GRATHWOHL HERPETOLOGY

Two new species of Limnonectes from Thailand

2010-09-17T16:39:00.000+02:00

Southeast Asia seems to be extremely rich on species new to science. Thailand is a region, that have been quite well researched, but nevertheless, new species also are found in this country from time to time.

This time Matsui and colleagues revised the kuhlii complex of fanged frogs - and found the Thai populations to contain more seperate species.

The new species are described as Limnonectes jarujini and Limnonectes taylori.

Again i would be very interested if anybody has access to the entire publication.

Source:Matsui, M., S. Panha, W. Khonsue & N. Kuraishi. 2010. Two new species of the “kuhlii” complex of the genus Limnonectes from Thailand (Anura: Dicroglossidae). Zootaxa, 2615: 1-22.

Oedipina nica New Species from Nicaragua

2010-09-15T16:54:00.003+02:00

Today the description of a new species of worm salamander of the genus Oedipina from the highlands of Nicaragua has been described. The species is given the name Oedipina nica.

The closest relatives to this new species is two species from Honduras, but the new species is more slender built.

If some of you have access to this article i would highly appreciate a PDF :)

Source
Sunyer, J., D.B. Wake, J.H. Townsend, S.L. Travers, S.M. Rovito, T.J. Papenfuss, L.A. Obando & G. Köhler. 2010. A new species of worm salamander (Caudata: Plethodontidae: Oedipina) in the subgenus Oeditriton from the highlands of northern Nicaragua

New Species 2010

2010-09-14T21:00:00.002+02:00

As you might have noticed, i have an interest in the descriptions of new species. I find it fascinating to read and learn about new species and revisions of families, genera and species. A lot of species are revised these years with the resulting recognition of a lot of cryptic species - besides of this studies in areas not well researched - like e.g. Vietnam and Cambodia - keeps new species of often colourfull and special appearance to be found.

I have added a list at the right side of this blog which will list all species described in 2010 - as soon as they come to my knowledge - i think the list is very impressive already. I have offcourse added the new snake species Chironius challenger, which was described today in Zootaxa by Philippe J.R. Kok.

Four new species of Phymaturus from Argentina

2010-09-12T12:24:00.003+02:00

A recent article from the latest issue of South American Journal of Herpetology has just come to my attention.

In this article about studies of the Phymaturus genus, four new species are described from Argentina. The new species are the following - three of which are only known from there type locality.

Phymaturus felixi, Phymaturus etheridgei, Phymaturus laurenti and Phymaturus quelque - another recently described species Phymaturus gynechlomus is synonymized with Phymaturus palluma.

This genus now contains 27 species - most of which are endemic to Argentina. I unfortunately don't have a picture of a species from this genus in my photo-library - but this plump little lizards makes Argentina very intersting as a fieldherpetological point of view. I would love to go photograph some of these very nice little lizards.

Source:
Lobo, F., C. Abdala & S. Valdecantos. 2010. Taxonomic Studies on the genus Phymaturus (Iguania: Liolaemidae): Description of Four New Species. South American J. Herpetol., 5(2): 102-126.

34 new species of Geckos desribed in 2010 so far

2010-09-10T15:48:00.003+02:00

Been a while since i last made a post to this blog - but i will try to get it going again i think :)

I will start up with listing the 34 species of Gekkotan lizards described this year - i find this number of new species astounishing.

Cnemaspis chanardi Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya, 2010 - THAILAND
Cnemaspis laoensis Grismer, 2010 - LAOS
Cnemaspis harimau Onn, Grismer, Anuar, Quah, Muin, Savage, Grismer, Ahmad, Remigio & Greer, 2010 - MALAYSIA
Cnemaspis huaseesom Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya, 2010- THAILAND
Cnemaspis kamolnorranathi Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya, 2010- THAILAND
Cnemaspis narathiwatensis Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya, 2010- THAILAND
Cnemaspis neanghyi Grismer, Grismer & Chav, 2010 - CAMBODIA
Cnemaspis niyomwanae Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya, 2010- THAILAND
Cnemaspis psychedelica Grismer, Tri & Grismer, 2010 - VIETNAM
Cnemaspis punctatonuchalis Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya, 2010- THAILAND
Cnemaspis roticanai Grismer & Onn, 2010 - MALAYSIA
Cnemaspis shahruli Grismer, Onn, Quah, Muin, Savage, Grismer, Ahmad, Greer & Remegio, 2010 - MALAYSIA
Cnemaspis vandeventeri Grismer, Sumontha, Cota, Grismer, Wood, Pauwels & Kunya, 2010- THAILAND
Cyrtodactylus auribalteatus Sumontha, Panitvong & Deein, 2010 - THAILAND
Cyrtodactylus dumnuii Bauer, Kunya, Sumontha, Niyomwan, Pauwels, Chanhome & Kunya, 2010 - THAILAND
Cyrtodactylus jambangan Welton, Siler, Diesmos & Brown, 2010 - PHILIPPINES
Cyrtodactylus leegrismeri Onn & Ahmad, 2010 - MALAYSIA
Cyrtodactylus phuquocensis - VIETNAM
Cyrtodactylus roesleri Ziegler, Nazarov, Orlov, Nguyen, Vu, Dang, Dinh & Schmitz, 2010 - VIETNAM
Cyrtodactylus yangbayensis - Tri & Onn, 2010 - VIETNAM
Cyrtodactylus zhaoermii Shi & Zhao, 2010 - CHINA
Diplodactylus galaxias Doughty, Pepper & Keogh, 2010 - AUSTRALIA
Gekko canhi Rösler, Nguyen, Doan, Ho, Nguyen & Ziegler, 2010 - VIETNAM
Gekko carusidensis Linkem, Siler, Diesmos, Sy & Brown, 2010 - PHILIPPINES
Gekko takouensis Tri & Gamble, 2010 - VIETNAM
Gekko vietnamensis Sang 2010 - VIETNAM
Goniurosaurus yingdeensis Wang, Yang & Cui, 2010 - CHINA
Hemidactylus coalescens Leaché & Fujita, 2010 - CAMEROUN, CONGO, GABON
Hemidactylus eniangii Leaché & Fujita, 2010 - CAMEROUN, EQUATORIAL GUINEA, NIGERIA
Hemidactylus kyaboboensis Leaché & Fujita, 2010 - GHANA
Hemidactylus lamaensis Ullenbruch, Grell & Böhme, 2010 - BENIN
Luperosaurus gulat Brown, Diesmos, Duya, Garcia & Rico, 2010 - PHIILIPPINES
Phelsuma roesleri Glaw, Gehring, Köhler, Franzen & Vences - MADAGASKAR
Pygopus robertsi Oliver, Couper & Amey, 2010 - AUSTRALIA

Besides of these, the following species have been raised to full species status
Hemidactylus ituriensis
Phelsuma dorsivittata
Phelsuma parva

New Species Described: 2 Lizards and 1 Frog

2009-11-28T17:39:00.003+01:00

My attention was just drawn to the latest edition of Herpetologica (september issue - sorry know i'm a bit late here).

As usual this issue is intersting - especially if you, like me, have a hang for new species :)

This issue contains the describtion of a new hylid frog from Bahia, Brazil. The species is named Bokermannohyla juiju, and is part of the martinsi group (a group containing only two other species: martinsi and langei - both endemic to Brazil) (Faivovich et al, 2009).

The two species of lizards described are the teiid lizard Cnemidophorus jalapensis from Brazil (Corti et al, 2009) and gecko Cyrtodactylus tautbatorum from Palawan, Philippines (Welton et al, 2009). The gecko is quite common on the localities in Palawan. The authors also redescribes Cyrtodactylus annulatus and designate a neotype as the holotype was destroyed in World War II

Sources:
Colli, G.R., L.G. Giugliano, D.O. Mesquita & F.G.R. Franca. 2009. A New Species of Cnemidophorus from the Jalapão Region, in the Central Brazilian Cerrado. Herpetologica, 65(3): 311-327.

Faivovich, J., L. Lugli, A.C.C. Lourenco & C.F.B. Haddad. 2009. A New Species of the Bokermannohyla martinsi Group from Central Bahia, Brazil with Comments on Bokermannohyla (Anura: Hylidae). Herpetologica, 65(3): 303-310.

Welton, Siler, Diesmos & Brown. 2009. A New Bent-Toed Gecko (Genus Cyrtodactylus) from Southern Palawan Island, Philippines and Clarification of the Taxonomic Status of C. annulatus. Herpetologica, 65(3): 328-343.

Lizards of the American Southwest - A Photographic Field Guide

2009-11-15T15:02:00.003+01:00

A few days ago i received a package of books from Germany - among these books were my copy of the brand new Lizards of the American Southwest - a Photographic Field Guide edited by Lawrence L.C. Jones and R.E. Lovich.

This is perhaps the most outstanding book i have come across on the saurofauna of a single geographic area. The book covers the US states Arizona, California, Colorada, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas (west of the Pecos River) and Utah - and sections on the Mexican states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua and Sonora. This is an impressive area, and covers 96 species of lizards.

A great feature of this book, is that every single species, has its own account, and this account is authored by the best possible authority on this species - which makes this book much more trustworthy - over 60 authors have contributed - that's an amazing achivement..

The book is heavily covered with color photos of the single species, and the photos are of good to superb quality - and there is quite a lot of species i don't think i have ever seen color photos of. Each species account is approximately 4 pages, which is quite okay.

The books has 567 pages, which is quite a lot for a guide - probably not making it the perfect field guide - but as a photographic reference in the car - or on the shelves at home i would consider it a must have for anybody interested in the lizards of this area.

Its even very cheap considering its size and content - here in Europe it cost only 24,80 Euro - and in the US for 24,95 $

Besides of this book i must also make a small note on another book i just received, this is the classical monument on the herpetofauna of Baja California - the book Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California by L.L. Grismer from 2002. This is a MUST for anybody interested in the herpetofauna of Baja California.

Three old issues of Dactylus finally in my library :)

2009-11-11T19:57:00.005+01:00

Thanx to herplit.com i managed to get my hands on issue 2, 3 and 4 from volume 1 of Dactylus - the journal by the late The International Gecko Society. I have been looking for old issues of this journal for quite some time, and still miss some - so if you have this journal and don't use it - please let me know :)

Issue 2 has an intersting reprinted translation of the original describtion of Phelsuma pusilla hallmani by Harald Meier (originally published in german in the DGHT publication Salamandra). Besides of this the issue contains articles on Dehydration and Calcium Depeltion by Jeff Nunan, a presentation of Stenodactylus arabicus by Rolf Leptien, a presentation of Holodactylus africanus, and an article on he reproduction of the genus Tarentola by Jim Zaworski.

Issue 3 has a long article about the problems with keeping and breeding Phelsuma standingi - its quite interesting to read James Zaworskis problems with this, by then, difficult species, which today is one of the most commonly breed Phelsumas. Next interesting article is by Hermann Seufer and deals with keeping and breeding of Teratoscincus microlepis. Robert Porter gives a review of the New Zealand Geckos species followed by an article by Philip Tremper on the Captive Maintenance of Rhacodactylus sarasinorum. Aristellinger lar is presented by Robert Powell and finally C.M. Knight gives a presentation of the tail stridulation behavior in Teratoscincus scincus.

Issue 4 presents Aristelliger georgensis by Walter Schmidt - then comes an interesting note by Steven C. Anderson on the cohabitation of Teratoscincus scincus, bedriagai and microlepis in Eastern Iran, within an area of 25 meters radius - all on the same substrate - quite interesting as you would think that these species were competing with each other, and would have found different habitats.. R. Michael Burger writes about the keeping and reproduction of Uroplatus henkeli, followed by a presentation of Phelsuma guentheri by Nick Garbutt. The next article by F.W. Henkel is perhaps the most interesting considering the history - as it is a presentation of all the species of Rhacodactylus then known. This was published BEFORE ciliatus were refound - and therefore only shows a preserved specimen of this interesting species, little did he know, that just a year or two later, he would be one of the first to rediscover this species. Cyrtodactylus collegalensis and Pristurus rupestris are portraited by Ganesh Prasanna and Rolf Leptien respectively and the issue ends with a note by Gavin Bedford and Keith Christian abou the egg size of Nephrurus asper (amyae?)

New book on lizards from Central Argentina

2009-11-11T19:26:00.002+01:00

I just paged through my copy of Lagartos del Centro de la Argentina by M.R. Cabrera. I must admit that i don't understand the language, but i bought it mainly because i find it interesting to have guides to the reptiles of areas around the world, and i don't at the moment have any reference works in my library about the Argentine lizard fauna.

The book is a little guide with 119 pages - published in 2009. Its not particularly expensive, but in my opinion the printing is also were cheap - the pictures are of moderate to lousy in quality - which is a shame, as i would have loved to see some good photos of the animals of the area. The pictures 97 color photos in the book is placed 3-4 together on the few color plates in the book - it would have been nice to have the pictures together with the species describtion instead.

That said, its still nice to have a guide with keys to the 32 species of lizards and amphisbaenians of the region. 12 species of Iguanids, 3 species of Geckos, 4 species of Amphisbaenids, 2 species of Gymnophthalmids, 8 species of Teids, 1 species of scinc and 2 species of Anguids are known from this region - and a few of them i had not seen pictures of before.

Common Kingsnakes - A Natural History of Lampropeltis getula by Brian Hubbs

2009-11-10T21:20:00.004+01:00

I just received my copy of Brian Hubbs fantastic new book titled Common Kingsnakes - A Natural Hstory of Lampropeltis getula. This is a monument publication on a single species - and is highly recommended to everybody with the slightest of interest in the getula complex (see earlier note on the split of getula into 5 seperate species - the split was made after this book was published).

I'm highly impressed by the amount of data in this publication - and i can't even imagine how much work Brian have put into this compilation. Each former subspecies has its own chapter, with all information on the particular subspecies, and with massive illustrations on the variation within the subspecies. One of the info's that surpriced me, was the photo of a juvenile nigrita from Alamos, Sonora, Mexico, shoing typical pattern known from splendida juvies - very interesting - especially as the new studies earlier mentioned on my blog, have shown that nigrita should be considered part of californiae and not splendida as suspected by most people i know of having keept nigrita and splendida in captivity.

I few years back i keept and breed a species of snake, that took me 2-3 years to get the real name tag for - these were a special form of californiae local, probably from Baja California - this form i have now learned is called the nitida-form of californiae. To my knowledge this is the first book were this form is actually illustrated.

Info:
Hubbs, B. 2009. Common Kingsnakes - A Natural History of Lampropeltis getula. Tricolor Books, 412 pp. $ 60, Euro 58

If you live in Denmark and is interested - please contact me

Trial issue of Entomologische Zeitschrift received

2009-11-06T13:48:00.003+01:00

This is not a herpetological subject, but i find it worth mentioning anyway (as some of you might know i'm also interested in entomology on a amateur basis).

Looking through the page of the Ulmer Verlag a few weeks ago, i came across the journal Entomologische Zeitschrift. It seemed to be an interesting journal, so i ordered a free trial copy - and this i received today.

The journal is quite interesting, but maybe a bit to scientific for my present interest in entomology - anybody seriously interested in entomology would without a doubt find this journal very interesting - and i highly recommend at least ordering the free trial issue through www.ezib.de.

Regarding the current issue - its content is mainly on coleopteras, but also contains articles on diptera and lepidoptera - as well as a few book reviews.

I will no go into depth with the articles in the issue, but just mention, that the following new taxa are described in this issue.

(Coleoptera: Megalopodidae, Zeugophorinae)
Zeugophora (Pedrillia) bistriolata Schöller, 2009 - New Caledonia
Zeugophora (Pedrilla) daccordii Schöller, 2009 - New Caledonia

(Diptera: Sciaridae)
Bradysia iberiana Rudzinski & Baumjohann, 2009 - Spain
Bradysia iberica Rudzinski & Baumjohann, 2009 - Spain
Bradysia perfecta Rudzinski & Baumjohann, 2009 - Spain
Bradysia regulariformis Rudzinski & Baumjohann, 2009 - Spain
Bradysia varianta Rudzinski & Baumjohann, 2009 - Spain
Cratyna continuata Rudzinski & Baumjohann, 2009 - Spain
Lycoriella complexa Rudzinski & Baumjohann, 2009 - Spain
Peyerimhoffia macera Rudzinski & Baumjohann, 2009 - Spain
Epidapus subspinosulus Rudzinski & Baumjohann, 2009 - Spain

(Lepidoptera: Arctiidae, Arctiinae, Arctiini)
Pseudophragmatobia Krüger, 2009 (new genus - made for the South African lepidopteran species Arctia parvula, which is to be known as Pseudophragmatobia parvula new comb.)
Pseudophragmatobia limbata Krüger, 2009 - Lesotho
Pseudophragmatobia cinnamomea Krüger, 2009 - South Africa
Pseudophragmatobia salmo Krüger, 2009 - South Africa
Pseudophragmatobia perpunctata Krüger, 2009 - South Africa
Pseudophragmatobia paucirubra Krüger, 2009 - South Africa
Pseudophragmatobia unicolor Krüger, 2009 - South Africa

Python molurus split and new subspecies

2009-11-02T15:27:00.003+01:00

The taxonomy of the burmese python have been quite stable for quite a lot of years - only fuss have been about the validity of the Sri Lanka form pimbura Deraniyagala, 1945, which it seems most scientists today agree on being just a variation of the typeform (molurus).

A new study by Jacobs, Auliya and Böhme (2009), focusing on the taxonomy of bivittatus, conclude, based on behaviour and morphology and the fact that bivittatus populations are found isolated within the distribution of typical molurus, without any evidence of hybridizing, that bivittatus is a seperate species from molurus.

Besides of this, the Sulawesi form of burmese python, is shown to be a dwarf form, rarely exciding 200 cm, isolated from other bivittatus geographically, and differentiated by egg size and juvenile size, less than half the size of typical bivittatus. This form is described as a new subspecies - Python bivittatus progschai
The Burmese python taxonomy therefore are as follows.

Python bivittatus bivittatus (Kuhl, 1820) - Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam
Python bivittatus progschai Jacobs, Auliya & Böhme, 2009 - Sulawesi
Python molurus (Linnaeus, 1758) - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka

Source: Jacobs, H.J., M. Auliya & W. Böhme. 2009. Zur Taxonomie des Dunklen Tigerpythons, Python molurus bivittatus Kuhl, 1820, speziell der Population von Sulawesi. Sauria, 31(3): 5-16.

Lampropeltis getula split into five species

2009-11-01T23:22:00.004+01:00

A couple of recent publications by Pyron and Burbrink have evaluated the status of the Lampropeltis getula complex - and the results are very interesting.

The complex is split into 5 seperate species - and all other subspecies are sunk into synonomy of these. In my opinion the study results seems to be well argumentet and i think we have to get used to this new taxonomy of this complex well known to many hobbyists.

The complex is split into the following five valid species:

Lampropeltis californiae Blainville, 1835 (including the former subspecies nigrita and yumensis)
Lampropeltis getula (Linnaeus, 1766) (including the former subspecies goini, floridana, brooksi, meansi and sticticeps)
Lampropeltis holbrooki Stejneger, 1903
Lampropeltis nigra (Yarrow, 1882)
Lampropeltis splendida (Baird & Girard, 1853)

Sources:
Pyron, R.A. & F.T. Burbrink. 2009. Lineage diversification in a widespread species: roles for niche divergence and conservatism in the common kingsnake, Lampropeltis getula. Mol. Ecol., 18: 3443-3457.

Pyron, R.A. & F.T. Burbrink. 2009. Systematics of the Common Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula; Serpentes: Colubridae) and the burden of heritage in taxonomy. Zootaxa, 2241: 22-32.

Naja haje complex revised

2009-10-30T23:16:00.004+01:00

It might be a bit out of date - but i just read the revision of the Naja haje complex by Trape, Chirio & Wüster - and found it very interesting.

Its confirmed that the Naja haje complex contains five valid species. Naja anchietae and Naja annulifera have already been raised to valid species - but the new highlights are the following.

Naja arabica is raised from subspecies status to a valid species on its own. Its distributed on the arabian peninsula.

Naja haje legionis is sunk into Naja haje, which then no longer have any valid subspecies.

And finally, and very interesting, a new species is described from western Africa - more correctly from Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigera and Senegal - this species is given the name Naja senegalensis and is very like some of the species from the former asian Naja naja complex in its hood markings.

Source:
Trape, J.-F., L. Chirio, D.G. Broadley & W. Wüster. 2009. Phylogeography and systematic revision of the Egyptian cobra (Serpentes: Elapidae: Naja haje) species complex, with the description of a new species from West Africa. Zootaxa, 2236: 1-25.

New Books added to the Library

2009-01-13T20:38:00.005+01:00

Today i received three books to my personal library - none of them are completely new, but nevertheless very interesting and a must to a serious library on European herps.

First book is Handbuch der Reptilien und Amphibien Europas - Schwanzlurche I. This book is a volume in the ongoing series, started in 1981 - and this volume was published in 1999. The book is edited by Kurt Grosenbacher and Burkhard Thiesmeier and holds 405 pages.

Accounts on all species of the genera Salamandrella, Proteus, Speleomantes, Salamandrina, Euproctus, Chioglossus and Mertensiella - as well as the European Pleurodeles waltl is described by the leading authorities on these species. The book is very detailed in the treatment of the species covered - and really is a must to everybody interested in these genera - although you should not buy this series if you are looking for heavily illustrated books (this volume contains 4 colorplates with Speleomantes and Mertensiella species/subspecies) - and compared to the other volumes i have - this is the volume with the most pictures ;). The price of the book (and the series in general) makes it probably most interesting for bibliophiles, scientists, and hardcore hobbyists. Each volume normally cost 108 Euro.

Next book is Die Amphibien und Reptilien Baden-Württembergs - edited by Hubert Laufer, Klemens Fritz & Peter Sowig - and published in 2007. This book contains impressive 807 pages - which is quite a volume on a subject only covering the state Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The book is well illustrated with first class photos of high quality. The book covers 20 species of amphibians and 15 species of reptiles - and each species has chapters of approx. 10-20 pages.

This is the most impressive publication i have ever bought on such a small geographic region - and i heavily advice everybody interested in German herpetofauna and actually northern European herpetofauna in general to get a copy of this book. Its even quite cheap - with a price of only approximately 50 Euro.

The last book is not less impressive. This is the book Atlas zur Verbreitung und Ökologie der Amphibien und Reptilien in Österreich by Antonia Cabela, Heinz Grillitsch and Franz Tiedeman (with contributors on special subjects). It was published in 2001 and has 865 pages. The main project of the book is to show the distribution of the species found in Austria based on 20 years of data collection at the Herpetological section of the Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien. Each species has accounts with dotmaps, showing their known distribution - diagrams showing their vertical distribution above sea level. Besides of this all kinds of information is analyzed, like the degree of sympathic distribution with other species, the vegetationcoverage at the habitat and lots more - a massive compendium of information on the 21 species of amphibians and 14 species of reptiles known from Austria. Well worth the 84 Euro.

The December issue of Journal of Herpetology

2009-01-01T15:04:00.002+01:00

On the 18th of December i wrote a small note on the new classification of the genus Leiopython which were to be published in the forthcoming edition of Journal of Herpetology. This edition has now arrived - as the final issue for volume 42 (covering 2008). It contains 18 contributions about issues concerning Behavior, Conservation, Ecology, Morphology and Systematics. I will here only give a few notes to the contributions i found especially interesting.

Besides of the very interesting Leiopython taxonomic article - you will here find the describtions of two new species of Xantusia (Night Lizards) from Mexico - These species are named Xantusia jaycolei Bezy, Bezy & Bolles, 2008 (from Sonora) and Xantusia sherbrookei Bezy, Bezy & Bolles, 2008 from Baja California Sur. The genus now comprises 14 distinct species from Southwestern USA and Northwestern Mexico.

Prudente and Passos describes a new species of Dipsadine Colubrid of the genus Atractus from the state of Roraima in northern Brazil. The species is named Atractus surucucu Prudente & Passos, 2008.

From Panama, a new species of Hylid frog is described. It is spectacular due to the fact that is able to glide from the trees as known mostly from the asiatic gliding frogs of the genus Rhacophorus, and due to its breeding habit of reproduction in tree holes. Besides of this the males are territorial and care for the tadpoles. All in all, a very interesting hylid here discovered. The species is given the name Ecnomiohyla rabborum Mendelson, Savage, Griffith, Ross, Kubicki & Gagliardo, 2008.

A remarkable case of sexual size dimorphism in a frog species is describe by Fred Kraus. Through his investigations of the herpetofauna of Nakanai Mountain of eastern New Britain, he came up with a good sampling of the two rare species Platymantis rhipiphalcus and Platymantis boulengeri. By studying these further, he comes to the conclusion that the species described as Platymantis rhipiphalcus by Brown and Tyler, 1968 do not represent a valid species, but merely is shown to be adult males and juvenile females of Platymantis boulengeri (Boettger, 1892). This is quite interesting as this is at the same time shown to be the largest sexual size dimorphism in any anuran known so far. The adult females measuring approx 75 mm and weighing almost 50 grams, while the adult males only measure approx 24 mm and weighs just over 1 gram - thereby making the females 3 times as large in length and weighing over 40 times as much. How the animals reproduce is still unknown, but will be very interesting to find out.

Der Taggecko - Issue 64

2008-12-29T16:13:00.002+01:00

The fourth issue of Der Taggecko from Interessengruppe Phelsuma for 2008 has just been released. As always its impressing to get an issue packed with info for the Phelsuma-fans.

This issue contains articles on the Phelsumas of Mauritius, test of cross-breeding between Phelsuma grandis and kochi, notes on Phelsuma andamanense in captivity and Phelsumas on the island of Mahé.

This is a must for everybody interested in this fascinating genus - only disadvantage is the german language, which might be a problem for some readers.

At a price of only 20 euro for four issues a year, each containing approx. 30 pages - this is very affordable. You can read more on the groups Webpage - IG-Phelsuma.de

Last issue for 2008: Russian Journal of Herpetology

2008-12-27T21:07:00.002+01:00

The last issue of volume 15 of Russian Journal of Herpetology arrived today - and as always packed with interesting herpetological publications.

Articles covered are among others:

A new name for Agama cristata Mocquard, 1905
First record of Chalcides from Sri Lanka
A new species of Odorrana (Ranidae) from Vietnam
A new species of Goniurosaurus from Vietnam

I have chosen to present the abovefour, because i personally find them the most interesting - but other articles include species like Varanus griseus, Neurergus kaiseri, Lacerta danfordi complex, Triturus karelinii and Laudakia tuberculata.

Andrei Barabanov presents a cae of homonymy in the genus Agama - he presents a case, were the name Agama cristata has been used twice - first by Merrem in 1820 for the species now known as Corytophanes cristatus (Iguanidae) - and later by Mocquard for a single male specimen originating from Mali. The name is rarely used, as the most recent revisions question its validity and place it as a synonym with a question mark under Agama sankaranica. But as its nevertheless a homonym, it needs a new name, in case its later shown to be valid. Therefore Barabanov name it Agama maria nomen novum. In case a revision of the Mali agamids, shows this species to be valid, revisers will therefore have to use this new name.

The scincid genus Chalcides is primarely distributed in northern Africa and the Middle East area, but two species reach India (Chalcides ocellatus and Chalcides pentadactylus). Now scientisthave found and photographed a single specimen of Chalcides on Sri Lanka, which they tentatively calls Chalcides cf. ocellatus. It was found and photographed in the southwestern part of the island, and future research will hopefully tell more on the distribution and species assignment of these animals.

From Vietnam, two new species are described in this issue - Vietnam is in general a very often work on area in this journal - as Nikolai Orlov and Sergei Ryabov are frequent writers (Orlov is also one of th writers in both of the describtions in this issue and Ryabov is in one of them).

First a new species of the cascade frog genus Odorrana is described from Yen Tu Mountain Range in northest Vietnam. The species is described as Odorrana yentuensis Tung, Orlov & Tao, 2008 - and is a frog measuring approx 4,5 cm for males and 6 cm for females. I don't think pictures of this species is on the internet yet, but try looking for Odorrana nasica, and you will find a very close relative.

Next a new species of Goniurosaurus from north Vietnam is described. This species is found in the Huu LIen Nature Reserve, and is described Goniurosaurus huuliensis Orlov, Ryabov, Tao, Truong & Cuc, 2008. It is diagnosed by having a long, slim and thin body, three distinct wide dorsal body bands between the nuchal loop (which is posteriorly rounded) and the hind limb. There is no pronounced spots on the dorsal side of the body and other small morphological characteristica. The species is the one depicted on the front cover shown above.

New Issue of Herpetological Review

2008-12-23T22:06:00.003+01:00

Today the new issue of Herpetological Review was received here in Denmark - and what a nice cover, for the last issue of the year. A nice pair of the Sri Lankan endemic agamid Ceratophora tennentii, photographed by Paul Freed.

The fourth issue of 2008 covers pages 385-496 of volume 39. That said, the total pagenumber for 2008 is almost 500 pages - thats impressing, considering that Herpetological Review is "just" the little-sister to Journal of Herpetology. Both published by Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR).

As usual, a lot of intersting stuff is covered in this issue, from intern SSAR business, Obituaries (Bert Langerwerf), Current Research, Zoo View, and my favorite parts, new Geographic Distribution points for species, Natural History Notes for a lot of species and finally the reviews of some of the latest herpetological works.

New issue of Phyllomedusa just published

2008-12-18T22:06:00.003+01:00

Today the new edition (issue two of volume 7) of Phyllomedusa arrived. Phyllomedusa is a journal of herpetology mainly dealing with South American herpetology - and this issue is no exception. Actually its an all frog issue this time.

We start out with a description of a new bufonid species from the genus Melanophryniscus. The species Melanophryniscus vilavelhensis is described from Paraná state in Brazil by Giovanna C. Stenbach-Padilha. The species is nocturnal and distinguisted by its small size (up to 14 mm in males) and by a unique color pattern of copper brown dorsum with spinulose black warts and a ventral surface which is black with fine white spots - it also have some red stains on the abdomen and ventral surfaces of forearms, hand and foot.

Next Arroyo et al describes the diet, microhabitat and time of activity in six species of Pristimantis in a cloud forest reserve in Santander, Colombia.

This article is followed by a study on intraspecific competition in larvae of the dendrobatid frog Ameerega bassleri by Twomey, Morales and Summers.

From Brazil Tiago da Silveira Vasconcelos and Denise de Cerqueira Rossa-Feres studied the use of physical and acoustic space in an anuran community of 23 species.

The last real article in the issue is an observation on the ovipositing behavior in the egg-brooding frog Stefania ayangannae, by Means, Duellman and Clark, discussing the unique reproductive behavior of the frogs of the family Hemiphractidae.

This issue ends with a review of the new book edited by Stuart et al - Threatened Amphibians of the World, which seems to be very well received - its a large book, with 758 pages and covering 1900 species, which are all presented in the book. I think i need to get this book after this review - and the price of 95 Euro don't sound to frigtening considering the size.

If you want to know more about Phyllomedusa, and how to subscribe, please visit the site here.

Leiopython - 6 instead of 1

2008-12-18T17:02:00.008+01:00

In the forthcoming edition of Journal of Herpetology, my german friend Wulf Schleip - leiopython.de, has put forward his long awaited revision of Leiopython.

Wulf has been working with the complex for quite a few years and has finally come through with a quite interesting revision. He ends up splitting the genus formerlly known for only Leiopython albertisii into six different species.

Leiopython albertisii (Peters & Doria, 1878), the type species of the genus - is narrowed down to include populations from the northern and western parts of New Guinea (Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea)

Leiopython hoserae Hoser, 2000 is acknowledged as a valid species and is found in the southern part of Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea

Leiopython bennetorum Hoser, 2000 is elevated from subspecific rank to a valid species and is found in the central parts of eastern Papua New Guinea

Leiopython fredparkeri is described as a new species, found centrally in Papua New Guinea

Leiopython huonensis is also described as new and is found on a peninsular in the eastern Papua New Guinea

Leiopython biakensis, yet another new species described by Schleip, is only known from the island of Biak, Indonesia

The species are recognized on the basis of twenty external morphological characters being analyzed, as well as from analysis of mitochondrial DNA.

Thanks to Peter Peter for the first picture, and Jakob Lejbølle for the second.

Further Reading:
Schleip, W.D. 2008. Revision of the Genus Leiopython Hubrecht 1879 (Serpentes: Pythonidae) with the Redescription of Taxa Recently Described by Hoser (2000) and the Description of New Species. J. Herpetol., 42(4): 645-667.

New issue of Gekko in the mail today

2008-12-18T15:59:00.002+01:00

A pleasant surprice was in the mailbox today - the newest issue of Gekko - journal of the Global Gecko Association (GGA) - the worlds only society only for geckos.

As usual the issue is packed with high quality articles, written by some of the worlds leading experts on their fields - and this issue is the largest issue ever published by GGA.

Bruce C. Gates starts out with some field observations of the two Namib Desert Day Geckos Rhoptropus afer and Rhoptropus bradfieldi.

Next Yehudah L. Werner from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem write about Gecko Tails - based on 50 years of observing autotomy, structure, function and ecology of gecko tails - lots of interesting stuff in there.

Third article is by Tony Jewell, who presents the New Zealand Enigmatic Harlequin Gecko (Hoplodactylus rakiurae) - and what a beauty - this is a must see article. Sadly the species is, like many small population species with a low reproduction rate, threatened by introduced predators.

Francis Girard then tell us about his experiences with feeding in captivity of the two australian termite specialists, Rhynchoedura ornata and Diplodactylus conspicillatus. Francis has managed to keep Rhynchoedura ornata on a non termite diet, but thinks that keeping D. conspicillatus witout termites in the long-run is not possible.

Biswas writes a bit on the weak skin of the Indian Cnemaspis heteropholis.

The species of the genera Asaccus and Tropiocolotes from the Zagros Mountains of Iran is presented by Farhang Torki and colleagues - with photos of the species, and keys to the species in Iran.

From Sri Lanka, Mendis Wickramasinghe and Ruchira Somaweera tells about changes in distribution ranges of the Sri Lankan species of Hemidactylus. This article shows the species from Sri Lanka, and I'm especially impressed by the species Hemidactylus depressus - nice species, which makes one want to visit Sri Lanka some day :).

Finally Raju Vyas present the Gujarat STate, India, endemic Gecko Hemidactylus porbandarensis. This species is only known from an area of 1000 m2 in the coastal areas of New Sea Port of Porbandar, Porbandar City.

Another well written issue - and i can only advice anybody interested in Geckos to subscribe to the GGA.

Alkaloid profiles in Oophaga pumilio are variable

2008-12-17T21:15:00.002+01:00

In a new study published by Mebs et al, 2008 - 14 populations of Oophaga pumilio from Panama and Nicaragua were studies for alkaloid profiles.

As might be suspected, due to the fact that alkaloid composition is based on the arthropods eaten by the frogs, the variability was very high, even among individuals in populations, and of course between the populations. It is concluded that the availability of species of ants, mites and other arthropods directly affects the alkaloid profiles of the frogs.

Further reading:
Mebs, D., W. Pogoda, A. Batista, M. Ponce, G. Köhler & G. Kauert. 2008. Variability of alkaloid profiles in Oophaga pumilio (Amphibia: Anura: Dendrobatidae) from western Panama and southern Nicaragua. Salamandra, 44(4): 241-247.

Two New Species of Poison Frogs from the Ranitomeya fantastica complex

2008-12-15T22:12:00.007+01:00

In i recent issue of Zootaxa, the Ranitomeya fantastica species complex is revised by Brown, Twomey, Pepper & Rodriguez (2008). They conclude from morphological and phylogenetic studies that the complex is made up of three distinctive species, of which two are named as new - all three species is restricted to Peru.

Ranitomeya fantastica (Boulenger, 1883)

Described from Yurimaguas - and characteristic in the type series (four individuals) is that three of them have a solid red head mask which extends onto the upper arms. No populations matching these have been found since, but a population 40 km northwest of Yurimaguas is close to this in apperance and is therefore classified as fantastica sensu lato - having only a small chevron between the eyes and pale coloration on the upper arms.

Ranitomeya benedicta Brown, Twomey, Pepper & Rodriguez, 2008

Described from Rio Huallaga near Yurimaguas. Characteristed by having black body and limbs with blue reticulation. Its head is bright red with black markings over the eyes. Some populations have diffuse reticulation, causing legs or dorsal side of body to seem uniform blue. benedicta is differentiated from fantastica by having shorter hind limbs, by having a true red head (which can be close in certain populations of fantastica, but never true red), and by having a louder call. The species is widely distributed in the lowland of the states Loreto and San Martin, always east of Rio Huallaga.

Ranitomeya summersi Brown, Twomey, Pepper & Rodriguez, 2008
Described from San Martin state and characterised by being black with one orange cross-band across the sacral region. The head is black and outlined with an orange band. The face is orange with a black mask over the eyes and the limbs is black with a longitudinal orange dorsal stripe. It can be distinguished from the closely related species by its bicolor pattern and more buzz-like call.

In the chapter on fantastica in Lötters et al (2007), seven pictures are shown, of which the picture 594 must be benedicta and pictures 589 and 592 must be summersi. The rest is showing variability in fantastica sensu lato.

Thanks to Simon Bomholt - Dendrobates.dk for providing the pictures

Further reading:
Brown, J.L., E. Twomey, M. Pepper & M.S. Rodriguez. 2008. Revision of the Ranitomeya fantastica species complex with description of two new species from Central Peru (Anura: Dendrobatidae). Zootaxa, 1823: 1-24.

Lötters, S., K.-H. Jungfer, F.W. Henkel & W. Schmidt. 2007. Poison Frogs - Biology, Species & Captive Care. Edition Chimaira, 668 pp.

New Issue of DRACO - Königspythons

2008-12-14T21:05:00.000+01:00

The new issue of DRACO has just been released - and i received my copy this week. This time the theme is Ball pythons - Python regius - a species, which should be well known to most hobbyist - especially due to the vast numbers of designermorphs being created these days.

As is normally the case in DRACO, the authors touch a lot of different aspects in the field - ranging from presentation of the species, keeping and breeding in terrariums or racks, colormutations, ranching of Ballpythons and the most often encountered diseases in the species. Of course theres also room for an article about the use of Python regius in its natural area of distribution. At the end a few german books of interest is reviewed. For morph fanatics, the article by Hans-Jörg Winner about the Maze-line might be of special interest. Other articles are written by prominent german hobbyists like Thomas Kölpin (author of: Python regius - Der Königspython from NTV-Verlag), Stefan Broghammer (author of: Königspythons - Lebensraum, Pflege und Zucht from M&S Verlag) and others.

Rhacophorus penanorum - New Species of Frog from Borneo

2008-12-13T20:44:00.001+01:00

First note of herpetological interest that i find interesting (and you will probably soon discover that mainly describtions of new species have my interest in herpetology).

In the recent edition of Salamandra, Dehling describes a new species of Rhacophorus, which he collected on a trip in January 2008 to Gunung Mulu National Park in the Malaysian state Sarawak on Borneo. Its a nice green frog mesuring up to approx. 3,5 cm for males (species only known from the type-series representing three males). Its a nice little green species with a pointed snout. The name for this species is Rhacophorus penanorum Dehling, 2008. By looking in the book by Malkmus et al (2008), i think the species looking most similar from Borneo must be Rhacophorus angulirostris - which it also seems Dehling find is the most closely related.

I would guess that pictures of the species will soner or later be published on Frogs of Borneo - so keep an eye on that site (interesting in any case if your interested in Borneos frogs.

Further reading:
Dehling, J.M. 2008. A new treefrog (Anura: Rhacophoridae: Rhacophorus) from Gunung Mulu, Borneo. Salamandra, 44(4): 193-205.

Malkmus, R., U. Manthey, G. Vogel, P. Hoffmann & J. Kosuch. 2002. Amphibians & Reptiles of Mount Kinabalu (North Borneo). A.R.G. Gantner Verlag KG, 424 pp.

Jan Grathwohls blog

2008-12-12T21:27:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the Jan Grathwohl blog - which, as might be clear from the name, will be written by me :)

On this blog i will try from time to time, to write whats going on in the herpetological world, as I see it - based on my interest for herpetological books and magazines - and based on my work for the homepage herpbreeder.com.

I will also show a few photos of herps and other animals taken by myself or my wife - both in the wild and in captivity - and i reckon that i will also from time to time tell a bit about my personal collection of animals.

Hope you will drop by often to see if news have been written :)