SSAR OFFICERS (2013) HERPETOLOGICAL REVIEW President ROBERT D. ALDRIDGE THE QUARTERLY BULLETIN OF THE Saint Louis University [email protected] SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES President-elect AARON M. BAUER Editor Section Editors Nomenclature ROBERT W. HANSEN Book Reviews JAY M. SAVAGE Villanova University 16333 Deer Path Lane AARON M. BAUER San Diego State University, [email protected] Clovis, California 93619-9735 USA Villanova University, USA California, USA Secretary [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] MARION R. PREEST The Claremont Colleges Associate Editors Current Research Herpetoculture MICHAEL F. BENARD BECK A. WEHRLE ROBERT HILL [email protected] Case Western Reserve University, USA University of California, Irvine, USA Zoo Atlanta, USA Treasurer [email protected] [email protected] ANN PATERSON JESSE L. BRUNNER Williams Baptist College Washington State University, USA BEN LOWE WULF SCHLEIP [email protected] University of Minnesota, USA Meckenheim, Germany FÉLIX B. CRUZ [email protected] [email protected] Publications Secretary INIBIOMA, Río Negro, Argentina BRECK BARTHOLOMEW Conservation Natural History Notes Salt Lake City, Utah RAUL DIAZ PRIYA NANJAPPA JAMES H. HARDING [email protected] La Sierra University, California, USA Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, Michigan State University, USA USA [email protected] Immediate Past President ROBERT E. ESPINOZA [email protected] JOSEPH R. MENDELSON, III California State University, SEAN P. GRAHAM Zoo Atlanta Northridge, USA Geographic Distribution Pennsylvania State University, USA [email protected] INDRANEIL DAS [email protected] SCOTT M. BOBACK Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia Directors Dickinson College, [email protected] JACKSON D. SHEDD FRANK BURBRINK (2016) Carlisle, Pennsylvannia, USA TNC Dye Creek Preserve, College of Staten Island, USA JERRY D. JOHNSON California, USA ALISON CREE (2016) GUNTHER KÖHLER The University of Texas at El Paso, USA [email protected] Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum [email protected] University of Otago, New Zealand Senckenberg, Germany JOHN D. WILLSON TIFFANY DOAN (2014) ' ALAN M. RICHMOND University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, USA State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, PETER V. LINDEMAN University of Massachusetts, USA [email protected] USA Edinboro University, USA [email protected] DAVID A. STEEN LISA HAZARD (2016) DEANNA H. OLSON GUSTAVO J. SCROCCHI Auburn University, Montclair State University, USA USDA Forestry Science Lab, Fundación Miguel Lillo, Argentina Auburn, Alabama, USA TRAVIS LaDUC (2014) Corvallis, Oregon, USA [email protected] [email protected] University of Texas at Austin,USA JODI ROWLEY DAVID C. BLACKBURN Copy Editors JENNIFER PRAMUK (2014) Australian Museum, Australia California Academy of Sciences, USA DREW R. DAVIS Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle, USA [email protected] University of South Dakota, USA CAROL SPENCER (2014) DANIEL SAENZ USDA Forest Service, Nacogdoches, STEPHEN RICHARDS KYLE MILLER HESED University of California, Berkeley, USA Texas, USA South Australia Museum, Australia University of Maryland, USA GREGORY WATKINS-COLWELL (2016) [email protected] Yale University Museum of Natural History, DANIEL PORTIK Index Editor USA RUTHE SMITH Zoo View University of California, Berkeley, USA JAMES B. MURPHY Trustee Smithsonian National Zoological Park, ELIZABETH TIMPE GEORGE R. PISANI USA University of Connecticut, USA University of Kansas [email protected] SSAR EDITORS Journal of Herpetology ERIN MUTHS, Co-Editor SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins GAD PERRY, Co-Editor www.ssarherps.org Texas Tech University The Society for the Study of Amphibians and to participate in determining the Society's activi- Contributions to Herpetology Reptiles, the largest international herpetological ties; also, many international members attend the KRAIG ADLER, Editor society, is a not-for-profit organization established annual meetings and serve on editorial boards and Cornell University to advance research, conservation, and education committees. concerning amphibians and reptiles. Founded in All members and institutions receive the Soci- Facsimile Reprints in Herpetology 1958, SSAR is widely recognized today as having the ety’s primary technical publication, the Journal of AARON M. BAUER, Editor Villanova University most diverse society-sponsored program of services Herpetology, and its bulletin, Herpetological Review; and publications for herpetologists. Membership is open to both are published four times per year. Members also receive Herpetological Circulars anyone with an interest in herpetology—professionals and pre-publication discounts on other Society publications, JOHN J. MORIARTY, Editor serious amateurs alike—who wish to join with us to advance which are advertised in Herpetological Review. Plymouth, Minnesota the goals of the Society. To join SSAR or to renew your membership, please visit Catalogue of American Amphibians All members of the SSAR are entitled to vote by mail the secure online ZenScientist website via this link: and Reptiles ballot for Society officers, which allows overseas members http://www.ssarherps.org/pages/membership.php TRAVIS LADUC, Co-Editor University of Texas at Austin Future Annual Meetings CHRISTOPHER J. BELL, Co-Editor 2014 — Chattanooga, Tennessee, 30 July–3 August (JMIH with ASIH, HL, and AES) University of Texas at Austin 2015 — Lawrence, Kansas 30 July–3 August (SSAR with PARC and KHS) Herpetological Conservation JOSEPH C. MITCHELL, Editor Mitchell Ecological Research Services © 2013 Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles 533 ABOUT OUR COVER: Lanthanotus borneensis Lanthanotus borneensis, the Bor- Mid-Cretaceous, 108 mya (Douglas et al. 2010. Mol. Phylogen. nean Earless Monitor, surely among Evol. 55:153–167). herpetology’s “holy grails,” is a 200-mm Described by Fritz Steindachner (1877. Denkschr. Kais. Akad. (SVL) varanoid lizard whose common Wiss., Wien 38:93–96) based on a specimen now in the Vienna name reflects the lack of an ear open- Museum of Natural History (Naturhistorisches Museum Wien ing. This poorly known, enigmatic spe- 16365) from Sarawak, Lanthanotus borneensis is known to in- cies is considered to be the sole living habit lowland forests and low hills of northwestern Borneo, in- representative of the family Lantha- cluding the states of Sarawak (Malaysia) and Kalimantan Barat notidae. The only other taxon allocated (Indonesia), and is seldom encountered. Consequently, little is to the Lanthanotidae is Cherminotus known of its field biology, and this subfossorial and aquatic spe- longifrons, from the Upper Cretaceous cies feeds on earthworms and crustaceans, and probably fish. in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia (Borsuk- Nocturnal, its daytime retreats include burrows up to about 30 Białynicka 1984. Palaeontol. Polonica 46:5–105), although this cm, under vegetation, rocks, and litter of rocky stream banks. taxonomic allocation has been challenged (Gao and Norell 2000. Semi-torpid by day, at night it forages on land and in water. Typi- Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 249:1–118). cally sluggish, it can flatten its body when touched, and other be- The name Lanthanotus is derived from Greek, meaning “hid- haviors associated with threat response includes struggling, def- den ears,” but a shallow tympanic cavity is present. Males show ecating, hissing, and biting. Skin is shed in a single piece, similar blunt, rectangular jaws, while females have relatively pointed to that in some other anguinomorphan squamates and snakes. jaws. The dorsal surface is brownish-orange, sometimes with a Mating has been observed in early February, females producing dark vertebral stripe, and the venter is yellow with brownish or- 2–5 oval, leathery-shelled eggs that measure ca. 30 mm in length. ange and ochre mottling; the tongue is pink. Our cover image was captured by Indraneil Das in western The Lanthanotidae has been assigned to the anguinomor- Sarawak, East Malaysia (Borneo), using a Nikon D600 and AF-S phan lizards (McDowell and Bogert 1954. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens. Shutter speed set at Hist. 105:1–142), but the relationships among these families 1/60 sec, f/18, using an off-camera Nikon SB-910 flash unit, at- have been the subject of debate. Lee’s cladistic analysis (1997. tached to a Lastolite Ezybox Hotshoe. Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. London B 352:53–91), based on osteologi- Das is Professor at the Institute cal characters, reveals that the lanthanotids and varanids are the of Biodiversity and Environmental closest relatives of snakes. An early molecular study of Fuller et Conservation, Universiti Malaysia al. (1998. Mol. Phylogen. Evol. 9:294–307), using 12S rRNA se- Sarawak. His current research cen- quences, showed surprisingly low sequence divergence between ters on ecology and conservation of these two groups, and a sister-taxa relationship was revealed by amphibians and reptiles, especially MIN YONG PUI BY PHOTO Ast (2001. Cladistics 17:211–226). More recent molecular stud- the role of fragmentation and other ies of global squamates using nuclear genes confirm the posi- landscape change, and the system- tion of the Lanthanotidae within the Anguinomorpha, with a atics and natural history of these sister relationship with the Varanidae; these two lineages, along species, especially in tropical Asia. with Shinisauridae, are sister to the