipping costs will be covered.
Thanks in advance for contributions to this project.
Elizabeth K. Timpe
Masters Candidate
Department of Biological Sciences
Oliphant Hall – 800 South Tucker Drive
University of Tulsa
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104
elizabeth-timpe@utulsa.edu
(678) 699-0579
Bullfrog Disease Transmission
Thursday, September 11, 2003: Emerging Infectious Diseases. August Issue. - HerpDigest
Emerging Pathogen of Wild Amphibians in Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) Farmed for International Trade.
Authors: Rolando Mazzoni, Andrew A. Cunningham, Peter Daszak, Ada Apolo, Eugenio Perdomo, and Gustavo Speranza
Abstract: Chytridiomycosis is an emerging disease responsible for a series of global population declines and extinctions of amphibians. We report the causative agent, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, in North American Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) farmed for the international restaurant trade. Our findings suggest that international trade may play a key role in the global dissemination of this and other emerging infectious diseases in wildlife. For the entire article go to
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol9no8/030030.htm
where a word version and a downloadable Pdf version of the article are available.
Bullfrog Fungus Farming
Thursday, September 28, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
28 September 2006
The emerging amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis globally infects introduced populations of the North American Bullfrog, Rana catesbeiana
2006 Biology Letters 2: 455–459
Trenton W. J. Garner, Matthew W. Perkins, Purnima Govindarajulu, Daniele Seglie, Susan Walker, Andrew A. Cunningham and Matthew C. Fisher
Abstract: Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is the chytridiomycete fungus which has been implicated in global amphibian declines and numerous species extinctions. Here, we show that introduced North American Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) consistently carry this emerging pathogenic fungus. We detected infections by this fungus on introduced Bullfrogs from seven of eight countries using both PCR and microscopic techniques. Only native Bullfrogs from eastern
Canada and introduced Bullfrogs from Japan showed no sign of infection. The Bullfrog is the most commonly farmed amphibian, and escapes and subsequent establishment of feral populations regularly occur. These factors taken together with our study suggest that the global threat of B. dendrobatidis disease transmission posed by Bullfrogs is significant.
A gratis downloadable pdf of this paper is available from the CNAH PDF Library at
http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.asp
Burned Turtle Backs
Friday, April 22, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 39
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
22 April 2005
Box up those Burned Turtle Backs
I am investigating evidence of fire-scarring in fossil Box Turtles from the Pleistocene of the southeastern U.S. In order to better characterize the scars of fossil box turtles, I first need to identify and examine modern fire-scarring. Therefore, I am looking for shells (carapace mainly) or more importantly carcasses of North American Box Turtles (genus Terrapene) that I can burn in a controlled wildfire and analyze.
I seek assistance from the herpetology community to help me locate carcasses for this project. I do not need many, but at least a few to better analyze what exactly happens to a turtle shell during burning. Specimens that have been definitively burned previously would also be helpful.
Dana J. Ehret
School of Natural Resources and Environment
University of Florida
and The Florida Museum of Natural History
I can be contacted at:
killerd@ufl.edu
dehret@flmnh.ufl.edu
(352) 871-7944
Butler's Garter Snake
Tuesday, July 22, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
22 July 2008
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACTION ALERT – BUTLER’S GARTER SNAKE IN TROUBLE
DEADLINE 31 July 2008
Send comments to (via mail, fax, or email):
Rori Paloski
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Bureau of Endangered Resources
101 South Webster Street, P. O. Box 7921
Madison, Wisconsin 53707-7921
608-264-6040
608-266-2925 (fax)
Rori.Paloski@Wisconsin.gov
NOTICE: The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is changing the way it interprets its authority and definition of "Take" under the Wisconsin Endangered Species Law, and proposing a new "regulatory framework" for the BUTLER'S GARTER SNAKE. These changes would remove most protections for habitat utilized by Endangered and Threatened Species, substantially reducing the Department's regulatory jurisdiction. The new BUTLER'S GARTER SNAKE "framework" would allow unregulated development of most upland habitat utilized by the snake for its life cycle. The Department is already implementing these changes without public notice. Comments on these actions are needed by 31 July 2008.
NEW INTERPRETATION OF TAKE REMOVES MOST HABITAT PROTECTIONS FOR ALL ENDANGERED AND THREATENED SPECIES.
Background: The proposed "regulatory framework" is based on a new legal interpretation of "Take" and the Department's jurisdiction, which suggests that if no animals are immediately and obviously killed by an action, a "Take" is avoided and the Department has no authority, even if the actions result in significant harm to the resource, or deaths which are not immediately observed. This new interpretation does not acknowledge that destroying a species habitat harms individuals of the species, and does not acknowledge that a Take occurs when mortality results when individuals return to a lost habitat area and cannot find food or shelter, and through loss of reproductive potential and increased mortality from overcrowding in remaining habitat (if any remains). Such mortality would be a direct result of the unregulated habitat loss. The Department also takes no account of cumulative harm, jeopardy, or viability of the resource resulting from these habitat and population losses. This new interpretation essentially removes protections for all Endangered and Threatened species in many, if not most, situations. It allows a person to simply shoo an animal off, or wait for it walk, crawl or fly away, perhaps to get a drink of water, and then destroy the habitat upon which it depends. For the BUTLER'S GARTER SNAKE, which feeds almost exclusively on earthworms (which do not occupy saturated wetland soils), upland habitat is crucial for obtaining food and shelter, and incubating embryos. The snakes depend upon grasses and other vegetation for shelter from predators. Pregnant females seek warm upland sunlit areas adjacent to grasses (to which they flee when disturbed). Such basking sites are crucial to embryonic development in this cold-blooded species so proper temperatures can be achieved. Loss of upland habitat would crowd snakes into wetlands, where many would succumb to lack of food and shelter from the elements, overcrowding, and increased predation. Snakes hidden within upland soil and duff retreats at the time of grading, where they take shelter for the night, sit out periods of hot dry weather, and hibernate, would simply be crushed by heavy equipment.
ACTION: Oppose the new interpretation of "Take" and the Department's giving up their jurisdiction. Point out that wildlife depends upon habitat and will die if habitat is destroyed.
THE DEPARTMENT SHOULD CEASE IMPLEMENTING THE PROPOSED NEW BROAD AUTHORIZATION MEASURES WITHOUT A PUBLIC NOTICE PERIOD, AND RESCIND AUTHORIZATIONS ALREADY ISSUED.
Background: The DNR has issued a "regulatory framework" for selected (stakeholder) public review. They are holding meetings about it with stakeholders, and state they will develop a new Broad Authorization based on it after comments are received. The new Broad Authorization will be public noticed and vetted by the Natural Resources Board. If similar to the "framework" being distributed, this Broad Authorization will automatically approve the Take that results from projects which follow certain minimization measures, such as snake fencing, snake removals, and staying 300 feet away from wetland boundaries. However, the Department, by a form letter being distributed to parties currently in the BUTLER'S GARTER SNAKE approval process, appears to be implementing the substance of the proposed new Broad Authorization before it is public noticed or reviewed by the NRB.
ACTION: Ask that the Department cease implementing the proposed new Broad Authorization measures without a public notice period, and rescind authorizations already issued. Note that this action does not respect the public review process.
THE DEPARTMENT INCORRECTLY CHARACTERIZES MINIMIZATION MEASURES AS AVOIDANCE.
Background: The "regulatory framework" lists a number of measures which minimize Take of snakes (numbered 5-8). These measures are also listed in the form letter numbered 1-4. The draft regulatory framework correctly refers to these as avoidance measures which minimize Take, but the form letter contradicts this and states these measures actually avoid Take. As a point of fact, these measures do not avoid Take, they only minimize it. The Department's own research, for example, documented that snakes occupy habitat more than 300 ft from a wetland boundary (Joppa, L.N. and S.A. Temple. 2005. Use of upland habitat by BUTLER'S GARTER SNAKE (Thamnophis butleri). Bull. Chicago Herpetological Soc. 40(12):221-227.), and ample evidence exists of snakes crossing fence lines and over-wintering in uplands. The incorrect portrayal of minimization measures as complete avoidance is the basis for the removal of protections, and unsupported by science.
ACTION: Oppose the mis-characterization of measures which only minimize Take as complete avoidance. Provide the Department with any observations you have of snakes over-wintering in uplands, snakes fences failing from poor upkeep, snakes found in the "wrong" side of the fence, and snakes observed more than 300 feet from a wetland boundary.
THE PROPOSED REGULATORY FRAMEWORK ALLOWS TAKE WITH NO MITIGATION OR CONSERVATION MEASURES.
Background: The "regulatory framework" lists a number of measures which minimize Take of snakes (numbered 5-8). If any of these measures are implemented, the draft framework allows the project to proceed with no further review, ceding its authority to require conservation measures to avoid cumulative harm and jeopardy. This will result in nearly complete loss of the upland habitats upon which the species depends, with no mitigation required.
ACTION: Support the requirement to minimize Take but only if conservation measures are subsequently required to mitigate impacts and avoid long term harm to the species and communities upon which it depends. These requirements should include wetland buffers and preservation and restoration of upland habitat impacted.
UNSUPPORTED DEFINITION OF OVER-WINTERING HABITAT ALLOWS UNREGULATED TAKE.
Background: The "regulatory framework" uses an unsupported definition of "over-wintering habitat", essentially equating it with wetlands. This is repeated in the form letter. However, there is ample evidence that snakes hibernate in certain upland situations, such as crayfish burrows, rotted tree root channels, loose fill, and old foundations. The Department acknowledges this by claiming they will study the matter. The assertion that BUTLER'S GARTER SNAKE only hibernate in wetlands is not supported by a single scientist, and the Take associated with developing upland overwintering sites is being allowed without regulation.
ACTION: Oppose the unregulated Take of snakes in upland hibernating sites. Provide the Department with observations of snakes emerging from upland hibernating sites.
CUMULATIVE HARM AND JEOPARDY.
Background: The "regulatory framework", if approved as a new Broad Authorization, would provide a path leading to essentially no protections for the upland habitat portion of the BUTLER'S GARTER SNAKE critical habitat (in most cases), clearly resulting in significant harm to the resource, with no jeopardy analysis performed. The current "regulatory framework" does not acknowledge this, takes no account of cumulative harm, and cedes the Department's authority and obligation to protect the resource. This raises moral issues.
ACTION: Oppose the changes allowing unregulated Take with no habitat preservation, no jeopardy assessment, and no recognition of cumulative harm. Remind the Department of its obligation to protect endangered resources.
CAAR Accounts 2003
Friday, August 29, 2003: Kansas City, Missouri - SSAR
The Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles, sponsored by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (and Turtles and Crocodilians), recently issued twenty new accounts for 2003, eleven of which pertain to North America (north of Mexico). They are:
Necturus alabamensis Black Warrior Waterdog by Bailey & Moler CAAR 761
Hyla cinerea Green Treefrog by Redmer & Brandon CAAR 766
Sceloporus slevini Bunchgrass Lizard by Watkins-Colwell, Smith & Chiszar CAAR 771
Xantusia gracilis Sandstone Night Lizard by Lovich & Grismer CAAR 772
Carphophis Worm Snakes by Ernst, Orr & Creque CAAR 773
Carphophis amoenus Eastern Worm Snake by Ernst, Orr & Creque CAAR 774
Carphophis vermis Western Worm Snake by Ernst, Orr & Creque CAAR 775
Liochlorophis Smooth Green Snakes by Walley CAAR 776
Liochlorophis vernalis Smooth Green Snake by Walley CAAR 776
Regina alleni Striped Crayfish Snake by Dorcas, Poppy, Ernst & Gibbons CAAR 778
Thamnophis radix Plains Garter Snake by Walley, Wusterbarth & Stanford CAAR 779
Copies can be ordered from the SSAR (check elsewhere on the CNAH web site under Herpetological Societies: National)
CAAR Accounts 2004
Monday, December 27, 2004: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
27 December 2004
The Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles, sponsored by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, recently issued new accounts for 2004, three of which pertain to North America (north of Mexico). They are:
Desmognathus folkertsi Dwarf Blackbelly Salamander by Camp CAAR 782
Plethodon petraeus Pigeon Mountain Salamander by Jensen & Camp CAAR 783
Trachemys gaigeae Mexican Plateau Slider by Stuart & Ernst CAAR 787
Copies can be ordered from the SSAR (check elsewhere on the CNAH web site under Herpetological Societies: National) at:
http://www.cnah.org/societies.asp?id=4
CAAR Accounts 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
27 March 2006
The Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles, sponsored by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, recently issued twenty new accounts for 2006, one of which pertains to North America (north of Mexico). It is:
Plethodon angusticlavius Ozark Zigzag Salamander by Meshaka and Trauth CAAR 804
Copies can be ordered from the SSAR (check elsewhere on the CNAH web site under Herpetological Societies: National) at:
http://www.cnah.org/societies.asp?id=4
CAAR Accounts 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
26 February 2007
The Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles, sponsored by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, recently mailed twenty new accounts (all dated 2006), three of which pertain to North America (north of Mexico). They are:
CAAR 830 - Leptodactylus fragilis (White-lipped Frog) by Heyer, Heyer, and de Sá
CAAR 831 - Trachemys scripta (Slider) by Seidel and Ernst
CAAR 840 - Crotalus ruber (Red Diamond Rattlesnake) by Beaman and Dugan
Copies can be ordered from the SSAR (check elsewhere on the CNAH web site under Herpetological Societies: National) at:
http://www.cnah.org/societies.asp?id=4
*****
CNAH Note 1: Leptodactylus fragilis (formerly L. labialis) has been called the White-lipped Frog for over half a century; inserting "Thin-toed" in the above CAAR account to create the phrase "White-lipped Thin-toed Frog" makes the name so long and cumbersome that no one will use it. CNAH will continue to use the traditional standard common name White-lipped Frog.
CNAH Note 2: Trachemys scripta has been called simply the Slider for over half a century; inserting "Pond" in the above CAAR account to create the name "Pond Slider" is truly unfortunate (and will be very confusing to non-herpetologists) because this turtle lives in rivers and streams as commonly as it does lakes and ponds. CNAH will continue to use the traditional standard common name Slider. Adding "Pond" to the common name of this chelonian makes it a misnomer.
*****
CAAR Accounts 2008
Monday, June 09, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
9 June 2008
The Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles, sponsored by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, recently mailed twenty new accounts, three of which pertain to North America (north of Mexico). They are:
CAAR 848 - Anniella (Legless Lizards) by Lawrence E. Hunt
CAAR 850 – Anniella pulchra (California Legless Lizard) by Lawrence E. Hunt
CAAR 856 – Sceloporus poinsettii (Crevice Spiny Lizard) by Robert G. Webb
Copies can be ordered from the SSAR (check elsewhere on the CNAH web site under Herpetological Societies: National) at:
http://www.cnah.org/societies.asp?id=4
CAAR Accounts 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
23 March 2010
CAAR ACCOUNTS 2010
The Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles, sponsored by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, recently mailed twenty new accounts, four of which pertain to North America (north of Mexico). They are:
CAAR 861 – Desmognathus abditus (Cumberland Dusky Salamander)
by Steve G. Tilley
CAAR 862 – Gyrinophilus gulolineatus (Berry Cave Salamander)
by Matthew L. Niemiller & Brian T. Miller
CAAR 866 – Pseudacris ornata (Ornate Chorus Frog)
by Brad M. Glorioso
CAAR 871 – Gambelia copeii (Cope's Leopard Lizard)
by C. R. Mahrdt, James A. McGuire & Kent R. Beaman
Copies can be ordered from the SSAR (check elsewhere on the CNAH web site under Herpetological Societies: National) at:
http://www.cnah.org/societies.asp?id=4
Cajun Chelonian Capture
Friday, June 23, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
23 June 2006
Trapping Survey Results for the Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) in Southeastern Louisiana, with Comments on Exploitation
by Jeff Boundy & Curtis Kennedy
2006. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 5(1): 3–9
ABSTRACT. – Two hundred Alligator Snapping Turtles were trapped at an average rate of 0.057 turtles per trap-night in all but 1 of 33 sites in southeastern Louisiana. Trap rate varied between
sites, by harvest pressure levels at sites, and by season, but not by hydrology. Perceived trap rate differences under different harvest regimes appeared to be a function of seasonal differences in trap rate. No differences in sex ratio or percentage of immature turtles were detected between sites, harvest regimes, seasons, or water-body types. Turtle weight varied between harvest regimes and hydrology. Weight–length relations for turtles was highly correlated and similar between sexes, except that males continued to grow to larger sizes than females (males averaged 150% female weight and 118% female carapace length). Sex ratio was 1:1, and immature turtles made up 48% of the total. Average sizes of turtles were very similar between Louisiana and turtles from surveys in several other states. Population structure differed between surveys, with Louisiana having a higher percentage of immature turtles and lower trap rate than elsewhere. Population differences could not entirely be explained by differences in harvest regimes between states. Largescale turtle butchering operations in southern Louisiana have closed, as has commercial harvest. Anecdotal reports that Alligator Snappers were nearly extirpated from a heavily harvested site proved erroneous. Resurvey of sites to determine current population trends is recommended.
This article is available as a gratis downloadable reprint from the CNAH PDF Library at:
http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.asp
Calif Herp Checklist Online
Thursday, July 15, 2010: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
15 July 2010
Now available
CALIFORNIA HERPETOFAUNAL CHECKLIST ONLINE
UPDATED DAILY
Made available as a gratis service by CNAH, the herpetofaunal checklist of the state of California is done and has been uploaded. Based on the CNAH North American list, this state checklist will be updated daily and simultaneously with the CNAH list when new discoveries are published that change the higher taxonomy (genus and family) of these creatures. Species-level changes will also be posted daily, but will not change on the California web site until evaluated by systematists and published in the print version of the next edition of the CNAH common and scientific names list; these proposed changes (and their citations) will, however, be immediately accessible through the California checklist, just as they are for the CNAH main list.
Most importantly, California joins the other provinces and states of North America in having available standardized common names, eliminating the confusion and mistakes that can occur when these names are not uniform. Of special interest, the completion of the California list demonstrates the substantial value of having standardized common names for the entire Pacific coast of North America, from Alaska in the north to the sunny Golden Bear state in the south. This, coupled with scientific names that are updated daily as researchers publish their newest discoveries, makes the CNAH North American herpetofaunal checklists the single most valuable resource for government wildlife agencies, natural heritage programs, land managers, refuge managers and biologists, museums, universities, and zoological parks.
It is very important to use standardized common names for amphibians, reptiles, turtles, and crocodilians; doing so not only creates an historical trail through time, but also maintains a stability in the present as we embrace the turbulent taxonomic changes that are occurring now and will occur in the future. The CNAH checklist program is the only authoritative coordinated herpetofaunal listing for the provinces and states of North America (north of Mexico), and brings stability to the taxonomy of these creatures across the continent.
******
To view any or all of the available North American provincial or state checklists, go to
http://www.cnah.org/state_list.asp
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Calif Tiger Candidate
Saturday, February 28, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
27 February 2009
CALIFORNIA TIGER SALAMANDER DECLARED CANDIDATE
FOR LISTING UNDER CALIFORNIA ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
Court Order Required to Force State to Accept Listing Petition
SACRAMENTO, Calif.— The California Fish and Game Commission last week formally designated the California Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma californiense) as a candidate for threatened or endangered status under the California Endangered Species Act, extending legal protections to the species for one year while a status review is conducted. The Commission was forced by a Center for Biological Diversity petition and lawsuit, and a recent court of appeals ruling, to make the designation, and yesterday also illegally approved interim “take” regulations that improperly exempt projects that may harm tiger salamanders from the interim take protections under the Act.
“Despite the Fish and Game Commission’s misguided attempts to repeatedly deny protected status to the California Tiger Salamander, the candidate designation sets the listing process back on the right track and should ultimately result in the tiger salamander getting the state protected status it deserves,” said Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Every expert biologist who studies the California Tiger Salamander has weighed in and recommended the species be listed.”
The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the Commission in 2004 to list the California Tiger Salamander as endangered due to the impacts of urban and agricultural development. The Santa Barbara County salamander population has been listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act since 2000, as has the Sonoma County population since 2003. The central California population has been federally listed as threatened since 2004.
The Commission rejected the petition in 2004, falsely claiming it did not contain all of the data necessary to prove the salamander population deserved protection. The Center filed suit, and the Commission was forced by court order and a state appeals court ruling in September 2008 to accept the petition. The state Supreme Court refused to review the appeals court ruling. The Commission last week voted 3-2 for candidacy, clearly reluctant to protect the species. One Commissioner repeatedly referred to the presence of California Tiger Salamanders on private land as a “salamander problem” and referred to the court that issued the petition acceptance order as a “jerks” and “stupid.”
The Commission also voted Thursday to implement incidental “take” regulation containing overly broad exemptions that allow projects to harm California Tiger Salamanders without conducting an adequate review under the California Environmental Quality Act.
State candidate species are afforded many of the legal protections of endangered or threatened species while a year-long status review is conducted. A final state listing determination for the California Tiger Salamander is due in February 2010.
The court decision on the California Tiger Salamander has potential implications for other poorly monitored species, since the court ruled that the Commission must consider a listing petition if the information would “lead a reasonable person to conclude there is a substantial possibility” that the species could be listed.
In 2008 the Commission denied a listing petition to protect the American Pika, a small relative of the rabbit, which is threatened by warming temperatures due to global climate change. In 2008 it also denied a petition to protect the Pacific Fisher, a small forest carnivore that is related to otters and is threatened by logging and development in California. In both cases, the Commission claimed a lack of information prevented it from acting to protect the species. The Commission last week voted to reconsider the fisher petition rejection at its March meeting, due to the California Tiger Salamander ruling, but is expected to reject the fisher petition once again.
The California Tiger Salamander depends on ephemeral vernal pools for breeding. In recent decades 95 percent of California’s vernal pools have been lost, and at least 75 percent of the salamander’s habitat throughout the state has been eliminated. In Sonoma County, 95 percent of the fragmented and minimal remaining salamander habitat is threatened by development; the Santa Barbara population is also on the verge of extinction. The Sonoma population survives in only seven viable breeding sites and the Santa Barbara population consists of only six breeding groups.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a nonprofit conservation organization with 200,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Jeff Miller
Center for Biological Diversity
351 California Street, Suite 600
San Francisco, California 94104
Phone: (415) 436-9682 x303
Fax: (415) 436-9683
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/
Calif Tiger Crawls Close
Monday, September 08, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
8 September 2008
CALIFORNIA TIGER SALAMANDER MOVES CLOSER TO PROTECTION UNDER CALIFORNIA ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
Appeals Court Reaffirms that State Fish and Game Commission Improperly Rejected Petition to List Salamander
SACRAMENTO—The California state appeals court ruled that the California Fish and Game Commission must consider a petition to list the California Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma californiense) as an endangered species under the California Endangered Species Act. In a decision with potential implications for other poorly monitored species, the court ruled that the Fish and Game Commission must consider a listing petition if the information would “lead a reasonable person to conclude there is a substantial possibility” that the species could be listed.
“The Fish and Game Commission ignored the multitude of known threats to the Tiger Salamander and dismissed the petition, falsely claiming it did not contain all of the data necessary to prove the salamander population may deserve protection,” said Brian Nowicki of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Today’s ruling should set the listing process back on the right track and ultimately result in the Tiger Salamander getting the state protected status it deserves.”
The decision reaffirms an earlier court decision that rejected the Fish and Game Commission’s claim that there was insufficient proof that the salamander was imperiled. The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the Commission in 2004 to list the California Tiger Salamander as endangered due to the impacts of urban and agricultural development.
“California deserves better than relying on court orders to compel the Fish and Game Commission to uphold the law to protect the state’s wildlife,” said Nowicki. “Unfortunately, the Commission continues to use this same discredited reasoning to improperly reject other petitions to protect imperiled wildlife.”
The California Tiger Salamander is now set to advance to the status of candidate for state listing. The Santa Barbara County salamander population has been listed as Endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act since 2000, as has the Sonoma County population since 2003. The central California population has been federally listed as Threatened since 2004.
The California Tiger Salamander depends on ephemeral vernal pools for breeding, but in recent decades ninety-five percent of California’s vernal pools have already been lost, and at least 75 percent of the salamander’s habitat throughout the state has been eliminated. In Sonoma County, 95 percent of the fragmented and minimal remaining salamander habitat is threatened by development; the Santa Barbara population is also on the verge of extinction.
In April, the Commission denied a listing petition to protect the American Pika, a small relative of the rabbit, which is threatened by warming temperatures due to global climate change. In July, the Commission denied a petition to protect the Pacific Fisher, a small forest carnivore related to otters, which is threatened by logging and development in California. In both cases, the Commission claimed a lack of information prevented them from acting to protect the species.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a nonprofit conservation organization with 180,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Jeff Miller
Conservation Advocate
Center for Biological Diversity
351 California Street, Suite 600
San Francisco, California 94104
Phone: (415) 436-9682 x 303
http://www.biologicaldiversity.orgCalifornia Herp Concerns
Wednesday, July 08, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
8 July 2009
ANNOUNCEMENT: CALIFORNIA'S SENSITIVE HERPETOFAUNAL SPECIES UPDATE
California’s list of Amphibian, Turtle, and Reptile Species of Special Concern (ARSSC) is a critical component of the management and protection of amphibians, turtles, and reptiles in the state. The current California ATRSSC list is undergoing a complete revision to better reflect those taxa that require some measure of conservation to stabilize populations and avoid future listing under the California Endangered Species Act. To date, the ATRSSC revision team has developed a set of risk metrics, compiled a list of nominee taxa, and completed a preliminary risk assessment for each nominee based on literature reviews and locality information. Now, we need your help to make sure that we have the most accurate and complete list possible of SSC for potential inclusion in the final list. The best list will require input from as many knowledgeable biologists as possible. If you have data, well-documented field experience, or unpublished observations that are relevant to California’s amphibian, turtle, and reptile fauna, we invite you to share them with us.
Further details, risk assessments, and instructions for submitting feedback are available at
http://arssc.ucdavis.edu
The public comment period closes 31 August 2009.
Bob Thomson (rcthomson@ucdavis.edu)
Amber Wright (anwright@ucdavis.edu)
Brad Shaffer (hbshaffer@ucdavis.edu)
Center for Population Biology
University of California
Davis, California 95616
California Tiger Listed
Friday, March 05, 2010: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
5 March 2010
CALIFORNIA TIGER SALAMANDER LISTED AS THREATENED SPECIES
I attended the California Department of Fish and Game Commission hearing yesterday in Ontario, California, where the Commission voted 3 yea - 2 nay to list the California Tiger Salamander as a Threatened Species under the California Endangered Species Act.
Congratulations and thanks to all that have worked so hard over the years to gain protection for this declining species. And thanks to all that submitted letters.
ILeene Anderson
Biologist/Public Lands Desert Director
Center for Biological Diversity
PMB 447
8033 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90046
(323) 654-5943
ianderson@biologicaldiversity.org
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org
California Tiger Salamanders
Tuesday, March 18, 2003: Sacramento, California - FrogLog April 2003
The US Fish & Wildlife Service officially listed the Sonoma County (California) population of the California Tiger Salamander as Endangered under the US Endangered Species Act. The Center for Biodiversity filed suit for the listing in January 2002 and the subsequent settlement mandated that the USFWS list the species on an emergency basis on 22 July 2002, with a final listing mandated on or before 19 March 2003.Canadian Coluber
Wednesday, September 20, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 98
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
20 September 2006
CANADIAN COLUBER CONSTRICTOR CROSSING?
I would like to obtain information on the former (present?) occurence of Coluber constrictor in the state of New York near its border with Ontario. Most field guides that I've seen (including Conant and Collins 1998) portray the range of this species as reaching up to the border at Niagara. I recently came across an Ontario Geological Survey report (Karrow 1987) that documents the discovery of a Coluber constictor "fossil" near Hamilton, Ontario -- a locality not far from the U.S.-Canadian border. Although this specimen is reported as dating to ca. 4200 years before present, if accurate, it would potentially be proof of the former presence of Eastern Racers in Ontario. Although this wouldn't have any bearing on whether the Eastern Racer was in this part of Ontario in historic times, it does suggest such a possibility, especially if U.S. populations really do come so close to the border area at Niagara. I would appreciate hearing from anyone that knows of records for Coluber constrictor near Niagara.
Jeff Rowell
Toronto, Canada
jeff.rowell@rogers.com
Cane Toad Data Desired
Monday, May 15, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 83
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
15 May 2006
CANE TOAD (CHAUNUS [formerly Bufo] MARINUS) LOCALITY INFORMATION REQUESTED
We are conducting bioclimatic modeling studies on the Cane Toad, and we need locality information. Ideally, this information would be available with latitude and longitude (GPS), but if you have detailed textual locality information we can use that as well. We have downloaded this information from HerpNet, but many sites are not in HerpNet. If you have any locality information (and/or other information on the species that you would like to share), I would be grateful to receive it. Please send it to me at the following address (email preferred):
Leslie Rissler
Assistant Professor
Box 870345 MHB Hall
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487
rissler@bama.ua.edu
(205) 348-4052
Carolina Herp Atlas Online
Wednesday, March 21, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
21 March 2007
The Carolina Herp Atlas, developed by the Davidson College Herpetology Laboratory, is a online database that uses observations by researchers and citizen scientists to track reptile, turtle, and amphibian distributions in North and South Carolina. The Carolina Herp Atlas offers a simple but effective way to maintain a personal database of reptile, turtle, and amphibian observations. County-level distribution maps can be viewed by anyone who visits the atlas.
Features include:
Log in with username and password requirements to protect privacy.
Species identification web pages to help users correctly identify species.
Geolocator is available to help users pinpoint the exact location of their observation.
Digital photographs can be uploaded for verification of each record.
Each observation is stored in a personal database.
Records can be selected and viewed on a map; data and picture for each observation is presented.
http://www.carolinaherpatlas.org
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For greater accuracy, comprehension, and ease of use, this atlas has adopted the traditional, standard common names for North American species maintained by Collins & Taggart (2002. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians. Fifth Edition), published by The Center for North American Herpetology (available as a pdf at the CNAH web site) and updated daily online.
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Cars Crush Chelonians
Tuesday, October 23, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
23 October 2007
PROTECTION A SHELL CAN'T PROVIDE
TEAM WORKS TO MOVE TURTLES FROM PLANNED HIGHWAY'S PATH
Jenna Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Their short tails beat back and forth faster as their noses concentrated on a pile of rotting wood, wet leaves and thorny brush in the dense Montgomery County forest. "Look, look," said John Rucker, a turtle activist from Tennessee, pointing at his three Boykin spaniels. "Think they found one." Sure enough, Sparky brought his snout out of the brush with a yellow-spotted Eastern Box Turtle carefully clutched in his teeth.
The half-dozen turtle hunters were combing the woods yesterday along the planned route for Maryland's intercounty connector, which could replace the turtle-friendly habitat with a six-lane toll highway. The aim is to catalogue and fit the turtles with transmitters so they can be rounded up and evacuated from the area when, or if, construction begins.
State Highway Administration officials are heeding the advice of their Box Turtle advisory committee with an "environmental stewardship" campaign to save the turtles from being crushed under bulldozers or trapped under the asphalt, said Robert Shreeve, the connector's environmental manager. The campaign, which began about a month ago, is estimated to cost up to $20,000. Unlike deer, birds, and other woodland and wetland creatures in the area, turtles "are slow-moving and have a very difficult time getting out of the way," Shreeve said during a news conference in the woods yesterday morning.
Major construction on the long-delayed highway was set to begin Oct. 16th but has been put on hold as a federal judge considers two lawsuits alleging that Maryland officials did not properly evaluate the highway's environmental impact. The 18-mile highway would run north of the Capital Beltway connecting Interstate 270 in Gaithersburg and Interstate 95 in Laurel. U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. began hearing arguments Monday and is expected to rule this month. While the lawsuits are pending, highway officials and activists are continuing with turtle relocation plans. They have found 90 turtles and hope to bring that number to 150. Some of the creatures were tagged with donated transmitters and released in the spots where they were found, but most are being held in a pen until the transmitters the highway administration ordered arrive.
If the judge rules in the state's favor and major construction begins, officials will locate the turtles, who will probably be hibernating under four to six inches of dirt and leaves. The best way to move "pretty much comatose" turtles is to work on a cold day and keep the turtles at a constant low temperature, said Christopher W. Swarth, a committee member and director of Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary in Anne Arundel County.
They will then place the turtles in a new hibernation hole on the other side of the highway construction fence, which will be reinforced with thin mesh so the turtles can't crawl back in. Shreeve said construction workers will also be trained on what to do if they spot a turtle: Pick it up and alert the environmentalists. The activists involved said none of them has ever moved this many turtles before -- and they aren't sure whether it will work. "Just because we'll pick up buckets of turtles doesn't mean they'll still be around in a few years," Swarth said.
Eastern Box Turtles can be found in many spots in the region, the activists said, but their population is slowly dwindling for a number of reasons: low egg counts, collisions with fast-moving cars, dwindling habitats, pesticides and, yes, children with sticks. Moving a whole population of turtles, even a few miles, could be enough for that species to disappear from the area.
Turtles hardly ever venture more than a few miles from their home, said Susan Hagood of the Humane Society of the United States. Turtles that are transplanted usually don't settle down, she said, and instead keep wandering in search of home. Plus, the little guys might not be happy being pulled out of hibernation. "We're trying something that history has said doesn't work," she said. "But with a declining species, we can't do nothing."
Although the activists said they were glad the highway administration has publicly supported saving the turtles, they worry that the support came too late. Committee member Sandy Barnett, a longtime herpetologist, said that the panel formed nearly a year ago and that highway officials should have started the process in June so they could mark the turtles before they started their fall hibernation routine. She is also upset that the transmitters have not arrived and will be too large for some of the baby turtles. "It's a $2.4 billion [highway] project," she said. "They have all of these funds to allocate, and they can't take care of these turtles?"
Cars Crush Chelonians
Thursday, September 04, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 146
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
4 September 2008
CARS CRUSH CHELONIANS
Much recent research has corroborated that freshwater turtle populations are negatively impacted by roads. This impact is largely due to the mortality of females undergoing nesting migrations. Clearly, effective mitigation must incorporate the spatial ecology of female turtles.
To help bridge the gap between research and policy, it is necessary to review distances that freshwater turtles nest from wetlands. By determining the distance that female turtles typically migrate to nest, guidelines can be developed regarding appropriate buffer sizes required to protect them.
The type of natural history information required is rarely reported in the published scientific literature. For this reason we are contacting all who may have unpublished data or observations regarding turtle nest locations to determine if they would be willing to share such information. Our goal is a scientific publication describing core habitat sizes required to protect nesting females of North American freshwater turtles. Our hope is to build on the initial work by R. D. Semlitsch et al. by focusing on a particularly vulnerable group (i.e. female turtles) and including unpublished data.
This effort extends a previous, successful effort to pool and interpret data from many field biologists on the sexes of turtles on roadways, which resulted in a publication that focused attention on the need to protect females from roads. We also plan on creating an independent document detailing nest distances for each species for which data are available that can be easily used and interpreted by land managers and policy makers.
For each observation of an individual turtle nest, we request genus and species of turtle, date of observation (year), location (state), and distance to likely wetland of origin (i.e. nearest wetland). Ancillary data are welcome, particularly relating type of wetland.
Please consider contributing data and contact us with any questions. Thank you in advance for your attention and assistance.
David A. Steen & James P. Gibbs
DavidASteen@gmail.comCaudate Cousins Count
Friday, August 26, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
26 August 2005
Judge: USFWS Wrong
Court Claims California Tiger Salamander Cousins should be Classified as Endangered
Janene Scully, Associate Editor
Lompoc (California) Record
A judge has ruled that a federal agency ignored scientific evidence and therefore erred when it reduced protections for California Tiger Salamanders in Santa Barbara and Sonoma counties.
In a decision filed Friday, which was hailed by environmentalists and criticized by farmers, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup from the Northern District of California set aside the Fish and Wildlife Service's 2004 rule. That rule labeled Tiger Salamanders in both counties and the rest of Central California as threatened. Previous emergency listings had designated salamanders in Santa Barbara and Sonoma counties as endangered.
But two environmental groups, the Environmental Defense Center and the Center for Biological Diversity, sued the agency last year, challenging its decision to change salamander protections. "It would be unseemly for a court to leave in place a rule that was so riddled with error," the judge wrote, adding that the federal agency's own scientists had supported higher protections for Santa Barbara and Sonoma salamander populations. The decision to eliminate "distinct population segments" in the two counties was "arbitrary and capricious," the judge added.
Scientists believe salamanders in Santa Barbara and Sonoma counties are different from cousins in Central California, and therefore in danger of dying out, though farmers, ranchers, developers and officials strongly disagree. "The final rule was bereft of any analysis ... The prior finding of discreteness was ignored. The prior finding of biological and ecological significance was ignored," the ruling said, calling the agency's rule "substantially and procedurally flawed."
The judge noted the "twists and turns" that demonstrated irregularities in the agency's decision to remove the more stringent protections against the recommendations of scientists. Karen Kraus, an attorney with the Santa Barbara-based Environmental Defense Center, praised the newest ruling. "Our goal was to see the endangered status for the Santa Barbara County population reinstated," Kraus said. "That's what the judge did. The result is, things are returning to the status quo that existed prior to the Service's ruling."
However, Richard Quandt from the Grower-Shipper Vegetable Association of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties expressed disappointment. "That's definitely a setback for Santa Barbara County agriculture," he said. A return of the endangered status also ends special rules for cattle ranching in the two counties. Kraus said the judge did not prevent ranchers from conducting routine ranching activities, but added they would need permits to do anything that could harm the amphibian. Quandt, however, noted that the ruling affects up to 180,000 acres of rangeland, and opens up questions regarding routine cattle ranching or grazing that might harm a salamander.
California Tiger Salamanders are stocky, blunt-nosed amphibians that live underground. Vernal pools, or ponds that rise during rains, serve as vital habitat for breeding salamanders.
"It's just another example of how the South County environmental community tries to impose rules and undermine the a economy of North County," Quandt said. Along with the Grower-Shipper's group, other agencies and associations from Santa Barbara and Sonoma counties had joined the lawsuit to support the Fish and Wildlife Service, their former nemesis. They claimed they would suffer "economic and other injuries" if salamanders were reclassified as endangered.
A spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service's Sacramento office said the agency had no comment Friday. "I can't say anything beyond that," said spokesman Jim Nickles, who also declined to say what the immediate impact will be on Central Coast farmers, ranchers and landowners. It wasn't clear Friday when the new rules will become effective or if the ruling will be appealed.
CH Editor Needed
Tuesday, September 15, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
15 September 2009
CONTEMPORARY HERPETOLOGY MANAGING EDITOR NEEDED
CONTEMPORARY HERPETOLOGY is looking for a Managing Editor. The duties of the Managing Editor(s) may vary depending upon their qualifications, but a basic knowledge of html and desktop publishing software is useful. If interested, please contact Editor Joe Bernardo (see below).
CONTEMPORARY HERPETOLOGY (www.contemporaryherpetology.org) is a rapidly growing, non-profit, electronic, peer-reviewed journal for articles of a herpetological interest. Since 1997, Contemporary Herpetology has provided professional herpetologists with a free forum to rapidly disseminate peer-reviewed work globally. Contemporary Herpetology maintains high scientific and editorial standards. Contemporary Herpetology publishes articles covering all aspects of herpetology, including ecology, ethology, systematics, conservation biology, and physiology. Contemporary Herpetology also publishes monographs, points-of-view, and faunistic surveys of poorly-known areas. Contemporary Herpetology will not publish herpetocultural or anecdotal papers.
Joseph Bernardo
Editor, Contemporary Herpetology
206A Fernow Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853
607-255-2836
607-255-1895 fax
jb787@cornell.edu
Chase/Catch Ctenosaurs
Friday, September 30, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 59
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
30 September 2005
Ctenosaura Project in Mesoamerica
Three to four volunteers are needed to assist with dissertation research for the spring and summer of 2006. Research will focus on the phylogenetics of the Spinytail Iguanas of Mesoamerica, dating the colonization of these species to the surrounding islands and the hybridization of C. bakeri and C. similis on the island of Utila. The duration of this field season will be divided between the Bay Islands and mainland Honduras (with possible visits to Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador).
Field assistants will be expected to aid in the capture and collection of DNA samples of several species of Ctenosaura. Experience with handling large reptiles, tree climbing, and Spanish language skills are greatly appreciate but not required. A twelve hour work day in a variety of environmental conditions, from swamp to desert, is expected. Volunteers may assist for the full field season or any portion of this time, but a one month minimum volunteer time must be met. Volunteers will be provided with housing and food for the duration of their stay.
For additional information please contact:
Stesha Pasachnik
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
spasachn@utk.edu
Chelonian Cavity Search
Tuesday, October 07, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 149
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
7 October 2008
CHELONIAN CAVITY SEARCH
I am having difficulty finding information on the long-term impacts of devices implanted into the abdominal cavities of freshwater turtles. Specifically, I am referring to devices that are the size of turtle eggs (or larger) that have been implanted and left in the body cavity for the remainder of the life of the turtle. Are there studies that have assessed the long-term impact of such implants on the health of the turtle? I am particularly looking for information regarding adhesion of foreign objects to body organs.
I would appreciate any references regarding this phenomenon. Thank you in advance.
Dr. Colin Limpus
Chief Scientist
Queensland Environmental Protection Agency
P. O. Box 15155
City East
Brisbane Q4002, Australia
col.limpus@epa.qld.gov.auChelonian Chemical Concern
Wednesday, May 10, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 82
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
10 May 2006
Chelonian Chemical Concern
Last fall, an oil company had a significant pipeline break into a small ephemeral prairie stream in the western part of our state. The pipeline spilled roughly 200,000 gallons of saltwater. The primary constituent of the saltwater was chlorides and sulfates with concentrations measuring 180,000 ppm. Baseline conditions for chlorides in this stream are probably in the 5 to 15 ppm range. While clean up measures did their best to mitigate the situation we have had elevated levels of chlorides and sulfates (ranging from 20 ppm to 600 ppm) in the stream since the spill. Various species of dead turtles, fish and amphibians have been recovered from the stream.
As spills of this magnitude are fairly rare in our state we have lots of questions because we are not well versed in predicting what the long term ramifications might be.
My question pertains principally to turtles (e.g. Common Snapping Turtles and Northern Painted Turtles) and amphibians (e.g. Northern Leopard Frogs, Plains Spadefoots, Great Plains Toads, Woodhouse’s Toads, and Barred Tiger Salamanders). Does anyone know of any studies or research that has documented the effects of elevated levels of chlorides (or other chemicals) on turtle and amphibian mortality? Any help would be much appreciated.
Steve Dyke
Conservation Section Supervisor
North Dakota Game & Fish Department
(701) 328-6347
Chelonian Collaboration
Monday, January 15, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 110
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
15 January 2007
CHELONIAN COLLABORATION
I am seeking an expert in turtle osteology who would be willing to attempt identification of shell fragments from archaeological digs from Palmetto Bluff, Bluffton, South Carolina. Participation would ideally lead to collaborative publication. Please contact
Mary Socci
Crescent Resources
Bluffton, South Carolina
mcsocci@crescent-resources.com
(843) 706-6030
Chelonian Comparison
Friday, December 22, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 108
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
22 December 2006
CHELONIAN CARCASSES FOR COMPARISON
I am a paleontologist working on a project to compare skeletochronological patterns of growth (using midshaft thin sections of the humerus and femur) in modern Chrysemys picta and Trachemys scripta across their modern geographic range with bones of the same turtle species from a late Tertiary fossil site here in Indiana. I would like to contact herpetologists to see if any would save for me road-kill, or carcasses of wild-caught animals sacrificed for research purposes. I particularly need specimens of C. picta picta, C. picta dorsalis (and more southern populations of C. picta bellii), and of T. scripta throughout its range in North America. I would cover the costs of mailing carcasses to me and skeletonize the carcasses myself.
If you can assist me with this research, please contact me at
James O. Farlow
Professor of Geology
Indiana-Purdue University Fort Wayne
farlow@ipfw.edu
Chelonian Data Needed
Monday, March 21, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 36
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
21 March 2005
Cold Chelonian Clutchs Could Commence
Chelonian Hatchling Data Needed
I am writing a review on hibernation and the time of hatchling emergence (fall versus spring) for chelonian species in the southern United States, particularly Apalone spinifera (Spiny Softshell), Sternotherus odoratus (Common Musk Turtle), Graptemys geographica (Common Map Turtle), and Chelydra serpentina (Common Snapping Turtle). However, information on any species would be useful, and the farther south the better. For northern species, information on Clemmys guttata (Spotted Turtles), Glyptemys muhlenbergii (Bog Turtles), and any species of Graptemys would be useful, but again information on any species would be appreciated. For data to be useful, it should be definitive: i.e., caged nests, actual observations of turtle hatchlings leaving the nest, etc.
If you have any questions, my email address is:
gultsch@biology.as.ua.edu
Gordon R. Ultsch
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0344
Phone: 205-348-1827
Fax: 205-348-1786
Chelonian Etymologies
Friday, March 02, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 122
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
2 March 2007
CHELONIAN ETYMOLOGIES
Can anyone out there give me the etymological breakdown for CRYPTODIRA and PLEURODIRA? I can't find them on the web. I can be contacted at
raxtell@siue.edu
Thanks in advance.
Ralph Axtell
Southern Illinois University
Edwardsville
Chelonian Shells Sought
Thursday, May 04, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 81
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
4 May 2006
Comparative Turtle Skeletons
I am researching morphological differences in specific shell elements of North American emydid turtles for zooarchaeological and paleontological diagnostics as well as looking at changes in individual elements for a better understanding of evolutionary relationships. I am in need of disarticulated (or disarticulatable) shells, complete or partial, in any stage of decomposition, of all emydid and kinosternid species belonging to the genera Graptemys, Pseudemys, Trachemys, Glyptemys, Clemmys, Deirochelys, Actinemys, Chrysemys, Terrapene, Emydoidea, Malaclemys, Kinosternon, and Sternotherus. In addition, I need specimens of each taxon from different regions. All contributing parties must be permitted to collect such species in their respective states as this material will be permanently catalogued in a chelonian osteological collection here at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, a permitted repository.
George E. Phillips
Curator of Paleontology
Conservation Biology Section
Mississippi Museum of Natural Science
Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks
2148 Riverside Drive
Jackson , Mississippi 39202-1353
(601) 354-7303 x 149
george.phillips@mmns.state.ms.us
Chelonians & Cars
Wednesday, October 18, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 100
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
18 October 2006
FEDERALLY LISTED CHELONIANS AND CARS
The transportation bill signed into law last year (the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU)) directed the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to conduct a study of methods to reduce collisions between motor vehicles and wildlife. The Federal Highway Administration has selected the Western Transportation Institute, part of the College of Engineering at Montana State University, to conduct this study. I have been asked to serve on the review team, and also to assist with an assessment of the
degree to which a number of federally listed turtles are impacted by road mortality.
Since my work is primarily with Eastern Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina), I would like to ask the North American herpetological community to provide me any information or contacts that might be relevant to this phenomenon.
If you know of species from the following list that suffer from substantial road mortality (i.e., collisions are the major threat or among the major threats to the survival of the species), please contact me. I would also very much appreciate recommendations from individuals with knowledge/experience with these species.
Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) - USA except in Sonoran Desert
Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) - west of Mobile/Tombigbee Reservoir
Alabama Redbelly Turtle (Pseudemys alabamensis)
Bog Turtle (Clemmys muhlenbergii) - northern portion of range
Flattened Musk Turtle (Sternotherus depressus)
Ringed Map Turtle (Graptemys oculifera)
Yellow-blotched Map Turtle (Graptemys flavimaculata)
Susan Hagood
Wildlife Issues Specialist
Wildlife and Habitat Protection
The Humane Society of the United States
2100 L Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20037
301 258-3149
301 258-3080 (fax)
shagood@hsus.orgChemicals Change Croakers
Friday, February 17, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
17 February 2006
PESTICIDE COMBINATIONS IMPERIL FROGS
By Robert Sanders
Berkeley, California – The pesticide brew in many ponds bordering Midwestern cornfields is not only affecting the sexual development of frogs, but is making them more prone to deadly bacterial meningitis, according to a new study by University of California Berkeley scientists.
These physiological effects combine with environmental disruptions to make the life of a frog seem like something out of a horror movie and are likely among the factors causing a decline in amphibian populations worldwide, the researchers said.
Tadpoles raised in water polluted with a combination of nine pesticides, fungicides and herbicides typical of ponds around Midwestern cornfields take longer to become frogs and end up smaller, making it harder for them to eat their normal prey and making them easier prey for other animals. The top frog is having trouble eating a cricket, while the snake has no trouble swallowing the smaller frog.
"If you look at one of these frogs, it's probably a hermaphrodite - plus, it metamorphoses late, which means it is subject to its pool drying up before it can become a frog," said lead researcher Tyrone Hayes, professor of integrative biology at UC Berkeley. "It's also smaller, if it metamorphoses at all, which increases the likelihood it will be eaten and decreases its ability to eat. Plus, it's immuno-suppressed, so more prone to die from infection."
The stress on the frogs is increasing stress hormone levels, he found, which in turn create holes in the thymus gland that likely cause the impaired immune response.
"It's not the pesticides alone or introduced predators or ultraviolet light or global warming that's causing this decline, but the interaction between these on an animal that is pretty sensitive to its environment," said Hayes.
In the new paper, published online last week in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, Hayes and his colleagues report four years of experiments showing that, while some of the pesticides, herbicides and fungicides used on corn fields may not by themselves have a noticeable impact on frogs, in combination they create significant effects. Among these are delayed maturation - the tadpoles take longer to metamorphose into frogs - retarded growth and an increased susceptibility to meningitis caused by normally benign bacteria.
Four years ago, Hayes showed that atrazine, the most common weed killer used on corn in the United States, disrupts the sexual development of frogs, feminizing males into hermaphrodites - frogs with female sex organs invading their testes - decreasing the size of their vocal organs, which are critical to mating success, and causing a tenfold drop in testosterone in mature male frogs.
In the current study, he looked again at atrazine as well as three other herbicides, two fungicides and three insecticides used on Midwestern cornfields - a subset of more than two dozen pesticides approved for use. All nine were found in the scientists' study area in Nebraska in pools of water beside cornfields early in the growing season, when spraying typically occurs. Levels ranged from 0.1 parts per billion (ppb) to 10 or more ppb.
Native northern leopard frogs (Rana pipiens) raised in water with only one of these nine pesticides at 0.1 ppb appeared normal, though the fungicide propiconazole caused a small but significant increase in the time it took tadpoles to start metamorphasis. The insecticide tebupirimphos caused a small but statistically significant decrease in the size and weight of mature frogs.
Mixtures, however, had a much stronger effect. All nine compounds together at 0.1 ppb - one of the lower concentrations measured in the field - lengthened the time to metamorphosis by 15 days, or about 25 to 30 percent. The mixture also caused a frog mortality of 35 percent.
All nine compounds together also produced a startling effect: The longer a tadpole took to mature into a frog, the smaller it was. It's normally the other way around, Hayes said. Separately, six of the pesticides did not affect this correlation, but three disrupted it so that there was no relationship between time to metamorphosis and size at metamorphosis.
"In humans, this is like saying, 'The longer you are pregnant, the smaller your baby will be,' which means the womb is no longer a nurturing environment," Hayes said.
The nine-pesticide combo also damaged the thymus, a part of the immune system, causing 70 percent of frogs to develop flavo-bacterial meningitis. The pesticides atrazine and S-metolachlor, which are marketed as the combination Bicep II Magnum, caused the most thymic damage.
To investigate why, Hayes and his laboratory colleagues, mostly undergraduate students, raised larvae of the common laboratory frog, the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), in water containing these pesticides and found four times the normal level of the stress hormone corticosterone. Hayes suspects that not all of the pesticides affect frogs, but that some enhance or trigger the deleterious effects of others when combined.
"Estimating the ecological risk and the impact of pesticides on amphibians using studies that examine single pesticides at high concentrations only may lead to gross underestimations of the role of pesticides in amphibian declines," he wrote.
In a second study also published online last week in Environmental Health Perspectives , Hayes reported even stronger evidence that atrazine, a powerful endocrine disruptor, both chemically castrates male frogs by blocking the action of the male steroid androgen and feminizes them by stimulating the production of the female hormone estrogen. He was able to produce identical hermaphroditic malformations in frogs by administering estrogen or blocking androgen at the proper time of development.
"One week of exposure at the critical time is all that's required to make these males look feminine, which probably interferes with mating," he said. Noting that some frogs seem to adapt to atrazine by delaying development, presumably so that the critical developmental period takes place when the herbicide is at its lowest, Hayes suspects that not all frogs would be expected to adapt, or to adapt quickly enough, to survive. Plus, delayed maturation comes at the risk of having the pond turn into a puddle and dry up before the frog completely metamorphoses.
Hayes is continuing his studies with various combinations of pesticides to determine which are the true cause of the problem and which serve to enhance the effect of others.
His laboratory colleagues were UC Berkeley students Paola Case, Sarah Chui, Duc Chung, Cathryn Haefele, Kelly Haston, Melissa Lee, Vien Pheng Mai, Youssra Marjuoa, John Parker and Mable Tsui. Co-authors on the atrazine paper were former UC Berkeley students A. Ali Stuart, Atif Collins, Nigel Noriega, Aaron Vonk, Gwynne Johnston and Dzifa Kpodzo, and current students Magdalena Mendoza and Roger Liu.
The work was supported by the National Science Foundation, Henry H. Wheeler, the Park Water Co. and the Howard Hughes Biology Scholar's Program.
Chorus Frog Request
Wednesday, January 25, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 69
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
25 January 2006
Pseudacris brachyphona Tissue Requested for Phylogeographic Study
Joseph J. Apodaca (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa), Emily Moriarty-Lemmon (University of Texas, Austin) and Joseph T. Collins (University of Kansas, Lawrence) are conducting a species-wide phylogeographic study on the Mountain Chorus Frog, Pseudacris brachyphona, and seek live specimens from which to obtain tissue. Specimens from anywhere in the range of this anuran would be of great help to our study. Individuals assisting us in obtaining specimens will be gratefully acknowledged in the published results.
If you are able to help, please contact Joseph T. Collins at
jcollins@ku.edu
(785) 393-4757
Thank you in advance.
*****
Joseph J. Apodaca (Principal Investigator)
Department of Biological Sciences
Box 870345
The University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487
apoda002@bama.ua.edu
Chytrid Compilation
Friday, October 09, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
9 October 2009
GLOBAL AMPHIBIAN CHYTRID FUNGUS MAPPING PROJECT UPDATE
Amphibian chytrid fungus (Bd) surveillance is rapidly accruing new data worldwide. Our Global Bd Mapping Project has been a success due to the data contributions from people across the planet. Thank You Everyone! We are now doing an update to the global Bd mapping database and the Bd mapping website at
http://www.spatialepidemiology.net
If you have positive or negative Bd data to contribute to this project, please contact Dede Olson at
dedeolson@fs.fed.us
If you are doing Bd surveillance in the US, you may be interested to know where we have data gaps. If you know of data in these US States that we may have missed, please let us know! We are aware of some new studies doing surveillance in these areas, but as of today, we do not have those data.
1. No data:
Connecticut
Delaware
Kentucky
Nebraska
New Jersey
North Dakota
Rhode Island
South Dakota
2. Few data:
Arkansas (3 records, 3 species)
Kansas (1 record)
Indiana (1 record)
Maryland (2 records, 2 species)
Massachusetts (1 site, records for 6 species)
Missouri (only really looked at hellbenders so far)
Mississippi (2 records, 2 species, both negative)
New York (1 site, 2 species, both negative)
Oklahoma (3 sites, 5 species, 2 positive -- sites are close together)
Pennsylvania (1 positive site/species)
West Virginia (1 positive site/ species)
We also have rather sparse data for New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada, given the size of the states. Tennessee data all comes from one tiny corner (Great Smoky Mountains).
Dr. Deanna H. (Dede) Olson
Research Ecologist
Aquatic and Land Interactions
USDA Forest Service
Pacific Northwest Research Station
Corvallis Forestry Sciences Laboratory
3200 SW Jefferson Way
Corvallis, Oregon 97331
dedeolson@fs.fed.us
Cleaning Amphibian Gear
Saturday, September 06, 2003: DAPTF - HerpDigest
The DAPTF leaflet for amphibian workers on field hygiene suggests the use of alcohol (ethanol) as a sterilising agent, in addition to bleaches. However, it has been pointed out that ethanol can be very expensive due to local tax duties and in some countries its availability may be restricted due to lack of supply or laws prohibiting sale. As a substitute, methanol or methylated spirits is suitable. This is often cheaper and more easily obtained. It should be noted that alcohols are flammable liquids and strict safety precautions should be taken when transporting them in vehicles and during their use and disposal. Suitable containers that are clearly labelled should be used and properly stowed during transit according to local laws and rules for transport and safe disposal of flammable liquids.
Tom Langton, Froglife
http://www.froglife.org/
CNAH Common Names List
Sunday, April 05, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
6 April 2009
The Center for North American Herpetology announces the April 2009 publication of the
SIXTH EDITION of
STANDARD COMMON AND CURRENT SCIENTIFIC NAMES FOR NORTH AMERICAN AMPHIBIANS, TURTLES, REPTILES, AND CROCODILIANS
by Joseph T. Collins & Travis W. Taggart
Color covers
Softbound
iv + 44 pages
ISBN 0-9721937-1-5
Cost: Free (see below)
The first edition of this widely-used compilation, published in 1978, listed 454 species (or kinds) of native amphibians, turtles, reptiles, and crocodilians, and was quickly adopted nationwide as a source for common names for these North American (north of Mexico) animals, names that could be consistently used worldwide to avoid confusion, both in writing and speaking.
This new sixth edition lists 621 kinds of native amphibians, turtles, reptiles, and crocodilians in the United States and Canada, an increase of 167 species (27%) since the first edition in 1978 and an increase of 232 species (37%) since 1956, which demonstrates clearly how much the diversity of these animals in North America was previously underestimated.
Also of interest in this sixth edition is the updated section on alien species, those creatures that are not native, have escaped, or have been released in North America, and have established breeding populations in the United State or Canada. Most significant of these are the large Indian Python and Boa Constrictor, which are now breeding residents of southern Florida. These constricting serpents reach large sizes, and can have a serious impact on native wildlife, as well as small livestock and neighborhood pets.
The standard common names in the fourth edition (1997) of this list were used exclusively in the well-known PETERSON FIELD GUIDE TO REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH AMERICA (third edition expanded, 1998, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston), and the standard common names in this sixth edition will be adopted for the forthcoming next edition of the Peterson Guide, which has the widest distribution of any book ever written about these creatures worldwide. Use of standardized common names achieves stability, comprehension, and ease of use throughout the United States and Canada, and thus has the potential to create closer cooperation among biologists across the nation, so that they may work together in the common cause of conserving and protecting these often-neglected creatures.
Users of the CNAH common names list are reminded that in this edition, as in the previous fifth edition, no space is wasted with citations for verifying or justifying scientific name changes or any speculative discussion based on unpublished data. The web site of The Center for North American Herpetology, which is the most frequently-accessed academic herpetological web site in the world, already contains all such citations for changes in this sixth edition and demonstrates once again that CNAH leads the herpetological community worldwide with its ability to organize and deliver in a timely and modern (electronic and print) fashion the scientific information so necessary to our profession. The CNAH web site can be accessed at
http://www.cnah.org
Single copies of this sixth edition of STANDARD COMMON AND CURRENT SCIENTIFIC NAMES FOR NORTH AMERICAN AMPHIBIANS, TURTLES, REPTILES, AND CROCODILIANS, are available free by simply sending a self-addressed 7 x 10 inch manila envelope with first class postage affixed for 4 ounces (currently $1.34; after 11 May 2009, $1.39) to
CNAH
1502 Medinah Circle
Lawrence, Kansas 66047
For further information about this release, contact
Joseph T. Collins
(785) 393-4757
jcollins@ku.edu
or
Travis W. Taggart
(785) 650-2445
ttaggart@fhsu.edu
THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY is a non-profit 501c3 foundation established in 1994 and headquartered in Lawrence, Kansas.
CNAH in Science
Thursday, March 31, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
31 March 2005
CNAH Featured in Science Magazine Net Watch
The Center for North American Herpetology (CNAH) has been featured in Science magazine's Net Watch, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The AAAS is the largest scientific organization in the world and Science magazine has the broadest distribution of any scientific periodical published.
CNAH is a non-profit 501c3 foundation established in 1994 and currently headquartered in Lawrence, Kansas. The foundation is devoted to furthering research on and conservation of the amphibians, turtles, reptiles, and crocodilians of the United States and Canada. In addition to its extensive library of professional color images (all by Suzanne L. Collins), the foundation makes two awards each year, one of which is the largest herpetological award given annually worldwide. CNAH also operates the largest academic herpetological email contact list in the nation.
CNAH maintains the only online list of current scientific and standard common names for the North American herpetofauna; the list is updated daily. During calendar 2004, the CNAH web site recorded nearly 850,000 hits.
The Science article about CNAH can be viewed online at
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/307/5717/1847e.pdf
For more information or to receive a pdf of the article, contact
Joseph T. Collins
Director
The Center for North American Herpetology
jcollins@ku.edu
(785) 749-3467
(785) 393-4757 (cell)
Cold Snake Cloaca
Tuesday, December 29, 2009: St. George Island, Florida - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 182
The Center for North American Herpetology
The Plantation
St. George Island, Florida
http://www.cnah.org
29 December 2009
SNAKES UNDER ICE
My students recently observed Common Garter Snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis) overwintering underwater below ice. On 15 December 2009 and again on 17 December 2009, they brought me two different Common Garter Snakes, both of which were taken from an iced-over pond. The pond was 80-85 per cent frozen, and the snakes were taken from the water near the edge of the ice. The first one warmed in my hands, began moving, and was placed in a terrarium in my classroom. By the afternoon, it was striking and was as quite active. I eventually put the first snake in a refrigerator to get its body temperature to ca. 40 degrees F, and then released it when the outside temperatures were 40+ degrees F. The second serpent was returned immediately to the pond.
Can a Common Garter Snake diffuse oxygen through its cloaca, as can some turtles?
Any information on this phenomenon in snakes would be much appreciated. I can be contacted at
ssharp@usd232.org
Scott Sharp
Unified School District 232
Lawrence, Kansas
Collared Lizard Request
Wednesday, November 11, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 181
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
11 November 2009
COLLARED LIZARD LOCATIONS
I am working on an Eastern Collared Lizard project in Arkansas with Dr. Jeff Miller. I'm attempting to create a GIS-based quantitative/predictive map of the distribution of this species. I would like to obtain data on known locations where they occur so I can evaluate the quality of the variables chosen for prediction. I'm currently at the stage of evaluating variables and making arguments for the reason each variable is important to the overall model. Any advice regarding any potential variables I might use or overlook would be appreciated.
Michael Uffenbeck
University of Central Arkansas
Department of Biology
201 Donaghey Avenue
LSC 164 E
Conway Arkansas 72035
michael.uffenbeck@gmail.com
Colorado Cnemidophorus Sought
Tuesday, November 29, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 19
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
29 November 2004
Colorado Cnemidophorus Sought
James M. Walker is interested in determining which museum Benjamin Banta used as a repository for specimens of Cnemidophorus tesselatus and C. sexlineatus obtained by him in pitfall traps in 1963 and 1964 in Fremont County, Colorado. Any assistance from the herpetological community in locating these specimens would be much appreciated. Please contact Dr. Walker at:
jmwalker@uark.edu
James M. Walker
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701
Colorado Herp Atlas Online
Monday, July 12, 2004: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
www.cnah.org
12 July 2004
NEW COLORADO HERPETOFAUNAL ATLAS ONLINE
Sponsored and managed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife and developed by Camp, Dresser & McKee, with the advice and assistance of Geoffrey A. Hammerson (author of Amphibians and Reptiles in Colorado) & Joseph T. Collins (director of The Center for North American Herpetology).
Many salamander, frog, turtle, lizard, and snake populations are declining rapidly throughout the western United States. In Colorado, some species have become scarce or no longer occur within their historical range. For example, Northern Leopard Frogs formerly were common and widespread in the mountains of the Front Range, but now they are very scarce. Similarly, subalpine wetlands throughout the Southern Rockies formerly hosted many robust populations of toads, but today they are few and highly localized. Northern Cricket Frogs have not been found in Colorado since 1979. What’s going on?
Insufficient information.
The factors responsible for these declines include habitat loss and degradation, competition with non-native species, pollution, excessive harvest or mortality on roads, and disease, but often the causes are unknown. Often we have insufficient information to determine whether a decline is cause for alarm or simply part of a natural fluctuation pattern. A major problem is that for most species we do not have enough information to know whether they are declining, increasing, or maintaining stable populations. This information gap makes it impossible to undertake appropriate and timely protection and management actions.
The Colorado Herpetofaunal Atlas was initiated as a means of assembling and displaying information that will facilitate assessments of the distribution, abundance, and conservation status of reptile and amphibian populations throughout Colorado.
Access it at
http://ndisdev.nrel.colostate.edu/herpatlas/coherpatlas/
For more information or to confirm this news release, contact
(785) 749-3467
jcollins@ku.edu
Common Names List Online
Saturday, September 05, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
The Center for North American Herpetology is pleased to announce that the pdf version of
STANDARD COMMON AND CURRENT SCIENTIFIC NAMES FOR NORTH AMERICAN
AMPHIBIANS, TURTLES, REPTILES, AND CROCODILIANS. Sixth Edition (2009) by Joseph T.
Collins and Travis W. Taggart
is now available gratis online at
http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.asp
The first edition of this authoritative compilation, published in 1978, listed 454 species of
amphibians, turtles, reptiles, and crocodilians, and was quickly adopted nationwide as a
source for common names for these North American (north of Mexico) animals, names
that could be consistently used worldwide to avoid confusion, both in spelling and during
conversation.
This sixth edition, published in printed form on 5 April 2009, lists 621 species of amphibians, turtles, reptiles, and crocodilians in the United States and Canada, an increase of 167 species since 1978 and an increase of 232 species since 1956, which demonstrates clearly how much the diversity of these animals in North America was
previously underestimated.
The standard common names in the fourth edition (1997) of this list were used exclusively
in the well-known Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America (third edition expanded, 1998, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston), were adopted exclusively in the The Frogs and Toads of North America (recently published by Houghton Mifflin; Elliott et al. 2009) and will be adopted for the forthcoming fourth edition of the Peterson Field Guide, which has the widest distribution of any book ever written about these creatures.
The pdf version of this sixth edition has been updated since the print version was issued on 5 April 2009 (thus far, over 1,100 copies of this latest edition have been requested and mailed worldwide). A few errors of author attribution and date (ordinal and familial only), as well as the usual typos (fortunately, not of a scientific or common name), have been corrected. Should anyone note any other errors, we would much appreciate being notified. We will promptly correct the pdf version and re-install it in the CNAH PDF Library as often
as corrections warrant. We anticipate that the next (seventh) edition of this list will be published in 2014.
The CNAH web site, which is the largest academic herpetological web site in the world, has adopted the common and scientific names of this sixth edition. The CNAH web site has had almost 764,000 visitors since it was launched on 1 January 1998, and recorded over 1,000,000 hits in calendar 2008 alone.Connecticut Amphibian DVD
Wednesday, September 19, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
19 September 2007
CONNECTICUT AMPHIBIAN DVD AVAILABLE
A new DVD is out that gives never before available views of frogs and salamanders of the northeast US in their native habitats. For information or to order online, visit
http://www.cttrips.com/pages/BLWclips.html
BETWEEN LAND & WATER: LIFE STORIES OF CONNECTICUT'S AMPHIBIANS follows Connecticut's native amphibians over an annual season. Beginning with the thawing of vernal pools in early spring, the documentary follows local frogs and salamanders to reveal their life cycles including spring migrations, calls and breeding seasons, and phases from larval forms through metamorphosis to adults.
Videotaped and narrated by naturalist Brian Kleinman, BETWEEN LAND & WATER also describes aspects of vernal pool, stream, and woodland habitats upon which amphibians rely. Insightful and informative, this DVD provides a valuable new resource for herpetologists and educators, as well as herpetological enthusiasts.
Reviews:
"Connecticut is home to 22 kinds of salamanders, frogs and toads. Most remain hidden in the forests, swamps and streams- until now. Naturalist Brian Kleinman has captured some stunning images on a DVD to bring the world of Connecticut's amphibians into your lab, home or school. The DVD joins Brian as he documents the seasonal life cycles of these fascinating creatures. We experience the sights and sounds of each discovery: the cold, rainy night march of the Spotted Salamanders, a deafening midnight chorus of treefrogs, the springtime aquatic dance of the Eastern Newt, the capture of a "purple salamander" along a forest brook in summer and much more. Close-up images provide a truly unique look at these misunderstood animals. You will be amazed at the patterns, colors and behavior on display in the amphibian world and discover new things with each viewing."
HANK GRUNER, Herpetologist, Project Coordinator, The Connecticut Amphibian Monitoring Project, & Interim Director of the Children's Museum, West Hartford
"The seasonal approach crams in tons of information about the biology, habitat use and natural history of these animals. Viewers get a broad education in amphibian biology and up close and personal with the many diverse native species. Hopefully this documentary will be the eye-opener that catches people's attention and inspires them to go out and learn about frogs and salamanders. It's a treat to see the diversity of Connecticut's amazing amphibians, both in appearance as well as in biology, in such an intimate manner!"
TWAN LEENDERS, Assistant Professor of Biology, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Curatorial Affiliate, Vertebrate Zoology at Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History and author of "Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica."
*****
CNAH Note: For greater accuracy, comprehension, and ease of use, this book uses the long-standing, traditional, standard common names for North American species maintained by Collins & Taggart (2002. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians. Fifth Edition), published by The Center for North American Herpetology (available as a pdf at the CNAH web site) and updated daily online.Contaminants & Declines
Tuesday, July 14, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
14 July 2009
NEW CONTAMINANTS AND AMPHIBIAN POPULATION DECLINES LITERATURE WEBSITE
The literature on the possible role of contaminants in amphibian population declines is hard to find as it is scattered across many journals. The website provides in one place references to this diverse literature.
The site focuses on five areas: papers directly about contaminants and amphibian population declines, contaminants impacts on amphibian immune systems impacts, contaminant transport to remote locations where declines have occurred, synergistic effects and review papers.
The URL is
http://bss.sfsu.edu/cdavidson/contaminants.htm
We hope you find this information useful in your research.
Carlos Davidson
Director and Associate Professor
Environmental Studies Program
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, California 94132
(415) 405-2127
carlosd@sfsu.edu
Court Confirms Caudate
Thursday, December 28, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
28 December 2006
COURT ORDERS CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME COMMISSION TO CONSIDER IMPERILED CALIFORNIA TIGER SALAMANDER FOR LISTING UNDER STATE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT
Sacramento - Judge Lloyd G. Connelly of the Sacramento Superior Court has overturned the California Fish & Game Commission’s rejection of a Petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity ("Center") to list the California Tiger Salamander under the state’s wildlife protection law. The written opinion, issued on December 14, 2006, overturned the Commission’s 3-2 vote to reject the Petition to list the salamander under the California Endangered Species Act.
"The thorough and well-reasoned opinion overturned the Commission’s decision because the Commission ignored or mis-represented the overwhelming scientific evidence showing that the salamander is highly imperiled," said Kathy Trisolini of Chatten-Brown and Carstens, who represented the Center pro-bono in the lawsuit. "This decision soundly enforces the requirement that the Commission make listing decisions under the California Endangered Species Act based on the best available science."
The Petition to list the California Tiger Salamander was filed with the Commission in January, 2004. The Commission voted 3-2 to reject the Petition at its October 23, 2004 meeting. Then on December 2, 2004, the Commission adopted written findings purporting to support the rejection.
In a 15-page written order, Judge Connelly criticized the Commission’s decision, stating "[i]n making the findings, the Commission misstated or ignored substantial evidence in the administrative record and relied on conflicting information of doubtful scientific value."
The California Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma californiense) is an imperiled amphibian found only in California. Historically, the California tiger salamander was found throughout most of the Central Valley, adjacent foothills, and Coast Range, as well as in the Santa Rosa Plain in Sonoma County and in Santa Barbara County.
The majority of historic California Tiger Salamander habitat has already been lost to urban and agricultural development. Extreme habitat fragmentation is increasingly isolating populations and causing local extirpations that will lead rapidly to extinction of the species. It is also threatened by interbreeding with non-native species, predation and other threats. Over two dozen independent scientists that study the species supported the Petition to list the California tiger salamander under the California Endangered Species Act. The Department of Fish and Game, which acts as a scientific advisor to the Commission, also supported the Center’s Petition in every regard and recommended that the Commission accept it and advance the salamander to the stage in the listing process known as "Candidacy."
Under state law, the Commission considers petitions to list species in a two-step process. In the first step, the Department of Fish and Game issues a report evaluating the petition and recommending whether the Commission should the accept the petition for further study. The Commission must accept the petition if it, along with the Department’s report and additional evidence received, indicates that listing "may be warranted." If the petition is accepted, the species is designated as a "Candidate" and the Department conducts a 12-month status review to determine whether listing "is warranted." At the end of the 12-month review, the Department issues a second report to the Commission and the Commission votes as to whether listing "is warranted." During the Candidacy period, the species receives the same protection as a species listed as threatened or endangered.
Judge Connelly ordered the Commission to accept the Petition, which will initiate the full status review and the second stage of the listing process. The decision states:
The court will order the issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate requiring the Commission to set aside its decision rejecting the Center’s 2004 petition to list the CTS and to enter a new decision accepting the petition for consideration pursuant to Fish and Game Code section 2074.2, subdivision (a)(2). There is no need or place for the Commission’s reconsideration of the petition because no competent scientific evidence, let alone substantial evidence, in the administrative record supports a rejection of the petition; rather all competent scientific evidence in the record supports a finding of a substantial possibility that CTS listing could occur. Thus the record . . . requires acceptance of the petition as a matter of law.
"The three Commissioners who voted to reject the Petition ignored the science, and instead cast their votes based on political expediency," said Kassie Siegel, staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity and author of the 2004 Petition. "This decision sets an important precedent that these political appointees will be held accountable for following the law and providing California’s imperiled wildlife with the important protections it needs and deserves."
In a process that has spanned over a decade and has itself included several lawsuits, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ("Service") has protected the California Tiger Salamander under the federal Endangered Species Act. The Service listed California Tiger Salamander populations in Sonoma and Santa Barbara counties as "endangered" on an emergency basis in 2002 and 2000, respectively, and California Tiger Salamanders populations in Central California as "threatened" in 2004.
Further information regarding the California Tiger Salamander is available online at
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org
Contacts:
Kassie Siegel, Center for Biological Diversity, (760) 366-2232 x. 302 or (951) 961-7972
Kathy Trisolini, Chatten-Brown and Carstens, 310-314-8040 x. 2 or 818-636-8773
Craugastor Cometh
Tuesday, January 10, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
Andrew J. Crawford and Eric N. Smith (2005. Cenozoic biogeography and evolution in direct-developing frogs of Central America (Leptodactylidae: Eleutherodactylus) as inferred from a phylogenetic analysis of nuclear and mitochondrial genes. Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution 35(3): 536-555) placed the North American species Eleutherodactylus augusti in the genus Craugastor. Here is the abstract:
Abstract: We report the first phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequence data for the Central American component of the genus Eleutherodactylus (Anura: Leptodactylidae: Eleutherodactylinae), one of the most ubiquitous, diverse, and abundant components of the Neotropical amphibian fauna. We obtained DNA sequence data from 55 specimens representing 45 species. Sampling was focused on Central America, but also included Bolivia, Brazil, Jamaica, and the USA. We sequenced 1460 contiguous base pairs (bp) of the mitochondrial genome containing ND2 and five neighboring tRNA genes, plus 1300 bp of the c-myc nuclear gene. The resulting phylogenetic inferences were broadly concordant between data sets and among analytical methods. The subgenus Craugastor is monophyletic and its initial radiation was potentially rapid and adaptive. Within Craugastor, the earliest splits separate three northern Central American species groups, milesi, augusti, and alfredi, from a clade comprising the rest of Craugastor. Within the latter clade, the rhodopis group as formerly recognized comprises three deeply divergent clades that do not form a monophyletic group; we therefore restrict the content of the rhodopis group to one of two northern clades, and use new names for the other northern (mexicanus group) and one southern clade (bransfordii group). The new rhodopis and bransfordii groups together form the sister taxon to a clade comprising the biporcatus, fitzingeri, mexicanus, and rugulosus groups. We used a Bayesian MCMC approach together with geological and biogeographic assumptions to estimate divergence times from the combined DNA sequence data. Our results corroborated three independent dispersal events for the origins of Central American Eleutherodactylus: (1) an ancestor of Craugastor entered northern Central America from South American in the early Paleocene, (2) an ancestor of the subgenus Syrrhophus entered northern Central America from the Caribbean at the end of the Eocene, and (3) a wave of independent dispersal events from South America coincided with formation of the Isthmus of Panama during the Pliocene. We elevate the subgenus Craugastor to the genus rank.
A gratis downloadable pdf of the paper by Crawford and Smith is available from the CNAH PDF Library at
http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.aspCrocodile Re-Classified
Monday, April 09, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
9 April 2007
AMERICAN CROCODILE DOWNLISTED BY U.S. GOVERNMENT
Reclassified from Endangered to Threatened
Miami, Florida - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday that recovery efforts are making it possible to reclassify the American Crocodile in Florida from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
"American Crocodiles were a part of Florida's history for hundreds of years until human activities such as urban development, agricultural conversion and overhunting decimated their populations," said Sam D. Hamilton, the service's southeast regional director. "However, in the past 30 years, we have made great strides in protecting this species and conserving its habitat. Today we can celebrate their comeback as a result of the recovery efforts by numerous dedicated professionals who are helping sustain a vital part of Florida's natural and cultural history."
The service's final reclassification decision comes after the completion of its five-year review required under the ESA for all endangered and threatened species. An endangered species is defined as being in danger of extinction within the foreseeable future. A threatened classification means a species could become endangered. Reclassifying a species from endangered to the less-critical threatened designation is often reflective of recovery efforts reducing imminent threats and allowing populations to increase.
The American Crocodile is being reclassified in southern Florida, its only habitat within the U.S. This crocodilian will remain endangered in other countries, including Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. The American Crocodile in Florida was originally listed as an endangered species in 1975. Their numbers in Florida have grown to an estimated 1,400 to 2,000, not including hatchlings.
The species is one of two native crocodilians -- the other being the American Alligator -- that are known to frequent the U.S. It can be distinguished from the American Alligator by a relatively narrow, more pointed snout and by an indentation in the upper jaw that leaves the fourth tooth of the lower jaw exposed when the mouth is closed. In order to reclassify the American Crocodile from endangered to threatened, the recovery plan requires a sustained breeding population of 60 females. About 95 percent of the remaining American Crocodile habitat in southern Florida has been acquired by federal, state, and county agencies. These protected areas should allow the population to expand and could provide additional nesting opportunities.
Cryptobranchid Cash
Wednesday, February 15, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
15 February 2006
HELLBENDER GRANT TO BE GIVEN
The Cryptobranchid Interest Group is now accepting applications for their annual Conservation/ Research Grant. This grant was primarily created to provide funds to support in-situ research initiatives. However, other Cryptobranchid conservation and education projects will be considered. One to two grants are awarded annually in amounts ranging from $500 to $1,000 US dollars. Applications may be downloaded from CIG's website at:
http://www.caudata.org/cig
under "research"
Deadline for submissions is 15 March 2006. Grant recipients will be notified by 15 April 2006.
For more information contact Diane Barber at:
Diane Barber
Curator of Ectotherms
Fort Worth Zoo
1989 Colonial Parkway
Fort Worth, Texas 76110
817-759-7180
817-759-7183 Fax
dbarber@fortworthzoo.org
or Ed Kowalski at:
kowalski.ed@phillyzoo.org
Curlytail Copy Call
Thursday, March 30, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 79
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
30 March 2006
Call for Cuban Curlytail Copy
I am trying to locate a copy of
Schwartz (1959) The Cuban lizards of the species Leiocephalus carinatus (Gray)
Reading Public Museum and Art Gallery, Scientific Publications 10: 1-47.
If anyone has this publication and would be willing to provide me a photocopy, please contact me directly at
gifford@biology2.wustl.edu
Thank you.
Matthew E. Gifford
Doctoral Candidate
Campus Box 1137
Department of Biology
Washington University
St. Louis, Missouri 63130
(314) 935-5302
Currently Radiant Amphibians
Thursday, February 19, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 161
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
19 February 2009
RESEARCH REQUEST ABOUT RADIANT AMPHIBIANS
Dr. Purnima Govindarajulu is seeking information from researchers who have studied (or are studying) the effects of electromagnetic radiation from power lines, or other sources, on amphibians, especially on developing embryos at breeding sites. Please send your published works or any information about ongoing research to Dr. Purnima Govindarajulu at
purnima.govindarajulu@gov.bc.ca
Thanks in advance for any information you can provide.
Data Detection Desiderata
Monday, December 01, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 154
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
1 December 2008
AMPHIBIAN DATA DETECTION
I am a graduate student studying amphibians in West Virginia wetlands. One of my objectives is to estimate reproductive success, but because of the large size and complex topography of most of the wetlands in my study area, estimation via mark-recapture with drift fences is impossible. Instead, I am using funnel traps to repeatedly capture and count metamorphs; therefore the data will be replicated in space and time. I am trying to find the best method to estimate detection probabilities for these specimens with this type of data.
Any information would be greatly appreciated and can be sent to
gstrain54@yahoo.com
Thank you in advance for any help rendered.
Gabriel Strain
Graduate Research Assistant
Division of Forestry and Natural Resources
West Virginia University
Morgantown, West Virginia 26506
(301) 876-1070
Davidson Distinguished
Tuesday, February 12, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
12 February 2008
DAVIDSON COLLEGE HERPETOLOGY LAB AND CABARRUS SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT RECEIVE STATE ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD
The 2008 North Carolina Earth Team Award was presented to Davidson College Biology Department and Cabarrus Soil and Water Conservation District at the North Carolina Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts’ annual meeting in Asheville earlier this month. This award was given by the United States Department of Agriculture—Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Association.
“Earth Team” is a Natural Resources Conservation Service volunteer program that provides leadership through partnerships that help people conserve, maintain, and improve natural resources and the environment. Students and staff from the Davidson College Herpetology Laboratory, which is part of the Biology Department, volunteered 788 hours in 2007 as “Technical Conservation Aides” with Cabarrus Soil and Water Conservation District. Their efforts are part of a multi-year research project funded by a National Science Foundation grant.
Recommendations based on Davidson College’s award-winning biological field research are already beginning to inform local land-use planning initiatives. The impact of rapid urbanization in the Charlotte area on wildlife habitat is the focus of this research. Salamanders, along with other species of amphibians, turtles, and reptiles, are being studied to assess current growth trends on the environment.
Conservation planning efforts for the state-designated Clarke Creek Heron Rookery Significant Natural Heritage Area are being informed by preliminary results of Davidson College’s research in a subdivision currently under construction next to a 200-acre wetland complex on Clarke Creek. A regional environmental education field station being planned by Cabarrus Soil and Water Conservation District at this wetland will engage area primary and secondary school students in ongoing research and conservation efforts.Deadly Diadophis
Wednesday, October 03, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
3 October 2007
EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE THAT ORAL SECRETIONS OF NORTHWESTERN RINGNECK SNAKES (DIADOPHIS PUNCTATUS OCCIDENTALIS) ARE TOXIC TO THEIR PREY
Toxicon 50: 810-815 (2007)
Ryan P. O’Donnell, Kevin Staniland & Robert T. Mason
Abstract: Ringneck Snakes (Diadophis punctatus) are suspected of being venomous because their Duvernoy’s gland secretions have high levels of phospholipase activity, which is characteristic of many viperid and elapid venoms, and because anecdotal reports of feeding behavior are consistent with the use of a venom. We tested the toxicity of Northwestern Ringneck Snake oral secretions to a natural prey species, Northwestern Garter Snakes (Thamnophis ordinoides), by injecting 2-35 ul of oral secretions intraperitoneally. All doses were 100% lethal within 180 min. The dose significantly affected the time to loss of a righting response. Neither injection of saline nor denatured oral secretions resulted in loss of a righting response or any visible detrimental effects. We suggest that Northwestern Ringneck Snakes may have evolved venom to subdue larger prey items than the snake would otherwise be capable of taking.
*****
A gratis PDF of this article is available from the CNAH PDF Library at
http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.aspDelaware Herp List Online
Wednesday, October 28, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
28 October 2009
Now available
DELAWARE HERPETOFAUNAL CHECKLIST ONLINE
UPDATED DAILY
Made available as a gratis service by CNAH, the herpetofaunal checklist of the state of Delaware is done and has been uploaded. Based on the CNAH North American list, this state checklist will be updated simultaneously and daily when new discoveries are published that change the higher taxonomy (genus and family) of these creatures. Species-level changes will also be posted daily, but will not change on the Delaware web site until evaluated by systematists and published in the print version of the next edition of the CNAH common and scientific names list; these proposed changes will, however, be immediately accessible through the Delaware checklist, just as they are for the CNAH main list.
Most importantly, Delaware joins the other provinces and states of North America in having available standardized common names, eliminating the confusion and mistakes that can occur when these names are not uniform. This makes the list especially useful for government wildlife agencies, natural heritage programs, land managers, refuge managers and biologists, museums, universities, and zoological parks.
It is very important to use standardized common names for amphibians, reptiles, turtles, and crocodilians; doing so not only creates an historical trail through time, but also maintains a stability in the present as we embrace the turbulent taxonomic changes that are occurring now and will occur in the future.
******
To view any or all of the available North American provincial or state checklists, go to
http://www.cnah.org/state_list.asp
******
Diamondback Data Desired
Thursday, November 10, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 64
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
10 November 2005
NATIONWIDE DIAMONDBACK TERRAPIN SURVEY NEEDS YOUR HELP
To save Diamondback Terrapins we need to know where they now are, were, and think they should be. You can help us. If you have ever seen Diamondback Terrapins in the wild and/or have experience in the salt marshes of the eastern United States, you have useful information. If you have ever read about local observations of this chelonian, and can tell us where you read it, you can help. Also, whether or not you fill out our survey, please spread news about it far and wide to any one else that might be able to fill it out. The survey can be found at:
http://www.people.hofstra.edu/terrapin
Please take a few minutes of your time to fill out the on-line survey about the current and past status and range of the Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin), particularly in your area.
Some Background on Diamondback Terrapins
The Diamondback Terrapin inhabits brackish and salt marshes and bays throughout its range. In most of their range, terrapins are unlikely to be confused with any other turtle because they are the turtle that lives in the salt marshes. Historically the Diamondback Terrapin has been reported as far north as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and as far south as Corpus Christi, Texas. They are most commonly seen basking or crossing roads to nest.
Field observations are necessary in order to determine the Diamondback Terrapin's past and current distribution. Along with distribution we would like to know the status of Diamondback Terrapins throughout their range, whether the populations are stable, increasing or decreasing. Your help is requested for providing information on Diamondback Terrapins that you may or may not have seen.
Russell Burke
Department of Biology
114 Hofstra University
Hempstead, New York 11549
(516) 463-5521
fax: 516-463-5112
Please send any questions or comments to:
Russell.L.Burke@Hofstra.edu
Diamondback Day Declared
Thursday, May 13, 2010: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
13 May 2010
DIAMONDBACK TERRAPIN DAY
An announcement from the office of Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley has proclaimed 13 May as Diamondback Terrapin Day 2010. Alex Zerphy, a student advisor to the Terrapin Institute, appealed to the Governor's Office and successfully had the Diamondback Terrapin acknowledged by official State Proclamation.
*****
A pdf of the proclamation is available from the CNAH PDF Library at
http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.asp
Just type O'Malley in the author slot.
*****
CNAH notes with approval the traditional spelling of Diamondback; no unnecessary, superfluous hyphen, no awkward –ed appendage, just . . . Diamondback, the way it has been for over half a century.
Diamondback Drive
Monday, March 19, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
19 March 2007
DIAMONDBACK TERRAPINS NEED HELP
Help save Diamondback Terrapins. Please participate in the petition drive at
http://www.cterrapin.org/index.html
Some states are actively allowing Diamondback Terrapin harvests to increase exponentially to supply growing demands for turtle meat.
Eat mor chikin
*****
This initiative is supported by CNAH.
*****
Diamondbacks Down
Thursday, September 03, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
3 September 2009
EFFECTS OF RATTLESNAKE ROUNDUPS ON THE EASTERN DIAMONDBACK RATTLESNAKE (CROTALUS ADAMANTEUS)
by D. Bruce Means
2009. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 4(2): 132-141
Abstract: I analyzed the data on size and numbers of the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus) for four rattlesnake roundups in the southeastern U.S. (Opp, Alabama, and Whigham, Fitzgerald, and Claxton, Georgia) spanning a period of 50 years (1959-2008). Both numbers of snakes and weights of the largest snakes that participants turned in annually declined in the last two decades. Statements by roundup officials and rattlesnake hunters support that roundup hunting has depleted local rattlesnake populations and forced hunters to travel further to collect snakes in recent years. Declining maximum size of snakes reflects possible age-class truncation, whereby collectors cull older, larger individuals of this long-lived species. Roundups perpetuate negative attitudes about venomous snakes and reduce their populations, whose skins and flesh are subject to high commercial demand. Before the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake becomes threatened throughout its range, state wildlife agencies should either ban the taking of individuals or regulate their taking by developing bag limits and seasonal harvest guidelines. The Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake would further benefit by refocusing extant roundups as wildlife festivals in which participants celebrate rattlesnakes and other wildlife rather than exploit them, or alternatively changing their theme entirely (such as one roundup that became a Wild Chicken Festival).
*****
A pdf of this article is available from the CNAH PDF Library at
http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.asp
*****
Digital Data Desired
Tuesday, February 01, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 25
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
1 February 2005
Request for information about photographic and digital voucher curation
I am assembling list of institutions (besides the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at U.C. Berkeley) that give specimen numbers for photographic vouchers for amphibian and reptile specimens used in genetic studies. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who: 1) used this method for vouchering specimens; 2) works at an institution that curates photographic/digital vouchers or 3) knows of such an institution that curates photographic/digital vouchers.
Please email relevant information to:
Parham@socrates.berkeley.edu
James F. Parham, Ph.D.
Joint Genome Institute
Department of Energy
Walnut Creek, California
and
Museum of Paleontology
University of California
Mailing address:
James Parham, Ph.D.
Museum of Paleontology
1101 Valley Life Sciences Building
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720
Disrupting Anurans
Tuesday, February 06, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 116
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
6 February 2007
LIVE FROGS NEEDED
A colleague and I are working on the effect of endocrine disruptors on the expression of genes that code for gonadotropins in amphibians. We need a few live (or frozen) specimens of Lithobates or Rana to do RT-PCR in this genus. Lithobates pipiens (Northern Leopard Frog) would be ideal, but any species of Lithobates or Rana would be helpful for now. We only need a small number of individuals, preferably a few males and a few females. If applicable, specimens must be accompanied by a current scientific collecting permit from the state of origin. Thanks in advance for your help.
Dr. Daniel J. Meinhardt
Assistant Professor
Biology and Human Biology Programs, LS 455
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
2420 Nicolet Drive
Green Bay, Wisconsin 54311-7001
(920) 465-2398
meinhada@uwgb.edu
Donate to CNAH
Wednesday, December 02, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
2 December 2009
DONATE TO CNAH
Donate $50.00 or more to THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY and receive gratis copies of the 56-page “A Pocket Guide to Pennsylvania Snakes” by Walter E. Meshaka, Jr. and Joseph T. Collins (2009), the 69-page "A Pocket Guide to Kansas Snakes. Second Edition" by Joseph T. Collins and Suzanne L. Collins (2009), and the 50-page "Arkansas Snake Guide" by Kelly J. Irwin (2004).
Donations can be made electronically through PAYPAL by visiting the CNAH web site at
http://www.cnah.org
Checks or money orders should be made out to CNAH and sent to:
CNAH
1502 Medinah Circle
Lawrence, Kansas 66047
CNAH is a 501c3 foundation and all donations are fully tax-deductible. CNAH now maintains the most frequently accessed herpetological web site on the Internet worldwide, with over 799,000 visitors since January 1998 and an average of one million hits per year.
Need a tax deduction as the year 2009 comes to a close? Contribute to CNAH. Support academic herpetology.
WHY DO HERPETOLOGISTS VISIT THE CNAH WEB SITE?
Access the CNAH PDF Library. Download over 1,170 herpetological articles gratis. PDF articles are the future (and will eventually replace print journals). Why? No dues, no trees chopped down, and, above all, fast and free distribution of research and knowledge about amphibians, reptiles, turtles, and crocodilians to any interested biologist. Why pay dues when you can visit CNAH for free.
Access the CNAH Directory of Herpetologists and be sure to add your name to it. With over 1,640 herpetologists registered, it is the largest such Internet directory in the world.
Access the CNAH Standard Common and Current Scientific Names List. It is the only such list on the internet that is updated daily (by our diligent foundation staff), thus ensuring that users of the web site have instant access to any proposed taxonomic changes involving the North American (north of Mexico) herpetofauna. Also, the CNAH list keeps North American herpetologists apprised of the standard common names and taxonomy that will appear in the next (fourth) edition of the "Peterson Field Guide to Amphibians, Reptiles, Turtles, and Crocodilians of Eastern and Central North America."
Access the State and Provincial Herpetofaunal Checklists. They are the only up-to-date, taxonomy–and-common name coordinated lists available for North America on the Internet, ensuring uniform information updated daily. Over half of the 63 states and provinces are done and online.
Access and view over 1,315 professional color images of amphibians, reptiles, turtles, and crocodilians on the CNAH Standard Common and Current Scientific Names List web pages.
Access the CNAH list of jobs/positions for herpetologists. There aren't that many jobs in our profession, so keep abreast of those offered.
Access our link sites; we have over 275 links to North American herpetological web sites, the largest such academic assemblage on the internet.
These are but a few of the many gratis services provided on the CNAH web site. To the many of you who have contributed financially to our foundation (see our Donor list), we express our sincere thanks and gratitude. Your generosity ensured long ago that The Center for North American Herpetology would be permanently endowed, and because of that, we will continue to operate as a constant and reliable source of information through the next millennium and beyond.
*****
A NOTE TO PREVIOUS DONORS
Although donating to CNAH as a sponsor was and is worth it on its own merits, here is an additional special offer by ZOO BOOK SALES/SERPENTS TALE for those of you that have supported us in the past:
ZOO BOOK SALES is offering a 20% discount on ANY mail, phone, or Internet order placed through November of 2010 to ANY donor already listed on the CNAH web page.
Visit zoobooksales.com for a list of available titles or to order online. Call (507) 467-8733 or email
zoobooks@acegroup.cc
with any questions. Please mention "CNAH Donor" when ordering. If ordering online, please type "CNAH Donor" in the purchase order line during check out in order to receive your discount.
Dusky Gopher Frogs Spawn Standoff
Saturday, May 25, 2002: Biloxi, Mississippi - Peter Morton/National Post/Toronto
Dusky Gopher Frogs Spawn Real Estate Standoff
Endangered Species Prompts Sierra Club To Pull Backing For Eco-Friendly Housing
A huge development in rural Harrison County is pitting developers, residents and local officials against 100 Mississippi Gopher Frogs (Rana sevosa), one of the most threatened creatures on the planet. The frogs, named an endangered species by the U.S. government in January, 2001, have won the backing of the Sierra Club. But the club has also endorsed the
development, and in any case it is far from certain such sentiments would ensure the frogs' survival in a new South desperate to attract jobs and residents to fatten local tax revenues.Glen Johnson still remembers the day nearly 14 years ago he found what turned out to be the last Gopher Frogs in the state, maybe in the world. After several years of searching, the veteran U. S. Forest Service worker discovered a pond no bigger than a backyard swimming pool and no deeper than a washtub in the flatlands bordering the Gulf of Mexico. "I just stood still and waited for the frogs to start calling," says Mr. Johnson, who has made saving the frogs a personal mission. "They don't really croak -- they make a deep snoring sound." The Mississippi gopher frog is one of the biggest frogs in the United States, about three inches long. It ranges in colour from black to brown to grey and is covered with dark spots and warts Naturalists say it has an endearing feature when captured -- it puts its hands in front of its eyes. Mr. Johnson's discovery was the first sighting in decades. "People have been looking for the past 15 or 20 years and this is, so far, the only place left," says Richard Siegel, a University of Maryland biology professor and one of the few to specialize in the Mississippi Gopher Frog.
Once common from the Mississippi Delta to Florida, the frog disappeared from Alabama in 1922 and Louisiana in 1967. In Glen's Pond, tiny orange flags stick out of the water to mark where the frogs were last seen. The entire site is surrounded by a two-foot-high aluminum wall. Yellow
police-style "Do Not Cross" tape cordons off the half acre. This is because the other side of the fence is scheduled for a real-estate development -- 30,000 people are expected to move into Tradition, a 4,600-acre residential and commercial project, complete with a golf course, gated communities, schools, churches and shopping malls, in the middle of what used to be an International Paper commercial forest. "It's about as bad as you can get," Mr. Johnson says. But there is hope. The project, which is aimed at families and military retirees, is being billed as the first environment-friendly development in the region and even in the United States. The faceoff between real estate developers and frogs is symbolic of what is happening across the American South. With municipalities trying to cope with the effects of unplanned growth, worrying about fragile eco-systems and their inmates is low on their list of priorities. An unprecedented boom has brought people flocking to Harrison County, drawn by jobs at the new casinos, as well as the huge Kessler Air Force base and nearby U.S. Army bases. Some 20 million tourists visit Harrison County each year for the casinos and to sunbathe on the artificial Long Beach that connects Biloxi to Gulfport. In the past decade alone, the population has jumped 30% to nearly 189,000. But with many of the jobs bringing in less than US$500 a week, that means trailer homes are the fastest and cheapest way to provide housing. The fast-growing population means there has been no chance to develop a comprehensive plan to deal with the sprawl. The unplanned growth has also brought problems with sewage and water supplies to the point where wells are being drilled beside septic tanks. So the Tradition development, despite its massive size, is being embraced by Harrison County, which sees it as a model for future development. Local politicians also hail it as a paragon of environmental sensitivity. "This will be a model for Harrison County," says Connie Rocko, of the Harrison County Board of Supervisors. "And it was the gopher frog that brought the Sierra Club to the table." Tradition is unlike any other project in the region -- a single integrated town that will have up to 15,000 homes, ranging in price from US$80,000 to US$250,000-plus. In addition, its developers were prepared to work with environmentalists to protect the frogs, pledging to preserve as much wetland as possible, with less than 10% being lost to roads. The Sierra Club believes people who might otherwise buy trailer homes will be attracted to the lower-priced houses at Tradition. Then there were the frogs. Knowing the development could face
a storm of criticism for its handling -- or mishandling -- of the Mississippi Gopher Frog, the developers commissioned a study of the frogs and their pond, at a cost of US$100,000, or US$1,000 a frog. Second, officials arranged to have the National Guard bring in water to the pond last summer when it dried out prematurely, then hired experts to check ph levels, something else the frog is sensitive to. Still there were worries. Environmentalists and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service were concerned the proposed development was too close to the frog pond. So Tradition was
re-designed, moving the golf course and houses well away from the pond. Then the environmentalists did a U-turn. Faced by a storm of criticism from members, the Sierra Club withdrew its blessing, at least partially. Now the club wants more protection for the site, saying it is worried about new roads being built to the project. But with work already starting on the
development -- the first homes will be ready by the fall -- the scramble is to find other ponds suitable for the gopher frog, Mr. Johnson says. Volunteers are combing the forests or trying to develop an artificial pond nearby, especially because the new highways have isolated the migrating
frog from potential breeding sites. Among its other peculiar habits, the Mississippi Gopher Frog likes to travel at night in search of new ponds. What worries Mr. Johnson the most is that the last remaining Mississippi Gopher Frog will end up flattened into the asphalt on a hot Mississippi night. "I'm afraid the frog may be doomed to extinction," he says. "You can't really fight progress."
Eckert Receives Award
Tuesday, September 30, 2003: Calgary, Alberta, Canada - HerpDigest
Endangered sea turtles have their own "conservation ambassador" in Dr. Karen Eckert. For her efforts to bring together nearly 40 governments, the United Nations, and conservationists in the Caribbean region to save sea turtles, Eckert today was named one of six winners of the 49th annual ChevronTexaco Conservation Awards. As executive director of Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST), Eckert has created the largest network of sea turtle research and conservation projects in the world. Her ability to find collaborative solutions that balance community needs and marine protection has reversed the decline of sea turtles in the Caribbean region. Today, WIDECAST, based at the Duke University Marine Laboratory in North Carolina, provides a model for community-based marine resource management. "Creating meaningful partnerships is the key to building a future where humans and sea turtles can live together in balance," said Eckert. Under her leadership, WIDECAST has developed alternative livelihoods for communities once dependent on sea turtle harvesting and helped nations collaborate on eliminating poaching and illegal product sales. WIDECAST also trains wildlife officers, protects nesting beaches, conducts research, drafts legislation, sponsors public awareness campaigns, develops guidelines for "sea turtle eco-tourism" and launches grass-roots conservation groups.
For more information, contact:
Camille Costello at 925.842.2583, ccaj@chevrontexaco.com
Peter Bartelme at 925-842-2590, brtp@chevrontexaco.com
Eleuths Invade Hawaii
Friday, February 28, 2003: Modified from HerpDigest - Honolulu Advertiser
Eradicators Concede Big Island To Frogs (Puerto Rican Coquis and Greenhouse Frogs)
Staff Writer J. Hurley
A $10.7 million plan to rid Hawai'i of its increasing numbers of noisy Caribbean frogs is being updated to acknowledge that eradication is no longer possible on the Big Island. "It's sad but true,'' said Mike E. Pitzler, state director of the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services branch. "This might be an animal we're going to have to live with.' 'Pitzler said the Puerto Rican Coqui and its cousin, the Greenhouse Frog, have tripled their range statewide in the past year.
The tiny creatures have found habitats in 2,000 acres across the state. The four-year eradication plan originally was written by Wildlife Services in 2001, but implementation was postponed because of delays in getting money. The plan describes an all-out assault on the frogs, with Wildlife Services joining other state and federal agencies to mobilize an army equipped with sprayers, vehicles and other equipment. The document is being rewritten in hopes of obtaining about a third of the money ($3.5 million) later this year. Much of the plan hasn't changed, Pitzler said, though now it's being referred to merely as a "control plan'' because of the "astronomical'' numbers of frogs on the Big Island. "There are some places on the Big Island where you have to plug your ears because it's so irritating and loud," he said. "You can see why people are distraught.''
Mindy Wilkinson, state invasive species coordinator, said that at last count there were 273 populations of Puerto Rican Coquis on the Big Island, with at least 23 populations on Maui, five on O'ahu and two on Kaua'i. The frogs also have been found at a hotel on Lana'i and in a shipment of plants turned away from Kaunakakai Harbor on Moloka'i, according to Mele Fong of the Maui Invasive Species Committee. Wilkinson said that while eradication is unlikely on the Big Island, there is still hope for the other islands. "But unless people start to get moving, it's going to be hopeless on all the islands,'' she said.
Earl Campbell, Pacific invasive species coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, stressed that safeguards must be maintained at the critical sites on the Big Island to keep the frogs from spreading further in nursery exports. Campbell, who battled the Big Island frogs for nearly five years in his former job with the USDA, said scientists are seeing the impact on the environment. The frogs are preying on native beetles and crickets. More could be done to knock the frog infestations back, Campbell said, but environmental regulations limit the techniques allowed. Under the Wildlife Services plan, readily available citric acid has replaced caffeine as the chemical of choice because of environmental concerns.
Wildlife Services officials are now testing equipment and application techniques as well as working on the environmental documentation necessary to put the frog-control plan into effect. The effort is being paid for with $200,000 obtained through a University of Hawai'i research program. Pitzler said the agency was hoping to eradicate the frogs on Kaua'i, but workers found that the problem was worse than originally believed. The less noisy Greenhouse Frog was discovered on hotel grounds across the island, he said. In their native Puerto Rico, Eleutherodactylus coqui live in densities of up to 8,000 an acre. Females can produce more than 200 eggs a year and reach sexual maturity in just eight months. The Eleutherodactylus planirostris, or Greenhouse Frog, is about half the Puerto Rican Coqui's size. Both species arrived in Hawai'i in plants imported from the Caribbean. It was most likely by hitchhiking in nursery material that the frogs spread from island to island.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Feb/28/ln/ln03a.html/?print=on
Elwood Hellbender Grant
Tuesday, January 13, 2009: St. George Island, Florida - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
St. George Island, Florida
http://www.cnah.org
13 January 2009
The Cryptobranchid Interest Group announces the
JENNIFER ELWOOD HELLBENDER CONSERVATION GRANT
In honor and memory of Jennifer R. Lorenz-Elwood, noted salamander biologist, with the aid of several donors, CIG has established a monetary grant to help support research and educational initiatives that contribute to the conservation of Hellbenders.
Grant Amount: up to $1,000
Eligibility: Anyone may apply for this grant. If funding is provided, the recipient(s) is required to recognize the CIG Jennifer Elwood Hellbender Conservation Grant in all publications and presentations. Copies of reports and publications are to be provided to CIG and reports of progress are to be submitted on an annual basis. CIG also requests that 3-5 images be provided to CIG to post on its web site or in CIG publications to promote its support of this project.
Evaluation Criteria: Applications will be evaluated on the basis of the potential of the project to contribute to the biological knowledge and conservation of Hellbenders. Important considerations are the significance and originality of the project, design of sampling and analysis, preliminary data supporting the feasibility of the project, the likelihood of successful completion and publication, and the overall application towards Hellbender conservation.
Application Procedure:
Obtain the application form from Diane Barber at:
dbarber@fortworthzoo.org
Provide all information requested on the application, including a description of the project.
Applications must be accompanied by curriculum vitae(s) of principle investigator(s), copies of appropriate permits, and letters of support (if applicable).
Completed application materials must be electronically submitted by 15 February to Diane Barber at:
darber@fortworthzoo.org
The grant recipient(s) will be selected by the CIG steering committee and will be notified of his/her selection by 15 March of the same calendar year.
Diane Barber
Curator of Ectotherms
Fort Worth Zoo
1989 Colonial Parkway
Fort Worth, Texas 76110
817-759-7180
817-759-7183 FAX
dbarber@fortworthzoo.org
Elwood Hellbender Grant
Thursday, January 14, 2010: St. George Island, Florida - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
The Plantation
St. George Island, Florida
http://www.cnah.org
14 January 2010
The Cryptobranchid Interest Group announces the
JENNIFER ELWOOD HELLBENDER CONSERVATION GRANT
for 2010
In honor and memory of Dr. Jennifer R. Lorenz-Elwood, noted salamander biologist, with the aid of several donors, CIG has established a monetary grant to help support research and educational initiatives that contribute to the conservation of Hellbenders.
Grant Amount: up to $1,000
Eligibility: Anyone may apply for this award. If funding is provided, the awardee(s) is required to recognize the CIG Jennifer Elwood Hellbender Conservation Grant in all publications and presentations. Copies of reports and publications are to be provided to CIG and reports of progress are to be submitted on an annual basis. CIG also requests that 3-5 images be provided to CIG to post on its website or in CIG publications to promote its support of this project.
Evaluation Criteria: Applications will be evaluated on the basis of the potential of the project to contribute to the biological knowledge and conservation of hellbenders. Important considerations are the significance and originality of the project, design of sampling and analysis, preliminary data supporting the feasibility of the project, the likelihood of successful completion and publication, and the overall application towards Hellbender conservation.
Application Procedure:
1. Download the forms from the CIG website at www.caudata.org/cig, or contact
Diane Barber at dbarber@fortworthzoo.org
2. Provide all information requested on the application, including a description of the project.
3. Applications must be accompanied by curriculum vitae(s) of principle investigator(s), copies of appropriate permits, and letters of support (if applicable).
4. Completed application materials must be electronically submitted by 15 February to Diane Barber: darber@fortworthzoo.org
5. The grant recipient(s) will be selected by the CIG steering committee and will be notified of his/her selection by 15 March of the same calendar year.
Diane Barber
Curator of Ectotherms
Fort Worth Zoo
1989 Colonial Parkway
Fort Worth, TX 76110
817-759-7180
817-759-7183 FAX
dbarber@fortworthzoo.org
Elwood Hellbender Grant
Tuesday, March 30, 2010: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
30 March 2010
ELWOOD CONSERVATION GRANT AWARDED
The Cyrptobranchid Interest Group Steering Committee is pleased to announce that
Matt Kaunert
Allegheny College
Meadville, Pennsylvania
has been awarded $1,000 from the
CIG Jennifer Elwood Conservation Grant
for his proposal “A Historical Assessment of the Eastern Hellbender (Cryptobranchus a. alleganiensis) in a Pennsylvania Stream.” Mr. Kaunert will be replicating a population study originally conducted in 1968, which should yield viable data for conservation of Hellbenders in Pennsylvania.
The CIG SC would like to thank all of the applicants for their submissions and wish them the best of luck with their work.
Diane Barber
Curator of Ectotherms
Fort Worth Zoo
1989 Colonial Parkway
Fort Worth, Texas 76110
817-759-7180
817-759-7183 Fax
dbarber@fortworthzoo.org
ESA Endangered
Wednesday, July 25, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
25 July 2007
Save the Endangered Species Act
Out of the frying pan and into the fire. That's how I felt when an anonymous source leaked me a copy of the draft Bush plan to kill the Endangered Species Act.
The Center had barely finished blocking Congressman Richard Pombo's latest legislative attack and Pombo himself had been driven out of office. I had anticipated a moment to rest, but instead found myself staying up all night to read hundreds of pages of policy proposals. Reporters needed someone to interpret the legalese so they could leap into action. And they needed it by morning.
What I found was astounding. This was the worst attack on the Endangered Species Act in more than 30 years. Bush is planning to rewrite the nation's endangered species policies from top to bottom, ripping the heart out of the Act.
Through late-night scrambling and aggressive media pitching, we won the first round. Angry articles from Miami to Seattle exposed the plan, forcing Bush to go on the defensive. His spokespeople backpedaled as quickly as they could, claiming the draft wasn't current, they didn't really mean to hurt endangered species, etc.
Now, having regrouped, the administration has pledged to release its official proposal. All indications, including the administration's point-by-point response to the Center's analysis, indicate the new proposal will be nearly as bad as the original.
Bush's planned parting gift to the logging, mining, and development industries is to thoroughly trash the entire basis of endangered species law in the United States.
In fact, the timber industry has already tried to use the early draft regulations in court to completely remove all protections for the Marbled Murrelet. The Center intervened and won round two, forcing the industry to withdraw all references to the draft policies. But they will be back in court as soon as the policies are finalized.
We need your help to beat back the rules that would kill endangered species. In particular, we need funds to immediately begin an aggressive media and legal campaign. It's not cheap work. Please go to:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/Vd_xEb11Vzh-/donate
We need to raise $10,000 in the next month.
We won the first two rounds of this historic battle, but they were just preludes to the real work ahead. If we don't beat Bush back, once and for all, Wolves, Grizzly Bears, Manatees, Sea Turtles, and my current favorite, the West Virginia Northern Fying Squirrel, will all be threatened with extinction.
Kieran Suckling
Co-founder and Policy Director
Center for Biological Diversity
ksuckling@biologicaldiversity.orgEverglades Pythons
Thursday, July 07, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
7 July 2005
Canine Catches Constrictors
Detection Dog Used to Track Alien Burmese Pythons in Everglades
WPLG (Miami, Florida) 1 July 2005
Miami: A detection dog is sniffing out an unusual problem -- his specialty, Burmese Pythons. Because so many non-native snakes have been released by pet owners in South Florida, the population of [these] snakes is growing, especially in the Everglades.
Now, a one-year-old beagle, nicknamed Python Pete, is hot on the trail of the snakes. Pete's owner and handler is wildlife technician Lori Oberhofer. She bought Pete from a Missouri breeder and had him shipped to Florida. "Beagles are used around the world," Oberhofer said. "They have a great sense of smell."
Oberhofer tests Pete's skills often by dragging snakes in a mesh bag through the grass, leaving a scent trail for Pete to track. "I don't want him to get there before me, [so he is] on a short leash so when he sees a python I [can] see him and I can pull him back," Oberhofer said.
His twice-a-week training sessions should be finished by this winter, when it's expected that Python Pete will be ready to spring into action on a regular basis. Once he finds snakes in the Everglades, they will be removed. From the mid-1990s to 2003, more than 50 Burmese Pythons were caught [in the park]. But with the surge in the snake population, last year alone 61 of the snakes were taken out of the park. The plan is to use Pete around park roads and trails where the snakes are most likely to run into people.
*****
CNAH: We suggest that those wishing to learn more about alien Burmese Pythons in the Everglades consult the book where it was first reported, The Exotic Amphibians and Reptiles of Florida (2004, Krieger Publishing, Malabar, Florida. 166 pp.) by Walter E. Meshaka, Jr., Brian P. Butterfield, & J. Brian Hauge.
Extinction Example
Friday, October 27, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
27 October 2006
EXTINCTION EXAMPLE
While talking about the amphibian extinction crisis at the National Science Teachers Associations annual conference, I was asked a question that I had no real answer for and I now solicit your help.
Can anyone provide an example of one species (of any animal) that, because it has gone extinct, has caused specific, direct, consequences to humankind.
The answer to this question should not have the words (could have, might have, or should have) in it.
Examples:
I know that we "might have" learned a lot from the Gastric Brooding Frog, but because it is now extinct, has humankind really directly suffered? Has the ecological balance been thrown so far out of whack in the area that the animal was from that it became inhospitable for humans to live there? Have people lost their jobs and died because of such extinction?
Or the Passenger Pigeon. Are we as a people now suffering because we caused its extinction?
Or Steller's Sea Cow. We killed it. Did it really change the big picture of human existence?
I just need one example.
Thanks for your time.
Jessi Krebs
Supervisor, Reptiles, Turtles, and Amphibians
Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo
3701 South 10th Street
Omaha Nebraska 68107
402-738-2043
jkrebs@omahazoo.com
Eyes Enumerated
Wednesday, August 09, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
9 August 2006
EYES ENUMERATED ELECTRONICALLY
There is a free list of published iris colors for 5,600 species of animals. Most are birds, but amphibian, chelonian, reptilian, and mammalian species are also included. The list was collected for research purposes from many different field guides. It can be accessed at
http://www.irispigmentation.com/
Morgan Worthy
Professor Emeritus
Georgia State University
morganworthy@mac.com
www.irispigmentation.com
Fab Five in Dictionary
Monday, August 04, 2008: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
4 August 2008
New Book
DICTIONARY OF HERPETOLOGY
Dr. Harvey B. Lillywhite
University of Florida
This excellent dictionary contains informative definitions about the five major academic herpetological organizations active today worldwide that are immediately recognizable by their initials. In addition to The Center for North American Herpetology (CNAH), these entities include Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC), American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH), Herpetologist’s League (HL), and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR).
CNAH is pleased to note that retained in this comprehensive volume are the traditional common name usage and spellings such as Pigmy Rattlesnake (Sistrurus miliarius), Ground Skink (Scincella lateralis), Blacktail Rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus), and Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon). It is very important to use standardized common names; this creates an historical trail through time and maintains a stability in the present as we embrace the turbulent taxonomic changes of the future.
Published July 2008
Hardback
viii + 376 pages
ISBN 1-57524-023-8
List price: $112.50
Available from:
Krieger Publishing Company
P. O. Box 9542
Melbourne, Florida 32902-9542
http://wwww.krieger-publishing.com
To order this book, call:
1 (800) 724-0025 (toll free Mon-Fri 8am-5pm EST)
1 (321) 724-9542 (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm EST)
or email them at
info@krieger-publishing.com
Also available from amazon.com
*****Fancy Glass Stools
Thursday, August 17, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
17 August 2006
WHAT DO WE LOSE IF WE LOSE THE FROGS?
by Jeffrey P. Bonner
14 August 2006
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
KINGS PLAY CHESS ON FANCY GLASS STOOLS
Anyone know that sentence? It's a mnemonic device, a shorthand way of remembering the categories scientists use to classify all life on Earth. The first letters of each word are the keys:
KINGDOM, PHYLUM, CLASS, ORDER, FAMILY, GENUS and SPECIES
Now, if I said that half of an entire kingdom was going to become extinct in the next five years -- say, the Animal Kingdom -- there would be widespread global panic. Little wonder, as it would be the end of life on this planet as we know it.
On the other hand, if I told you that we just lost another species, you might shrug your shoulders. You might figure that losing a single species is a little like popping a rivet on an airplane. Planes have oodles of rivets. You wouldn't want to lose too many, and you wouldn't want lose an important one -- like the last rivet holding the wing on. But losing an occasional rivet isn't exactly catastrophic.
Where we have problems is toward the middle of our categories. For example, what if we only lose half a "Class" of animals? A Class isn't as broadly encompassing as a Kingdom or a Phylum, but it takes in a lot more than a species or a Genus. Is losing half a Class a catastrophe, or is it just another popped rivet?
Well, we're about to find out. In the next five to ten years, about half of the different kinds of animals that make up the Class known as amphibians probably will become extinct.
There are about 6,000 known species in the class of amphibians: frogs, toads and salamanders take in most of them. As I write this, 32 percent of those 6,000 are threatened, and another 23 percent are believed to be threatened. (We don't have quite enough data to make the call with absolute certainty.)
Amphibians face many of the same problems that other threatened species face: habitat loss, climate change, pollution and so on. But they also face a unique challenge. There is a fungus, which was born in Africa, that is sweeping our planet. It's called the chytrid fungus, and wherever it arrives, it kills about 80 percent of the amphibians in the area within a year. It is lethal only at certain altitudes, so it won't destroy all of the world's amphibians, but more than half is a pretty conservative estimate.
Scientists working with the St. Louis Zoo just confirmed that it's here in Missouri. The fungus cannot be stopped in the wild. Our only hope is to get to the amphibians before the fungus arrives and bring them into zoos and aquariums for breeding and safe-keeping. The hope is that the fungus subsequently will run its course, after which the animals can be released again. Call it "protective custody."
We do not know what the assault of the chytrid fungus means for the web of life that sustains us. Frogs and their kin are both predators and prey. They are critically important in sustaining the delicate balance of nature. But are they just another rivet or do they keep the wings on the plane?
The skin of amphibians is more permeable than ours -- things pass through it fairly easily -- so they have developed some unique biological strategies to protect themselves. For example, their skin produces a wide variety of substances that kill microbes and viruses.
Last year 14 of these substances, taken from just a handful of different frog species, were tested in a lab; three of the 14 showed a remarkable capacity to completely inhibit HIV infection. I was surprised that a discovery that shows such promise for inhibiting the mucosal transmission of AIDS didn't make the news, but maybe I shouldn't be: The fact that we're going to have some very silent nights on this planet in just a few short years hasn't attracted much attention, either.
Contemplating the silence that will replace the thunderous evening chorus of amphibians' calls is bad enough. Even worse is that with the loss of those species, we will lose so many cures for so many things. And it is worse still to imagine what losing half of the world's species of amphibians may mean as we struggle to keep our living airplane from disintegrating.
When I studied biology in high school, I had a delightful mental image of those Kings Playing Chess while sitting On those Fancy Glass Stools. Now it turns out that we are very much like those kings: idling away our time when we should be responding to a horrible threat to our Kingdom.
It is not too late to save many -- perhaps most, maybe even all -- of the amphibians. They are comparatively easy to find and keep healthy in zoos and aquariums until it's safe to release them back into the wild.
The Saint Louis Zoo, for example, has returned thousands of Puerto Rican Crested Toad tadpoles to the pools of their homeland. We also are working in Ecuador to create a survival center in Quito, and we have teamed up with. other zoos to create a survival center in rural Georgia for amphibians of North America.
And right here, at one of the centers of the zoo's WildCare Institute, we are working to save Missouri's rapidly declining population of Hellbenders.
In this struggle, time is short, and we need your awareness and support. Call us at the St. Louis Zoo, and we'll tell you how you can help.
Jeffrey P. Bonner
President
Saint Louis Zoo
One Government Drive
St. Louis, Missouri 63110
(314) 781-0900 x 221
Toll-free: (800) 966-8877Field Protocol Plea
Thursday, July 27, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 90
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
27 July 2006
Herp Field Protocols Needed
I am seeking IACUC approval for instructional (demonstration) activities in field classes (Biology of Terrestrial Vertebrates, Herpetology). In several field laboratories, we visit natural sites, where we catch, observe, and release native (non-venomous) amphibians, turtles, and reptiles. Our IACUC research protocols (one species each) are designed for experimental manipulation. They are not readily amenable to our field activities. There seems to be adequate justification for an "instructional" protocol dealing with more than one species. Would anyone care to share successful protocols for field classes at your institution? Has anyone formulated an acceptable "field" protocol format for your IACUC that includes more than one species? I would very much appreciate receiving a copy (that we might adapt for use here).
David H. Nelson
Department of Biological Sciences
University of South Alabama
Mobile, Alabama 36688
(251) 460-6331
(251) 414-8220 (fax)
dnelson@usouthal.edu
Finding Fungal Frogs
Thursday, October 22, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
22 October 2009
PROTOCOL FOR THE DETECTION OF CHYTRID FUNGUS USING QUANTITATIVE PCR TECHINQUES
While chytridiomycosis has become a major focus of amphibian research worldwide, few herpetologists have any background in the laboratory techniques necessary to detect the fungus, and training classes are rare. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) is the most technologically advanced method of diagnosing chytrid infections, and the ability to perform qPCR in one’s own laboratory would both expedite the processing of samples and decrease the costs incurred by sending samples to private laboratories for diagnosis.
SAVE THE FROGS has now made publicly and freely available a detailed protocol for the detection and quantification of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. This is the most in-depth protocol of its kind in existence, and can be found, along with accompanying slide show, videos and supplementary materials at:
http://savethefrogs.com/chytrid/qpcr.html
The slide show, videos, webpage, and other materials were developed as part of a free course offered by SAVE THE FROGS and the Herpetological Circle of Panama. The course, entitled "Instruction and application of quantitative PCR molecular techniques for the study of amphibian epidemics," took place at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama City on 5-9 October 2009, and was attended by 25 scientists from Panama, Colombia, and Costa Rica. Amphibian populations in all three countries have experienced severe declines in numbers due to the chytrid fungus. This course was taught in Spanish by SAVE THE FROGS Founder & Executive Director Kerry Kriger, with the valuable assistance of Vicky Flechas of Colombia's Universidad de Los Andes. This course effectively doubled the number of scientists on the planet capable of using quantitative PCR for the diagnosis of amphibian chytrid infections.
For more information, contact:
Kerry Kriger
Founder, Executive Director & Ecologist
SAVE THE FROGS!
P. O. Box 2145
Centreville, Virginia 20122
703-376-7945
kerry@savethefrogs.com
Fitch Tribute Call for Papers
Thursday, October 08, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
8 October 2009
Call for Papers
A TRIBUTE TO HENRY S. FITCH (1909–2009)
The March 2010 issue of Reptiles & Amphibians (published by the International Reptile Conservation Foundation; http://www.ircf.org) will be devoted to the memory of Henry Fitch, arguably the world’s foremost herpetological natural historian. Dr. Fitch also became concerned and addressed issues related to conservation long before most herpetologists recognized the need to do so. To honor his many contributions, the editors of Reptiles & Amphibians are issuing a call for papers to be featured in the commemorative issue.
We are looking for short manuscripts featuring natural history and/or conservation. The ultimate criterion guiding the editors in the selection of papers will be the assumption that Dr. Fitch presumably would have enjoyed reading them. Because Reptiles & Amphibians employs color throughout, we also ask that contributors supplement their manuscripts with high-quality photographs of their subjects, their habitats, and even people conducting fieldwork related to the project in hand.
We are NOT looking for monographs nor are we looking for manuscripts that are more appropriately published in conventional scientific journals. Instead, we want to publish short papers that emphasize descriptive natural history. Dr. Fitch enjoyed and, on numerous occasions, commented on the value of such notes — and that is the tradition we seek to acknowledge and promote. Because mainstream journals rarely publish such observations or descriptive studies (Herpetological Review and a few regional journals are obvious exceptions), many field biologists accumulate in their field notes a plethora of data that will never see the light of day. Those are the gems we seek in honoring Dr. Fitch.
We impose no taxonomic or geographic restrictions, and will consider manuscripts addressing any herpetofaunal species or community.
Manuscripts and accompanying photographs should be submitted electronically as email attachments to Robert Powell at anolis@swbell.net. If image files are too large to send via e-mail, they may be uploaded to the IRCF website (www.ircf.org/uploadfile.php), but be sure to label the upload as indicated in the instructions provided. Authors should use the style employed in recent issues of Reptiles & Amphibians. For contributors not familiar with the journal, an example will be posted on the IRCF website. Guidelines for photographs also are available at
www.ircf.org/downloads/IRCF%20Photo_Graphic%20Submission%20Guide_R1.pdf
Please direct any inquiries to Dr. Powell at the e-mail address listed above.
Call for Photographs
We wish to illustrate many of the species with which Dr. Fitch worked during his long career. A list of his publications through the mid-1980s is available in Vertebrate Ecology and Systematics: A Tribute to Henry S. Fitch (1984. Richard A. Seigel, Lawrence E. Hunt, James L. Knight, Luis Malaret, and Nancy L. Zuschlag, eds. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 10). Although we are eager to receive any high-quality images, we are particularly interested in vertically oriented photographs of sufficient quality and resolution that they could be printed as full-page inserts (criteria are listed at the URL listed above). Also, as above, if image files are too large to send via e-mail, they may be uploaded to the IRCF website.
Note
Because space in the special issue is limited, if the number of acceptable submissions exceeds our capacity to include them all in the March issue, consideration will be given to publishing additional papers in subsequent issues, in effect extending the tribute to Dr. Fitch through those additional issues.
Fla Chelonians Protected
Wednesday, July 01, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
1 July 2009
FLORIDA IMPOSES STRICT FRESHWATER TURTLE HARVEST BAN
by Taren Reed
WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA (AP) -- State wildlife officials on Wednesday imposed one of the nation's strongest measures to protect freshwater turtles in Florida.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted at a meeting in Crystal River to officially adopt a new rule to protect the populations of more than two dozen species. They are considered a delicacy in Asia, where thousands are shipped every year. "This decision may be one of Florida's greatest conservation stories," said Commissioner Brian Yablonski.
The new rule will allow a person to take one turtle a day from the wild for most species. Four species that are not of concern to state scientists received a little less protection. Individuals can take two of those turtles a day.
The state's roughly 28 licensed turtle farms will be allowed to continue collecting some wild species to keep their farms going under a "tightly controlled" permitting process. Scientists say removing large numbers of turtles from the wild, especially adult, egg-laying females, can damage the species' ability to reproduce enough to stay viable. Many of the state's exported turtles come from farms, but it's unclear exactly how many are being plucked from the wild and shipped overseas.
The proposal was supported by Gov. Charlie Crist, but not everyone is pleased. Commercial fisherman Robert Whitting, 45, of Lake Placid, said he could lose up to $10,000 a year in extra income from catching and selling the turtles. "I don't know what I'm going to do now," Whitting said Wednesday. "I'll probably have to move to one of the coasts now and strictly do saltwater commercial fishing." Supporters, however, say the ban was needed to keep the state's turtle populations from collapsing.
The Tucson, Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity, along with other conservation groups, had petitioned twelve states to prohibit commercial turtle harvests. "You've got a global market with a seemingly endless demand for turtles, and states that don't strictly regulate or ban harvests are going to quickly be mined out of turtles," said the center's Jeff Miller.
Several other states also have limitations on freshwater turtle harvests, but Florida's new rule is among the nation's most protective. Oklahoma has enacted a moratorium on harvests from public waters while it studies turtle populations. Texas has banned commercial harvests of freshwater turtles on public land, but still allows the practice on private property. And South Carolina passed a limited bill earlier this year, restricting some harvests.
Until last year, there were some limits on turtle harvests in Florida, and some months during the year when certain species couldn't be caught. However, for Softshells, the most commonly used for food and medicines abroad, the season was only closed from May to July. Outside those months, the harvests were unlimited. Under the new rule, the Softshell season remains closed for those three months.
Received from . . .
Jeff Miller
Conservation Advocate
Center for Biological Diversity
351 California Street, Suite 600
San Francisco, California 94104
Phone: (415) 436-9682 x 303
Fax: (415) 436-9683
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild plants and animals. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law, and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters, and climate that species need to survive. We want those who come after us to inherit a world where the wild is still alive.
Flatwoods Salamander Filing
Friday, March 09, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
9 March 2007
CRITICAL HABITAT PROPOSED FOR FLATWOODS SALAMANDER
by David Adlerstein
A proposal by the federal government to designate approximately 31,428 acres across portions of the states of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina as critical habitat for the [Frosted] Flatwoods Salamander (Ambystoma cingulatum) will affect both public and private land in Franklin County.
The salamander, a species already protected as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, could secure additional protection if the designation goes through, thereby affecting practices of the timber industry. It could also affect such activities as dredging wetlands, disposal of dredged material, release of chemicals into breeding ponds, draining breeding ponds, converting pine flatwoods to developed areas and highway construction.
Cary Norquist, assistant field supervisor of the Jackson (Mississippi) ecological services office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the federal action, comes in the wake of a court order that resulted from a lawsuit filed on April 1, 2005, by the Center for Biological Diversity, Wild South, and Florida Biodiversity Project.
The suit challenged USFWS’s prior decision not to designate critical habitat for the flatwoods salamander by arriving at a "not prudent" filing.
"We felt like there was little benefit in designating critical habitat," she said. "In our experience we really hadn’t seen a lot of additional benefit (by the critical habitat designation) and we were concerned about it affecting our relationship with private landowners.
"We also felt it might harm the species, that by identifying those habitats we may make it vulnerable to collecting," she said.
As a protected species, the salamander is protected against any action that would "jeopardize its continued existence," said Norquist.
When critical habitat is designated, she said, decisions are held to the standard of whether an action " will destroy or adversely modify critical habitat," she said.
"The court has said there is a difference between adverse modification of critical habitation (and being a protected species)," Norquist said. "We haven’t been recognizing that there were two different standards. There’s still some confusion about that and we are still developing policy now."
She said the new critical habitat designation will affected permitting when "you have any kind of federal tie in." This would include any and all projects that are federally funded or authorized or sponsored by a federal agency, including wetlands permitting by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers.
"I can’t really tell you what the difference is going to be; it’s going to be reviewed on a case by case basis," she said. "There’s a lighter trigger perhaps for the adverse modification (standard).
"We always work with these folks," she added. "We would work with them and help develop a plan, a recommended burning regimen, or for these areas where the breeding ponds are, we put a buffer on it. We work with private landowners where they can do what they need to do and still preserve the species."
Twelve proposed critical habitat units are located within 11 counties in Florida, two counties in Georgia, and three counties in South Carolina.They include 23,459 acres in federal ownership, 1,138 acres in state ownership, 43 acres in local government ownership, and 6,788 acres in private ownership.
Approximately 11,774 acres that did not meet the definition of critical habitat are proposed for exclusion from the designation. Of these acres, 9,867 acres are military lands with Integrated Natural Resource Management Plans, and 1,907 acres are lands within the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge that has an approved Comprehensive Conservation Plan.
A portion of the total lands, Unit FL–9, is comprised of 11 subunits encompassing 23,073 acres in Liberty and Franklin counties. Most of the subunits are comprised primarily of U.S. Forest Service (USFS) land lying within the Apalachicola National Forest.
Subunit A of these lands, encompasses 162 acres on private land in Liberty County, east of Hwy. 12 near Estiffanulga.
Subunits B Through K of these lands are comprised of 22,911 acres , most of which is USFS land in the Apalachicola National Forest in Liberty and Franklin counties. Of this total, just 46 acres are under state management, and 1,137 acres are in private ownership.
Unit FL-10 encompasses 162 acres on Tate’s Hell State Forest (managed by the State of Florida’s Division of Forestry) in Franklin County.
Flatwoods salamanders are moderately-sized salamanders that are generally black to chocolate-black with fine, irregular, light gray lines and specks that form a cross-banded pattern across their backs. Adults are terrestrial and live underground most of the year. They breed in relatively small, isolated ephemeral ponds where the larvae develop until metamorphosis. Mature salamanders migrate out of the ponds and into uplands where they live until they move back to ponds to breed as adults.
Flatwoods salamanders are endemic to the lower Gulf and Atlantic coastal plains where they occur in what were historically longleaf pine-wiregrass flatwoods and savannas. Their habitat has been reduced to less than 20 percent of its original extent. Surviving populations of flatwoods salamanders are small, localized, and highly vulnerable to habitat destruction, deterioration, and fragmentation.
A final decision on designating critical habitat will consider all comments and information received by April 9, 2007.
The complete proposal appears in the Federal Register and can be found at: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/07-470.pdf. You may also access the Federal Register notice at
http://www.fws.gov/southeast/hotissues/
A copy also can be obtained by contacting Connie Light Dickard, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 6578 Dogwood View Parkway, Suite A, Jackson, Mississippi 39213; phone 601-321-1121.
Florida Exotic Herp Update
Thursday, October 12, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
12 October 2006
AN UPDATE ON THE LIST OF FLORIDA'S EXOTIC AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILE SPECIES
Walter E. Meshaka, Jr.
2006. Journal of Kansas Herpetology 19: 16-17.
Abstract: The herpetofauna of Florida is rich and faces many pressing conservation challenges, one of which is exotic species (Meshaka and Babbitt, 2005). The most recent comprehensive treatment of Florida’s exotic herpetofauna listed 40 species as established (Meshaka et al., 2004). Of these, most of the species were lizards (N = 32), especially anoles and geckos, followed by anurans (N = 4), snakes (N = 2), turtles (N = 1), and crocodilians (N = 1). Since publication of that volume, five more exotic lizard species have been reported in Florida. Herein, I summarize these publications in chronological order and relate them to the taxonomic and life history patterns associated with the previous 40 species.
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This article can be viewed or downloaded at the CNAH PDF Library at
http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.asp
Florida Herp Conservation
Wednesday, December 07, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
7 December 2005
Florida Hometown Democracy Amendment can Curb Habitat Destruction
Please support our efforts to help save what's left of wild Florida. Our campaign is at a crossroads. Please help us by supporting our petitioning campaign with a donation from your organization. Every dollar donated is going to pay for signature collections . . . it is SO difficult to get an issue on the state ballot . . . our collections total 32,000 so far and we HAVE to get 61,100 petitions by February 1 to qualify for review or FHD probably won't make it onto the 2008 ballot.
Lesley Blackner
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The following article may be compelling to those interested in stopping habitat destruction in Florida:
WAKE UP, FLORIDIANS, TO THIS COLD-BLOODED KILLING
Michael Browning
michael_browning@pbpost.com
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
It is as if the results of the sixth day of Creation, when God made "every thing that creepeth upon the earth," were being canceled out, erased around the edges. Hordes of new people are putting some of Florida's humblest residents to flight, wiping them out in hundreds of thousands, a new book reports.
AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES: STATUS AND CONSERVATION IN FLORIDA, a just-published scientific survey edited by Walter E. Meshaka, Jr. and Kimberly J. Babbitt, paints a gloomy picture of what is happening to the state's "herpetofauna," those cool-blooded wriggling things that flourished here thousands of years before we showed up.
Crushed beneath our car wheels, buried by our bulldozers, poisoned by our insecticides and fertilizers, chased from our new back yards and patios as obnoxious pests, eaten alive by exotic red ants, over-collected by egotistical pet owners, Florida's snakes, turtles, frogs, lizards and salamanders face a future that is getting grimmer and narrower year by year.
"Florida has a greater biodiversity of reptiles than any place on the North American continent, just a wonderful diversity of creatures," said Bruce Means, executive director of the Coastal Plains Institute and one of the contributors to the book.
"Unfortunately they are under assault from wildly burgeoning human masses. I've been doing this for 44 years, and I've seen species like the Southern Dusky Salamander just disappear. I am not optimistic about the future at all."
A collection of articles by scientists who are experts in their field, AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES: STATUS AND CONSERVATION IN FLORIDA speaks openly of "persecution" and "extirpation," of some reptiles, particularly Box Turtles, Gopher Tortoises and Common Kingsnakes. Scientific abbreviations like "DOR" stand for "Dead on Road," and mean the myriad squashings of frogs, lizards, turtles and snakes beneath our chariot wheels. Some roads, like U.S. 441 across Payne's Prairie in Alachua County, and the Tamiami Trail that runs across Florida from Miami to Tampa, are virtual abattoirs, greased with the gory little bodies of "anurans," as frogs and toads are called scientifically. "On Aug. 5, 1991 I stopped counting after 10,000," biologist Jim Weimer said in a 1996 interview, describing a single night on U.S. 441 across Payne's Prairie. "This was just one night. On May 2, 1991, there were over 5,000 Southern Leopard Frogs killed."
Florida is growing by leaps and bounds. The population is already above 15.3 million and expected to reach 25 million over the next quarter-century. Every hour, 28 new people come to live in Florida, averaged annually. Every hour. There are billions to be made here, in development. "But at what price?" Meshaka and Babbitt ask in their introduction. "Drives to work are unbearable, and one must drive farther and farther to see nature . . . as space runs out, agriculture is now giving way to human development, the borders of which stand cheek to jowl with every major wetland, upland, and estuarine system in the state."
The condition of Florida's herpetofauna has become "drastically unrecognizable" from what it was 50 years ago. In short, these little frogs, snakes, lizards, salamanders, turtles and tortoises are behaving like croaking, slithering, wriggling, plodding-footed, extremely stressed little canaries in a sunny coal mine. Their deaths are hastening the day when Florida, the richest habitat in America for mammals, birds, reptiles, turtles, crocodilians and amphibians, will be little more than a sterile monoculture, a "habitat for humanity" alone.
For richer, for poorer.
The report teems with figures and charts. It is interesting to learn that, enormous as Palm Beach County is, it is not the most biodiverse county in Florida when it comes to herpetofauna. That honor goes to little Franklin County, southwest of Tallahassee in the Big Bend, with 99 native amphibian, turtle, crocodilian and reptile species. Nearby Liberty County is second, with 98, and Santa Rosa County has 97. Palm Beach County, by contrast, has only 69, Martin 44 and St. Lucie 46 species. The least biodiverse place in Florida, when it comes to these creatures, is DeSoto County, just east of Charlotte County near Florida's lower west coast.
We have four native salamander species here, along with 14 native frogs and toads, eight native lizards, 14 kinds of native turtles, 28 native snakes and one crocodilian, the Florida alligator. Palm Beach County is fairly snaky, still. Only 11 counties in the state have more species of snakes than we do.
If you want to grasp the dizzying reach of these creatures' antiquity, consider the lowly [Eastern] Box Turtle. It has been in Florida since the Pliocene Era, which began five million years ago. There are at least three subspecies here, and one island, Egmont Key, off Tampa Bay, used to have so many of them it recalls the time when early 18th-century French explorers in the Gulf referred to all of America as "L'Ile aux Tortues," the Isle of Turtles. Egmont Key became a National Wildlife Refuge in 1974 but it is being eroded and lacks the funds to afford more than a single caretaker. The Box Turtle is generally thought of as "common" in Florida but this report suggests it may not be nearly as common as supposed.
The fate of the Gopher Tortoise is even more dire. This slow-moving creature lives in burrows on sandy uplands, the very sort of land most prized by developers. Bulldozers often entomb the hapless tortoises alive. Thanks to their slow metabolism, they may linger for months underground before dying of thirst and hunger. As many as 68,000 Gopher Tortoises have been killed in Florida over the past 12 years, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission figures, in order to make room for roads, houses, malls, and golf courses. "Current Gopher Tortoise regulations and conservation measures appear to be inadequate to sustain the species in Florida through the next century," writes Ray E. Ashton Jr. in the new report.
The grimmest article of all in the new book is "The Decline and Extirpation of the Kingsnake in Florida," by Kenneth L. Krysko and Daniel J. Smith. The Common Kingsnake is a magnificent creature, coming in several colors, harmless, beautiful and sweet-tempered and therefore much sought-after by collectors, who pay up to $300 for one. Traffic and drainage along the infamous U.S. 441 across Payne's Prairie practically wiped out the snake in the 1960s. By 1977 not a single Common Kingsnake could be found there. Collectors captured practically all the Common Kingsnakes along the Tamiami Trail west of Miami by 1995. Franklin County used to abound with them. A survey in 2000 found a single specimen, mortally wounded on a highway. At present the only large population of Common Kingsnakes lies around and to the west of Lake Okeechobee. Non-native fire ants are busily killing off these refugees.
More grim statistics:
More than 77,590 American Alligators have been killed as "nuisances" because they invaded Florida back yards since 1977; the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission now fields about 5,000 calls each year from alarmed homeowners. The state lets private trappers dispose of them, and their meat and hides were worth nearly $3 million in 1999.
The pet industry is thriving at the expense of wildlife. One Florida collector caught 4,194 Southern Cricket Frogs and sold them over a two-year period. Turtles are captured and sold at the rate of up to 5,663 a year. Rattlesnakes are sought-after for their skins, meat and gallbladders, which are used in Chinese traditional medicine. About 20,000 snakes of all species are removed from the wild annually to be sold as pets.
The legendary Ross Allen of Silver Springs was one of the biggest entrepreneurs. Jolly old Ross Allen was a hero to countless children and Boy Scouts in the 1950s and 1960s. They loved watching him handle snakes fearlessly, and were thrilled to hear how many times he had been bitten by rattlers and survived. They didn't know Allen was in the snake trade up to his neck. Over a five-year period Allen bought and sold 6,858 [Eastern] Rat Snakes alone, the new report says. Allen regarded the woods of central Florida as a kind of infinite piggybank of valuable snakes.
The figures in the new book are devastating. From 1990 to 1994, collectors captured and sold 5,683 salamanders, 88,096 frogs and toads, 17,627 turtles, 189,712 lizards, and 85,311 snakes of all species. Eighty percent of the lizards, 76 percent of the snakes, 50 percent of the turtles and 27 percent of the lizards came from Lake Okeechobee south. This is just the legal, reported trade.
There are some bright spots in the report. American Alligators are thriving, even getting larger. The average "nuisance" Alligator hide now measures 7.3 feet in length. And there are 1.26 million acres of state-protected land in Florida, off-limits to development.
But, say Meshaka and Babbitt, it's time to look at the future with clear eyes. These little reptiles, turtles, and amphibians can't speak, no matter what the Bible says about the "voice of the turtle" being heard in the land. But they are trying to tell us something, the scientists declare: "Rather than just waving our arms to attempt to slow the rate of human growth and habitat alteration, we should anticipate the worst and develop plans that have the potential to maintain current levels of biodiversity."
*****
Please download and SIGN THE PETITION from our website at:
http://www.floridahometowndemocracy.com/
Florida Herp List Online
Friday, February 26, 2010: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH ANNOUNCEMENT
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
26 February 2010
Now available
FLORIDA HERPETOFAUNAL CHECKLIST ONLINE
UPDATED DAILY
Made available as a gratis service by CNAH, the herpetofaunal checklist of the state of Florida is done and has been uploaded. Based on the CNAH North American list, this state checklist will be updated daily and simultaneously with the CNAH list when new discoveries are published that change the higher taxonomy (genus and family) of these creatures. Species-level changes will also be posted daily, but will not change on the Florida web site until evaluated by systematists and published in the print version of the next edition of the CNAH common and scientific names list; these proposed changes (and their citations) will, however, be immediately accessible through the Florida checklist, just as they are for the CNAH main list. Access the Florida checklist directly at
http://www.cnah.org/state_nameslist.asp?state_id=9
Most importantly, Florida joins the other provinces and states of North America in having available standardized common names, eliminating the confusion and mistakes that can occur when these names are not uniform. This makes the list especially useful for government wildlife agencies, natural heritage programs, land managers, refuge managers and biologists, museums, universities, and zoological parks.
It is very important to use standardized common names for amphibians, reptiles, turtles, and crocodilians; doing so not only creates an historical trail through time, but also maintains a stability in the present as we embrace the turbulent taxonomic changes that are occurring now and will occur in the future. The CNAH checklist program is the only authoritative coordinated herpetofaunal listing for the provinces and states of North America (north of Mexico), and brings stability to the taxonomy of these creatures across the continent.
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To view any or all of the available North American provincial or state checklists, go to
http://www.cnah.org/state_list.asp
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Florida SWG Program
Monday, October 10, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
10 October 2005
Florida Announces Two Opportunities for Wildlife Grants
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Florida State Wildlife Grants Program
As part of Florida's Wildlife Legacy Initiative, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) manages Florida's State Wildlife Grants Program. This is a federally-funded matching grants program, which provides financial support for projects that address conservation needs identified in Florida's Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy. Funded projects typically address conservation of multiple-species or habitats. Visit the Florida State Wildlife Grants Program web site for application and submission instructions:
http://myfwc.com/wildlifelegacy/grantfunding.html
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Nongame Wildlife Grants Program
The Nongame Wildlife Grants Program of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission provides competitive grants for research, management, and education projects that benefit the state’s nongame wildlife species. Projects must include a clear, specific description of the anticipated benefits to nongame species in Florida. Visit the Nongame Wildlife Grants Program web site at
http://research.myfwc.com/nongame_grants
for program details including eligibility requirements and application instructions.
*****
Applications for both are due 11 November 2005.Florida Turtles Forever
Wednesday, January 14, 2009: St. George Island, Florida - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
St. George Island, Florida
http://www.cnah.org
14 January 2009
URGENT E-MAILS NEEDED FOR FLORIDA CONSERVATION (INCLUDING TURTLES)
Because of economic problems, Florida legislators are proposing an immediate suspension of one of the world’s most important land protection programs. The "Florida Forever" program is the largest conservation land acquisition program in the United States; coupled with its predecessors, it has been instrumental in protecting millions of acres of habitat for one of the world’s richest turtle faunas. It is vital to keep this program alive. Please email Florida Governor Charlie Crist as soon as you receive this and urge him to "Please save Florida Forever" (you can use this as the Subject Line; your text can be very short). Florida’s turtles will thank you. Send your email immediately to:
Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com
Thank you.
Dale R. Jackson
djackson@fnai.org
Florida Water Snake
Friday, April 01, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 38
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
1 April 2005
Tissue Samples Needed for Genetic Study of Florida Water Snake
I am requesting tissue samples for the Florida Water Snake, Nerodia fasciata pictiventris, or related subspecies to help establish heterozygosity estimates for newly developed microsatellite loci in this subspecies. These markers will prove useful for future research on Nerodia fasciata, and potentially other closely related species. Blood or tissue are preferred, but scale clippings in 95% ETOH would also be useful. Formalin fixed samples cannot be used. Collection methods will have to comply with our current IACUC protocol.
We can provide collecting supplies for anyone who may be able to assist.
For further information, please contact:
Taylor Edwards
Research Specialist
Genomic Analysis and Technology Core
University of Arizona
Biological Sciences West, room 246
1041 E. Lowell
Tucson, Arizona 85721
taylore@u.arizona.edu
(520) 261-9791
Fluorescent Froglets
Wednesday, January 03, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 109
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
3 January 2007
Recently, I ran across an article regarding a study on froglet dispersal from a pond, in which the researchers used fluorescent powder to dip the froglets and then tracked them for up to five days before the powder was washed off by rain. I have searched through the most recent issues of Journal of Herpetology and Herpetological Review, but cannot find it (it isn’t the Rittenhouse, Altnether, Semlitsch article in Herp Review 37 (2), 2006). If anyone knows of this reference I would much appreciate hearing from them. Thanks in advance.
Diane Barber
Curator of Ectotherms
Fort Worth Zoo
1989 Colonial Parkway
Fort Worth, Texas 76110
817-759-7180
817-759-7183 Fax
dbarber@fortworthzoo.org
Frog Burned in California
Saturday, March 27, 2004: Idyllwild, California - Environmental News Service
Four Fragile Species Burned By 2003 California Fires (including The Southern California Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog
The Center for Biological Diversity released a report Tuesday analyzing the potential regional effects of the October 2003 southern California wildfires on four species listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. Two birds - the coastal California gnatcatcher and the least Bell's vireo - the Quino checkerspot butterfly, and the southern California mountain yellow-legged frog have U. S. ranges restricted to southwestern California, and their habitats were all impacted by the recent fires. The report also calls for federal, state, and local agencies to conduct supplemental environmental review of projects that may impact these species because baseline conditions have changed as a result of the fires. In October 2003, more than a dozen wildfires swept across southern California, burning over 740,000 acres. About 95 percent of the fire burned in chaparral and coastal sage scrub. Government agencies often assess local impacts of individual fires on species of concern, but no data were available about the cumulative impacts of all the fires on these species. The proliferation of extremely large development projects and regional permits authorizing significant amounts of "take" of these species in southern California, prompted the Center to conduct the analysis of the potential regional impacts of the fires. The Center used data provided by the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and California Department of Fish and Game to analyze the potential effects of the 2003 wildfires on known locations, modeled habitat, and designated critical habitat for each species throughout its range. The results indicate that wildfires burned 19 percent of critical habitat and 27 percent of known locations of the Quino checkerspot butterfly; 12 percent of modeled habitat for mountain yellow-legged frog; 4 percent of known locations, 16 percent of critical habitat, and 28 percent of modeled habitat for the California gnatcatcher; and three percent of critical habitat and two percent of modeled habitat for least Bell's vireo. "We recognize that fire is a natural and important ecological disturbance in southern California," said Monica Bond, Center biologist and primary author of the report. "However, burned habitat can be rendered temporarily unsuitable for these species until vegetation re-grows. The information in the report can be used as a starting point to re-evaluate the baseline conditions for these species in the wake of the 2003 fires." U. S. Geological Survey research indicates that past fire suppression and fuel buildup are not responsible for chaparral fires because extensive fires are the norm in these habitat types, although humans are responsible for most ignitions and have increased fire frequency over the past century. While fire is natural and inevitable in southern California, the Center says developers must be responsible for siting and designing development projects to protect human communities from fire. "The federal and state wildlife agencies must consider the local and landscape level effects of the fires when determining the cumulative impacts of current and future development projects and large scale habitat conservation plans in the region," said Kassie Siegel, an attorney for the Center. The Center suggests that avoiding development in fire-prone areas, using fire resistant building design, and providing defensible space around communities are the measures most effective at preventing loss of homes and human life.
Frog Call Recorder
Thursday, October 06, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 61
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
6 October 2005
Recorder for Frog Calls
Does anyone know of a good tape recorder to buy for recording frog calls. Preferably something I can afford, and that can record at a good enough quality to actually try and compare calls and analyse them. I heard about recorders that fit onto an ipod, which means you can record as much as you like and it saves the cost of a base unit. Does anyone know if they are good enough for frog calls, or only for human voices?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
M. Firoz Ahmed, MSc
Wildlife Biologist & Conservation Educator
65, Udayachal Path, Christian Basti
Guwahati-781005, Assam, India
firozahmed@sancharnet.in
http:// www.aaranyak.org
Frog Dip Detects Fungus
Friday, February 07, 2003: Australia - Kendall Powell, Nature Magazine
Alex Hyatt of Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Australia has developed a frog dip that helps detect the often-lethal, skin-borne chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), which causes widespread frog decline in the Americas, Europe, and Australia by disrupting breathing and water absorption, and maybe secreting a toxin. Aside from frogs, the fungus infects toads and salamanders in the Americas, New Zealand and Europe. It first reached Australia in 1993, is now known to occur in 30 frog species and may have contributed to the extinction of six Australian species. The 15-minute dip is a harmless mix of water and salts that washes the frog's skin. The dip is then tested for the fungus using antibodies or genetic testing. This procedure should eliminate the old sampling method of toe clipping and can be used to non-invasively screen amphibian shipments for lab trade.
http://www.nature.com/nsu/030203/030203-11.html
Frog Frustration Expedited
Thursday, June 28, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
28 June 2007
Protection of Highly Endangered Mountain Yellow-legged Frog Delayed Again
Species Protection Waiting List Still Growing: Not a Single New Species Has Been Protected in More Than a Year
San Francisco, California: In response to a lawsuit from the Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Rivers Council, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today published a “warranted but precluded” decision, agreeing with conservationists that the Mountain Yellow-legged Frog (Rana muscosa) deserves listing as an endangered species, but claiming listing is made impossible by “expeditious progress” on the listing of other species. This is the same decision the agency made more than four years ago, which the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined it had failed to sufficiently support.
"This decision is obviously a political and callous delaying tactic that is a recipe for extinction of the frog," said Jeff Miller, spokesperson for the Center for Biological Diversity. “Given that the Fish and Wildlife Service has not protected a single species in over a year, their claim that protection of the frog is precluded by other listings falls flat.”
The last species protected by the Fish and Wildlife Service were 12 Hawaiian picture-wing flies listed in a single rule on May 9, 2006. Overall, the Bush administration has listed fewer species under the Endangered Species Act than any other administration since the law was enacted in 1973, to date only listing 58 species compared to 512 under the Clinton administration and 234 under the first Bush administration. Since 2001, the number of species designated as “warranted but precluded” and included on the Fish and Wildlife Service's list of candidate species has grown from 252 to 279 species. At least 25 species have gone extinct on this waiting list after being recognized as candidates for protection.
“The Bush administration has closed the doors on the nation's endangered species,” said Noah Greenwald, conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “If the Mountain Yellow-legged Frog and literally hundreds of other species don't receive the effective protections of the Endangered Species Act, we will lose them forever.”
Noting the frog survives in as little as 10 percent of its original range in the Sierra Nevada, Deanna Spooner of the Pacific Rivers Council wondered: “How much more endangered does a species have to become before the Fish and Wildlife Service will take action? The intent of the Endangered Species Act is being subverted through administrative delay, sentencing the Mountain Yellow-legged Frog and other species in need of immediate protection to extinction through inaction.”
Background
The Mountain Yellow-legged Frog was historically the most abundant frog in the Sierra Nevada, ranging from southern Plumas County to southern Tulare County at elevations mostly above 6,000 feet. In 1959, David Wake, a herpetologist with the U.C. Berkeley Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, reported so many of the frogs near Tioga Pass that "[i]t was difficult to walk without stepping on them." Surveys 30 years later revealed the frogs were gone.
The Service acknowledges that the frog has disappeared from the vast majority of known historical locations in the Sierra Nevada and that many of the largest populations have completely crashed in recent years; one of the largest remaining populations containing more than 2,000 adult frogs in 1996 had been reduced to only two frogs by 1999. Particularly disturbing are recent frog surveys in relatively pristine areas of the Sierra Nevada, in the John Muir Wilderness and Kings Canyon National Park, that revealed an alarming decline of more than 40 percent in the last five to seven years alone. At this rate of decline, scientists are predicting the frog will become completely extinct in the Sierra within decades.
The species is thought to be declining primarily due to predation by nonnative trout, stocked in many high-elevation Sierra lakes by the California Department of Fish and Game, which prey upon tadpoles and juvenile frogs. Other causes include habitat degradation due to livestock grazing and the impacts of drought and environmental changes caused by global warming. Disease has ravaged many frog populations recently; factors such as pesticides, acid precipitation, and increased ultraviolet radiation as a result of ozone depletion likely render frogs much more susceptible to disease. Recent research has linked pesticides that drift from agricultural areas in the Central Valley and other airborne chemical pollutants to adverse impacts to native amphibians in the Sierra Nevada; pollutants can directly kill amphibians, interrupt breeding and feeding activity and larval development, and also act as environmental stressors, which render amphibians more susceptible to disease.
The Center for Biological Diversity and Pacific Rivers Council submitted a formal petition to list the Mountain Yellow-legged Frog in February 2000 and subsequently filed suit in May 2001 to compel the service to respond to the listing petition. In December 2001 the Service was ordered by the Northern District Court to make a final listing determination for the species, resulting in the first “warranted but precluded” determination in January 2003.
***************************************
Jeff Miller
Conservation Advocate
Center for Biological Diversity
1095 Market Street, Suite 511
San Francisco, California 94103
(415) 436-9682 x303
jmiller@biologicaldiversity.org
Contacts:
Jeff Miller (510) 499-9185
Noah Greenwald (503) 484-7495
Deanna Spooner (541) 345-0119Frog Fundraiser
Tuesday, August 07, 2007: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
7 August 2007
FUNDRAISER BY MINNEAPOLIS FOOD FORUM FOR FROGS (AND PAUL)
In May of this year, Paul Wotzka, a hydrologist who worked 16 years for the state of Minnesota, was fired from his job after being barred from testifying at a legislative committee about the levels of the herbicide Atrazine in our state's waters. You can learn more about Paul Wotzka at these two sites:
http://looncommons.org/2007/06/18/another-pca-whistleblower-suit/
http://wcco.com/local/local_story_171123618.html
Atrazine is widely believed by the international scientific community to be dangerous, specifically for its endocrine disruption effects on amphibians, and is banned by the European Union. Atrazine is the most commonly detected pesticide in Minnesota waters, and has even been found in the city of Minneapolis storm sewers.
The Eastside Food Co-op's monthly Food Forum on October 10th will be co-hosted by Land Stewardship Project and will serve as a fundraiser for Paul Wotzka and his whistle-blower lawsuit. The fundraiser will be held at the newly renovated Ritz Theater in NE Minneapolis. Dr. Tyrone Hayes, Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California Berkeley, has agreed to attend and speak. Dr. Hayes is the leading expert on the dangers of Atrazine. You can learn about what he has come up against speaking about Atrazine, the environment, animal and human health, and the corporate bottom line here:
http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/2003/Syngenta-Tyrone-Hayes31oct03.htm
After presentations by Dr. Hayes and Paul Wotzka, there will be a question and answer panel with Hayes, Wotkza, Minnesota State Senator John Marty, and special guests. There will also be a silent auction for gift certificates from the most sustainable-green and righteous-minded chefs from the finest restaurants in the Twin Cities. The Ritz Theater is located at 345 - 13th Ave in NE Minneapolis. Doors open at 6:15 with Paul Metsa performing from 6:30 to 7:00 pm, when the presentations will commence. Come and hear for yourself what our government has tried to suppress. The suggested donation is $20.00, but no one will be turned away from hearing this important information. If you cannot attend but would like to support Paul Wotzka, donations can be made out to the Paul Wotzka Defense Fund and sent to:
Eastside Food Co-op
Attn: Kristina Gronquist
2551 Central Avenue NE
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55418
We hope you will stand up with us for frogs, water, Paul Wotzka, and all people.
Tom Taylor
Eastside Food Co-op
2551 Central Avenue NE
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55418
tom@organicconsumers.orgFrog Fungal Infections
Thursday, April 23, 2009: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 172
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
23 April 2009
FUNGAL INFECTIONS IN FROGS
I need information about U.S. organizations or programs that are working on Chytrid fungal infections in amphibians. I require some basic information regarding documentation of infected areas as well as some place to send suspect specimens for biopsy. I work at Guadalupe Mountains National Park in far west Texas and we occasionally have spring die-offs of Leopard Frogs. I had attributed this to sudden cold snaps and pond freeze-over, but am now beginning to suspect something more insidious.
Gordon L. Bell, Jr.
Geologist
Guadalupe Mountains National Park
400 Pine Canyon Drive
Salt Flat, Texas 79847
(915) 828-3251 x 249
Fax: (915) 828-3269
gorden_bell@nps.gov
Frog Sweat Blocks HIV
Thursday, October 27, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
27 October 2005
Frog Secretions Block HIV Infections
Leigh MacMillan
A new weapon in the battle against HIV may come from an unusual source –- tropical frogs. Investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have discovered that compounds secreted by frog skin are potent blockers of HIV infection.
The findings, reported this month in the Journal of Virology, could lead to topical treatments for preventing HIV transmission and reinforce the value of preserving the Earth’s biodiversity.
"We need to protect these species long enough for us to understand their medicinal cabinet," says Louise A. Rollins-Smith, associate professor of microbiology and immunology, who has been studying the antimicrobial defenses of frogs for about six years. Frogs, she explains, have specialized granular glands in the skin that produce and store packets of peptides, small protein-like molecules. In response to skin injury or alarm, the frog secretes large amounts of these antimicrobial peptides onto the surface of the skin to combat pathogens like bacteria, fungi and viruses.
Rollins-Smith happens to have the laboratory next door to Derya Unutmaz, associate professor of microbiology and immunology. During a hallway chat one day, the two decided it would be interesting to investigate whether any frog peptides have activity against human viruses, specifically HIV, the focus of Unutmaz’s group.
Postdoctoral fellow Scott E. VanCompernolle screened 15 antimicrobial peptides from a variety of frog species for their ability to block HIV infection of T cells, immune system cells targeted by HIV. He found several that inhibited HIV infection without harming the T cells. The Australian Red-eyed Treefrog, Litoria chloris, had the highest levels of peptides that block HIV infection of all species that the researchers tested. The peptides appear to selectively kill the virus, perhaps by inserting themselves into the HIV outer membrane envelope and creating "holes" that cause the virus particle to fall apart, Unutmaz said.
"We like to call these peptides WMDs –- weapons of membrane destruction," Unutmaz quips. It is curious that the antimicrobial peptides do not harm the T cells at concentrations that are effective against the virus, he notes, since HIV’s outer membrane is derived from, and therefore essentially identical to, the cellular membrane. The investigators have proposed that the peptides act selectively on the virus in part because of its small size relative to cells.
The ability of the peptides to destroy HIV was enticing, but to be really effective as antimicrobial agents, they need to prevent transmission of HIV from dendritic cells to T cells, Unutmaz said. Dendritic cells, he explains, are the sentinels of the immune system. They hang out in the mucus-generating surface tissues, scanning for invading pathogens. "Their purpose in life is to capture the enemy, bring it to the lymph node – the command center – and present it to the general, the T cell, to activate a battle plan," Unutmaz says. "It’s a very efficient system that has allowed us to survive many insults, pathogens, and viruses."
But HIV is a wily foe. When it is picked up at the mucosal surface by a sentinel dendritic cell, it somehow evades destruction. Instead, it hides inside the cell, waiting to invade the T cell with a Trojan Horse-like mechanism. The ability of HIV to remain hidden in the dendritic cell, avoiding destruction by circulating antibodies and immune system cells, "may explain why after 20 years we don’t have a vaccine for this virus," Unutmaz says.
To test the effectiveness of the frog peptides in preventing HIV transmission, VanCompernolle first allowed cultured dendritic cells to capture active HIV. He then incubated the HIV-harboring dendritic cells with antimicrobial peptides, washed the peptides away, and added T cells. "Normally the dendritic cell passes the virus to the T cell, and we get very efficient infection of the T cell," Unutmaz says. "But when we treated the dendritic cells with peptides, the virus was gone, completely gone. This was a great surprise."
The finding was puzzling, he explains, since the prevailing notion is that HIV captured by dendritic cells is hidden and protected. The investigators currently are using imaging technologies to test the hypothesis that HIV is actually cycling to the dendritic cell surface. "We think maybe it’s popping its head out, looking around for a T cell, and then going back inside to hide until it cycles out again," Unutmaz said. If peptide is present outside the cell, "it targets the virus that pops up and kills it." Preliminary experiments suggest that the hypothesis is correct. "This is very exciting, as it suggests that these peptides could be very effective since the virus now has nowhere to hide," Unutmaz says. "And if this cycling is really happening, we may be able to generate a vaccine that will target virus captured by dendritic cells."
The frog peptides are an exceptional tool for probing "what the virus knows about the dendritic cell that we don’t know," Unutmaz added. "How does HIV manage to survive and cycle back and forth to the cell membrane? If we can understand that, we’ll find the gaps, and that will open a whole new universe of targets for intervention."
The investigators learned this week that the American Foundation for AIDS Research will fund their continuing quest to understand how the frog peptides kill HIV in dendritic cells. Their plans include imaging how the peptides work, screening additional frog peptides for activity, and testing peptides on a mucosal cell system to study the feasibility of developing them as prophylactics against HIV infection.
"If we are able to learn the mechanisms these peptides are using to kill HIV, it might be possible to make small chemical molecules that achieve the same results," Unutmaz says. Such chemicals would be more practical as therapeutic microbicides.
"This study is a great example of how collaboration across disciplines leads to big discoveries," Unutmaz says. Other members of the department of microbiology and immunology assisted the investigators by providing viruses for testing. The team found that membrane-coated viruses were susceptible to destruction by the frog peptides, but non-coated viruses, such as reovirus and adenovirus, were not affected.
R. Jeffery Taylor, Kyra Oswald-Richter, Jiyang Jiang, Bryan E Youree, Christopher R. Aiken and Terence S. Dermody at Vanderbilt are co-authors of the study. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Elizabeth B. Lamb Center for Pediatric Research, and the National Science Foundation.
CNAH Note: Thanks to Dr. David M. Hillis, University of Texas, Austin, for alerting us to this research news release.
Frog Toe Disk Measurements
Friday, January 14, 2005: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
CNAH RESEARCH REQUEST Number 22
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
14 January 2005
Frog Toe Disk Measurements
I am a graduate student at Marshall University under the guidance of Dr. Thomas K. Pauley. My thesis research involves working with the Upland Chorus Frog (Pseudacris feriarum) and have a couple of queries: 1) if anyone has used frog loggers in the past and, if so, do you have a preference for any particular one? and 2) could anyone advise me of any pertinent information when it comes to measuring frog toe disks? Thank you in advance.
Jaime Sias
Graduate Student
Marshall University
Biological Sciences
1 John Marshall Drive
Huntington, West Virginia 25755
304.617.7621
304.525.4956
sias5@yahoo.com
Fungal Fate for Frogs
Wednesday, February 08, 2006: Lawrence, Kansas - CNAH
NEWS RELEASE
The Center for North American Herpetology
Lawrence, Kansas
http://www.cnah.org
8 February 2006
WARMING TIED TO EXTINCTION OF FROG SPECIES
by Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Rising temperatures are responsible for pushing dozens of frog species over the brink of extinction in the past three decades, according to findings being reported today by a team of Latin American and U.S. scientists.
The study, published in the journal Nature, provides compelling evidence that climate change has already helped wipe out a slew of species and could spur more extinctions and the spread of diseases worldwide. It also helps solve the international mystery of why amphibians around the globe have been vanishing from their usual habitats over the past quarter-century -- as many as 112 species have disappeared since 1980. Scientists have speculated that rising temperatures and changing weather patterns could endanger the survival of many species, but the new study documents for the first time a direct correlation between global warming and the disappearance of around 65 amphibian species in Central and South America.
The fate of amphibians -- whose permeable skin makes them sensitive to environmental changes -- is seen by scientists as a possible harbinger of global warming's effects. Rising temperatures are threatening the survival of flora and fauna worldwide, including coral reefs in the Caribbean, which serve as critical fish nurseries, and South African rhododendrons, which cannot move to a cooler climate. J. Alan Pounds -- the resident scientist at the Tropical Science Center's Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve in Costa Rica and the study's lead author -- worked with 13 other researchers to pin down the link between rising tropical temperatures and the spread of the deadly chytrid fungus that has wiped out dozens of species of harlequin frogs in recent years.
"Disease is the bullet killing frogs, but climate change is pulling the trigger," Pounds said. "Global warming is wreaking havoc on amphibians and will cause staggering losses of biodiversity if we don't do something first."
The paper helps explain how global warming has allowed the chytrid fungus -- which kills frogs by growing on their skin and attacking their epidermis and teeth, as well as by releasing a toxin -- to thrive in Costa Rica and neighboring countries. The higher temperatures result in more water vapor in the air, which in turn forms a cloud cover that leads to cooler days and warmer nights. These conditions favor the fungus, which grows and reproduces best at temperatures between 63 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit.
At least 110 species of the vibrantly colored amphibians once lived near streams in the Central and South American tropics, but about two-thirds disappeared in the 1980s and 1990s, including the golden toad. While researchers had previously identified the fungus as a major reason for the frogs' demise, they have been trying determine why the disease has taken such a major toll in recent years.
Looking at more than 65 harlequin frog species that had vanished, researchers found that 80 percent of the time there was a correlation between higher temperatures and the species' disappearance. After a warm peak in 1987, for example, five species died off.
"There's a coherent pattern of disappearances, all the way from Costa Rica to Peru," Pounds said in an interview. "Here's a case where we can show that global warming is affecting outbreaks of this disease."
Amphibians are experiencing a precipitous decline in Africa, Asia and North America, according to a comprehensive 2004 survey, which cited climate change as well as deforestation, pollution and habitat loss as key factors.
"We have a biodiversity crisis," said Andrew Blaustein, director of Oregon State University's graduate programs in environmental science. "Amphibians seem to be harder hit than other groups."
Michael Totten, senior director for climate and water initiatives at the environmental group Conservation International, said humans have made it more difficult for animal and plant species to adapt to the shifting climate by fragmenting natural habitat. "Traditionally species have been resilient and capable of going through dramatic climate change, but with humans changing the face of the landscape, we've created lots of prisons for species, and that's the major problem they face," he said.
Stanford University climatologist Stephen Schneider said the new research represents "a creative step in the right direction, but it's still early in the game to sound the 'solved' bell." He added that the study is "just further evidence" that global warming is linked to accelerating extinctions worldwide.
While Pounds and his colleagues are still researching the harlequin frogs' disappearance, their findings are prompting even some scientists who had been skeptical about climate change's impact on amphibians to reassess their position.
James Collins, who studies harlequin frogs at Arizona State University, called the paper "an intriguing contribution" to understanding what is happening to amphibians worldwide. He said the study shows that when it comes to climate change, "these forces don't all move in one direction," since some habitats are becoming drier while others are becoming wetter. Collins and a team of researchers are trying to determine if the chytrid fungus is surfacing in areas where it had never thrived before.
Garter Snake Conservation
Friday, February