,. S.A. NATURE FOUNDATION REPRESENTING THE WORLD WILDLIFE FUND (W W F ) PO Box 456 Stell~nbosch 7600 Te( (02231) 7-289213 • H.A.A. ISS:'\ 0257-7054 NEWSLETTER 9 Get face to facewith the African wlld. A remarkable book Presented by the of wildlife photographs SA Nature Foundation, by Peter Johnson FHP FRPS. representing the Text by World Wildlife Fund Creina Bond. in Southern Africa. I For the enjoyment of nature lovers and photographic enthusiasts, techniques employed. the internationally acclaimed Sappi All proceeds from the sale of this book Collection of 100 superb full-colour I will go to the SA Nature Foundation, photographs by South Africa's The Sappi Collection -African Wildlife representing the World Wildlife Fund in foremost wildlife photographer now I Photographs by Peter Johnson FIIP FRPS Southern Africa, for the conservation of comes to you in a book you will be I To: SANATUREFOONDATION our wonderland of indigenous trees, proud to possess - exquisitely produced POBOX456 flowers and wildlife. APRIL STELLENBOSCH7600 1987 in horizontal format, 297 mm x 210 mm. I Share in the preservation of our wildlife An exhibition of the Sappi Colle<;:tion I I enclose my cheque/postal order for the sum of -9rder your copy of The Sappi Collection toured South Africa where the sensitive eye I R ..................... ................ in payment for: today. and technical expertise of Peter Johnson ........................ Copies @ R2 J,95 per copy Herpetological A1111ociation of Africa gave half a million viewers a rare insight I into our unparalleled wildlife heritage. Name: ................................................................................ The book also contains a detailed I Address: .......................................................................... discussion by Peter Johnson of every I photograph in the Collection, giving technical details, artistic objectives and I ----------• Postal Code: ........................................ Tel: .... 2 1 HERPETOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION H.A.A. COMMITTEE It is with some sadness in my heart OF AFRICA EDITORIAL that I give you a 11 the prospects for 1987/1988 since I will not be Founded 1965 1. Chairman & Newsletter Editor: On t he first day of the new year one pa rt of the "organizers" any more. Mr J.H. van Wyk usually look back at the silhouette This also means that the Newsletter rrhe H.A.A. is dedicated to the study and National Museum of the past year. With your eyes in your hand is the last posted by conservation of African reptiles and amphibians. Bloemfontein I fixed on the distant horizon my mind me to your address. I have decided Membership is open to anyone with an interest in the 9300 te 11 s me ab'Out a 1 l my achievements to step down as Chairman and African herpetofauna. Members receive the Journal T but my conscience wispers that I Newsletter Editor of the HAA. It of the Herpero/ogica/ Association of Africa (two 2. Hon. Secretary/Treasurer: could have done much more. It is must sound like some sort of issues ;•er year) and the H.A.A. Newsleuer (three Mr R.M. Douglas then usually in this atrrosphere that scandel ! Unfortunately my issues per year). National Museum I set my goa 1 s for the year ahead. postgraduate research commitments Bloemfontein Needless to say at the end of the 1 imits my time, available to serve Subscription rates 1986 9300 year I usually realize that my new the HAA fully. This inevitably could year resolutions were far to eventualy lead to dissatisfaction African members - R9,00 3. Journal Editor: ambitious. from your side and frustration from ~embers from other continents - US $ 10.00 (by Dr W.R . Branch my side especially when someone out mternatonal money order). Going by the activities of the HAA Port Elizabe,:h Museum there in the ranks of the membership 1986 Humewood dur ing I am convinced however, could devote much more time to the For information about H.A.A. membership, write to that the Association wi 11 achieve HAA. Mr R. Douglas al 1 i ts goals for 1987. Indeed, the 4. Mr N. Jacobsen National Museum HAA hav e an interesting year ahead. I would, therefore, like to make use P.O. Box 266 Nacure Conservai:ion Division The HAA Symposium to be held at of this opportunity in thanking Bloemfontein 9300 Priva,:e Bag X209 Stel lenbosch is rapidly turning into everyone for the support l received South Africa Pretoria a ma_ ' r e v em1t. Hope f u 1 1 y t h i s during the past two years. I have no 0001 me e t i n ,, wi 1 1 .s t i mu 1 a t e t h e doubts in my mind when l say that herpet ') gy minded p€opl e to the HAA is very close to the summit, 5 . Mr J. Marais commun icate more freely and to do so in being a well organized active and Crocodile Farm in Sun City even more resularly in future. At involved association. It is just a P.O. Box 234 the same ve nL2 the HAA wil 1 hand the Sun City matter of commitment and resource Geometric Tortoise Fund to the utilization. Bophu,:hacswana Natu r e Foundation of Southern Africa. Certainly a milestone in the I wish the HAA and its new 6. Dr H. Berger-Dell'mour histor y of the HAA! This year wi 11 management a successful and State Museum also bring another General Meeting prosperous future ahead. Windhoek (Stellenbosch symposium venue), also S.W.A./Namibia a rather uncomrron event in the past. ' J.H. Van Wyk The committee reports should give CHAIRMAN &NEWSLETTER EDITOR 7. Natal Branch the members insight into the Mr John Vorsi:er activities of the first HAA ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 4 Jagger Road committee. A new committee wi 11 be Endangered species Moni:clair formed and hopefully keep the HAA on poster available Durban the road to the summit. Maybe they 4001 will discover a few new short cuts! An updated "Endangered and Together with al 1 this, the Vulnerahle Species of South- Newsletter should become a more ern Africa·· poster has been NEWSLETTER EDITORIAL STAFF regular feature especially with a produced hy the Endangered new Editor, The HAA Journal may just Wildlife Trust. receive more higl,level scientific The poster features 13 spe- J.H. van Wyk (Editor) cies - five mammals, seven R. Douglas articles to become a regular feature as wel 1. It just seems logical that birds and one insect - which i T. Saaiman arc the focus of trust projects. the new committee with new Monies from the sale of post• Department of Herpetology initiatives and a fresh spirit wil 1 ers will go to conservation of National Museum have many more surprises for each endangered, vulnerahle and PO Box 266 HAA member. rare species. To order, send Bloemfontein, 9300 RJ,36 (includes GST) to the Endangered Wildlife Trust, Private Bag x 11, Parkview Tel. 051-79609 2122. Phone (01 I) 486-1102. 4 3 INSTITUTIONAL NEWS 4. Other news: A Suggested Coding Sys tern for If a genus; gets split up or if two Southern African Reptilian and genera are joined, the relevant code The Department suffered a Amphibian Taxa numbers should still represent this The National Museums and Monuments grievous loss with the death from situation. cancer of Mrs Barbara L. in a time of increasing Bulawayo, ZIMBABWE Bennefield on 28th May 1986. She computerisation, where museum Based on the fact that we possess was a very versatile and capable collection data are being stored on ten fingers (apart from the few Technical Officer and was l electronic databases, and vast lucky people that were born with 12 Dr. D.G. Broadley reports actively engaged in research on computer-aided 1 i terature search and the few unlucky but highly tortoises. programs have been developed , an respected ones who had themselves 1. Current research projects: effective and flexible coding system bitten by a puffadder), which ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• is essential. consequently resulted in us using a 2. a. Geographical variation in decimal calculating system, I Gerrhosaurus major (Saur ia: This article wants to induce the propose to introduce a four(five)- Cordylidae). D.G. Broadley necessary brain-storm in all digit decimal code system where the competent cereoral systems of our 1000 value represents the family, b. Caudal autotomy in the genus herpetological community, so that we the 100 the genus, the 10 the Natriciteres (Serpentes: end up with a useful concept. species and the last (1) tne COTuor1daef.-TI:t. Broad 1 ey THE ADVENTURES OF SPOT subspecies. We should try to I earn from the c. A cneck-1 i st of the repti 1 es shortcomings of the bird system and Any "o" would stand for "no more of Tanzania. D.G. Broadley & construct ours ,rore flexible. detailed information available" (in K.M. Howell (University of Dar What are the requirements? ou r example, 4000 stands for es Salaam) Lacertidae in general) or, in the 1. Re.,, ·esentat ion of a Natural case of a monotypic species, it will d. Amphioia Lambesiaca Sys '. ?m'' automatically be the last digit. A (continued). J.C. Poynton & "1" as the last digit may stand fer D.G. Broad l ey Within an existing herpetological U1e nominate subspecies. database, we want to be able to e. Repti 1 ia Zambesiaca. D.G. searcn for a related group of Even though computer filing at the Broadley organisms together (e.g. all Lowe r Ve r t i b r a t e s e c t i o n o f t t1 e subspecies of a species or al 1 Windhoek Museum has not been done to f.