SSAR OFFICERS (2011) President HERPETOLOGICAL REVIEW JOSEPH R. MENDELSON, III Zoo Atlanta THE QUARTERLY NEws-JourNAL OF THE e-mail: [email protected] SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES President-elect ROBERT D. ALDRIDGE Saint Louis University Editor Section Editors Herpetoculture ROBERT W. HANSEN Book Reviews BRAD LOCK e-mail: [email protected] 16333 Deer Path Lane AARON M. BAUER Zoo Atlanta, USA Clovis, California 93619-9735, USA Villanova University, USA e-mail: [email protected] Secretary e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] MARION R. PREEST WULF SCHLEIP The Claremont Colleges Associate Editors Current Research Meckenheim, Germany e-mail: [email protected] MICHAEL F. BENARD JOSHUA M. HALE e-mail: [email protected] Case Western Reserve University, USA Museum Victoria, Australia Treasurer e-mail: [email protected] Natural History Notes KIRSTEN E. NICHOLSON JESSE L. BRUNNER JAMES H. HARDING Central Michigan University Washington State University, USA BEN LOWE Michigan State University, USA e-mail: [email protected] University of Minnesota, USA e-mail: [email protected] FÉLIX B. Cruz e-mail: [email protected] INIBIOMA, Río Negro, Argentina CHARLES W. PAINTER Publications Secretary Conservation New Mexico Department of BRECK BARTHOLOMEW ROBERT E. ESPINOZA Priya Nanjappa Game and Fish, USA Salt Lake City, Utah California State University, Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] Northridge, USA USA e-mail: [email protected] JACKSON D. SHEDD Immediate Past President MICHAEL S. GRACE TNC Dye Creek Preserve, BRIAN CROTHER Florida Institute of Technology, USA Geographic Distribution California, USA Southeastern Louisiana University INDRANEIL DAS e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] KERRY GRIFFIS-KYLE Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia Texas Tech University, USA e-mail: [email protected] JOHN D. WILLSON Virginia Polytechnic and State Directors GUNTHER KÖHLER JERRY D. JOHNSON University, USA DAVID CUNDALL (2012) Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum The University of Texas at El Paso, USA e-mail: [email protected] Lehigh University, USA Senckenberg, Germany e-mail: [email protected] TIFFANY DOAN (2014) ' Copy Editors Central Connecticut University, USA PETER V. LINDEMAN ALAN M. RICHMOND RAUL DIAZ KEVIN de QUEIROZ (2012) Edinboro University, USA University of Massachusetts, USA University of Kansas Medical Center, Smithsonian Institution, USA e-mail: [email protected] USA PATRICK GREGORY (2012) DEANNA H. OLSON University of Victoria, CANADA USDA Forestry Science Lab, GUSTAVO J. SCROCCHI KYLE MILLER-HESED TRAVIS LaDUC (2014) Corvallis, Oregon, USA Fundación Miguel Lillo, Argentina University of Maryland, USA e-mail: [email protected] University of Texas at Austin,USA JODI Rowley DANIEL PORTIK ANN PATERSON (2012) Australian Museum, Australia Zoo View University of California, Berkeley, USA Williams Baptist College, USA JAMES B. MURPHY JENNIFER PRAMUK (2014) EMILY N. TAYLOR Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Elizabeth Timpe Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, USA California Polytechnic State University, USA University of Connecticut, USA CAROL SPENCER (2014) USA e-mail: [email protected] University of California, Berkeley, USA Index Editor DENISE WILSON Mayer Trustee GEORGE R. PISANI University of Kansas, USA SSAR EDITORS SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES Journal of Herpetology ERIN MUTHS, Co-Editor www.ssarherps.org U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins The Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, the largest international herpetological GAD PERRY, Co-Editor society, is a not-for-profit organization established to advance research, conservation, and education Texas Tech University concerning amphibians and reptiles. Founded in 1958, SSAR is widely recognized today as having the most diverse society-sponsored program of services and publications for herpetologists. Membership Contributions to Herpetology is open to anyone with an interest in herpetology—professionals and serious amateurs alike—who KRAIG ADLER, Editor wish to join with us to advance the goals of the Society. Cornell University All members of the SSAR are entitled to vote by mail ballot for Society officers, which allows over- seas members to participate in determining the Society's activities; also, many international members Facsimile Reprints in Herpetology attend the annual meetings and serve on editorial boards and committees. AARON M. BAUER, Editor All members and institutions receive the Society’s primary technical publication, the Journal of Herpetology, and its Villanova University news-journal, Herpetological Review; both are published four times per year. Members also receive pre-publication discounts on other Society publications, which are advertised in Herpetological Review. Herpetological Circulars To join SSAR or to renew your membership, please visit the secure online ZenScientist website via this link: JOHN J. MORIARTY, Editor Shoreview, Minnesota http://www.ssarherps.org/pages/membership.php Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles Future Annual Meetings ANDREW H. PRICE, Editor 2012 — Vancouver, British Columbia, 8–14 August (with World Congress of Herpetology) Texas Natural History Collections 2013 — Albuquerque, New Mexico, 10–15 July (JMIH with ASIH, HL, and AES) Herpetological Conservation JOSEPH C. MITCHELL, Editor Mitchell Ecological Research Services 457 ABOUT OUR COVER: Telmatobufo venustus The Chile Mountains False Toad is in Chile are concerned and struggling to protect her unique wil- covered extensively in this issue (see derness heritage, but the global economy and the country’s bur- Fenolio et al., pp. 514–519) but the geoning population make for a formidable obstacle. There is rea- unique, threatened area in which this son for optimism, both because of world conservation interest rare creature lives is worth discus- and the spirit in Chile, which abides by a local proverb: “No one sion. Recognized as one of the world’s has done well who has not suffered disillusionment.” biological hotspots, the Chilean Win- Danté Fenolio (below), Andrés Charrier, and Pilar Calderón ter Rainfall-Valdivian Forests Region collaborated to produce the cover image. The frog was photo- (CWRVFR) is practically an island, al- graphed on a mossy boulder at the site where it was encoun- beit mostly surrounded by landforms. tered. A gold/silver mesh reflector and natural sunlight were Unstable during the Eocene, under the used for illumination. A Sony Alpha 100 with a 10–20mm lens on ocean in the Miocene, and finally, pro- a tripod with a 2.5-second exposure at f./20 with an ISO speed of foundly modified by tectonic action during the late Pliocene and 200, rendered the “foggy” look of the passing stream water. Pleistocene, CWRVFR was then subjected to glacial scouring. Fenolio is the resident Amphibian Conservation Scientist for Bounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Andes Mountains, and the the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s amphibian conservation program. Atacama Desert, the region is covered by ancient forests of Noth- His work with the Garden focuses on the population ecology of ofagus, Araucaria, and Laurelia dating from the Tertiary. These the Georgia Blind Salamander, Eurycea (=Haideotriton) wallacei, came into contact with tropical floras owing to the drastic geo- and in establishing assurance colonies of Chile’s most threatened logical changes. The resulting modern vegetation, like the fauna, amphibian species at the National Zoo of Chile in Santiago. The reflects a high degree of endemism (Formas 1979. La herpeto- first stage of the project, a breeding facility and captive assurance fauna de los bosques temperados de Sudamerica, pp. 341–369 In colony of Darwin’s Frogs, Rhinoderma darwinii, now exists at the W. E. Duellman, Jr. [ed.], The South American Herpetofauna: Its zoo and is producing offspring. New amphibians to the project Origin, Evolution, and Dispersal. Monogr. 7, University of Kansas include the cover species, Telmatobufo venustus. An avid wildlife Museum of Natural History, Lawrence). photographer for most of his life, Fenolio is wrapping up a book Indeed, of the more than 40 species of amphibians in the focusing on wildlife that is CWRVF, the majority are unique to that region. Endemics in- adapted to darkness. Andrés clude such oddities as Rhinoderma (two species), Insuetophry- Charrier and Pilar Calderón nus, Calyptocephalella (each with a single species), Eupsophus have been involved in the (several species), and Telmatobufo (with four species including fieldwork in Chile for the T. venustus, the subject of our cover). Rhinoderma darwinii and Darwin’s Frog Conservation R. rufum are considered flagship species for the region; the for- Initiative. Both have made LAMAR W. WILLIAM BY PHOTO mer is vulnerable “VU” while the latter is critically endangered significant contributions to “CR” (IUCN) or possibly extinct. the project. Andrés Charrier Overgrazing, invasive species, sedimentation and silting, ur- (Centro de Estudios Avanza- banization, and logging are all contributing factors to the deg- dos de Ecología y Biodiver- radation of this habitat. Recent problems include development sidad, Universidad Católica of coastal areas to foster tourism and the construction of major de Chile) now works on hydroelectric dams. A newly proposed dam project threatens the amphibian projects across most pristine sectors of Patagonia. Many persons and institutions much