THE AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF HERPETOLOGISTS INCORPORATED NEWSLETTER 41 Newsletter of the Australian Society of Herpetologists 41 (May 2003) 2 Australian Society of Herpetologists Incorporated History of Office-bearers Formation Committee (April 1964) Convenor, MJ Littlejohn; Editor, AK Lee; State Representatives, IR Straughan (Qld), FJ Mitchell (SA), HG Cogger (NSW), G Storr (WA), RE Barwick (ACT), JW Warren (Vic). First AGM (23 August 1965) President, MJ Littlejohn; Vice-President, NG Stephenson; Secretary-Treasurer, AA Martin; Asst. Secretary-Treasurer, KJ Wilson; Ordinary Members, FJ Mitchell and IR Straughan; Editor, AK Lee. President: MJ Littlejohn (1965-69); AK Lee (1969-1970); HG Cogger (1971-73); J de Bavay (1974); H Heatwole (1975-76); GC Grigg (1976-77); MJ Tyler (1978-79); GF Watson (1979-81); AA Martin (1981- 82); RS Seymour (1982-83); R Shine (1983-84); GC Grigg (1984-86); J Coventry (1986-87); RE Barwick (1987-88); Jcovacevich (1988-91); M Davies (1991-92); R Shine (1992-94); A Georges (1994-96); D Roberts (1996-98); M. Bull (1998-1999); R Swain (1999-2001); S Downes (2001-). Vice-President: NG Stephenson (1965-67); RE Barwick (1967-69); HG Cogger (1969-70); MJ Littlejohn (1971-72); MJ Tyler (1973); HG Cogger (1974); J de Bavay (1975-76); H Heatwole (1976-77); GC Grigg (1977-79); MJ Tyler (1979-80); GF Watson (1981-82); AA Martin (1982-83); RS Seymour (1983-84); R Shine (1984-86); GC Grigg (1986-1987); J Coventry (1987-88); RE Barwick 1988-91); J Covacevich (1991-92); M Davies (1992-94); R Shine (1994-6); A Georges (1996-98); D Roberts (1998-99); M Bull (1999-2001); R Swain (2001-). Secretary/Treasurer: AA Martin (1965-67); GF Watson (1967-72); LA Moffatt (1973-75); J Caughley (1975-76); RWG Jenkins (1976-77); M Davies (1978-83); G Courtice (1983-87); J Wombey (1987-1999); S Keogh (1999-). Asst Secretary/Treasurer: KJ Wilson (1965-69); JJ Loftus-Hills (1969-70); DF Gartside (1971-72); J Barker (1973-75); R Longmore (1976-77); T Burton (1978-83); A White (1983-86); E Bugledich (1986- 90); A Georges (1990-94); T Burton (1994-1999); I Scott (1999-). Ordinary members: FJ Mitchell (1965-67); IR Straughan (1965-67); HG Cogger (1967); JL Hickman (1969-70); NG Stephenson (1969-70); PA Rawlinson (1971-72); MJ Tyler (1971-72); J de Bavay (1973- 74); MJ Litlejohn (1973-74); H Heatwole (1974-75); R Winokur (1975-76); RS Seymour (1975-76); R Humphries (1976-77); MJ Littlejohn (1976-77); RS Seymour (1978-80); AA Martin (1978-80); R Humpries (1980-82); AE Greer (1980-81); R Longmore (1981-83); D King (1982); B Firth (1983-84); J Coventry (1984-86); R Shine (1986-88); G Czechura (1988-90); RWG Jenkins (1990-91); K Chrisitian (1991-92); M Thompson (1992-94); K McDonald (1994-95); L Schwarzkopf (1995-98); M Anstis (1995- 98); R Alford (1998-99); Nancy Fitzsimmons (1998-1999); C James (1999-2001); S Hudson (1999- 2001); P Horner (2001-); G Gillespe (2001-). Editor: AK Lee (1965-67); AA Martin (1967-73); GC Grigg (1973-76); JD Roberts (1976-82); L Taplin (1982-84); R Longmore (1984-1999); J-M Hero (1999-). Public Officer: R Longmore (1983-). Honorary Members: JA Moore (1969); MJ Littlejohn (1982); HG Cogger (1996). Coat-of-Arms design: GF Watson. Newsletter of the Australian Society of Herpetologists 41 (May 2003) 3 Newsletter of the Australian Society of Herpetologists Incorporated No. 41 May 2003 President: Vice-President: Dr Sharon Downes A/Professor Roy Swain School of Botany and Zoology Department of Zoology Australian National University University of Tasmania CANBERRA A.C.T. 0200 HOBART Tas. 7001 E-mail:- [email protected] E-mail:- [email protected] Secretary/Treasurer: Asst. Secretary/Treasurer: Dr Scott Keogh Dr Ian Scott School of Botany and Zoology School of Botany and Zoology Australian National University Australian National University CANBERRA A.C.T. 0200 CANBERRA A.C.T. 0200 E-mail:- [email protected] E-mail:- [email protected] Editor: Public Officer: Dr Jean-Marc Hero Richard Longmore School of Environmental & Applied Sciences 2/3 Bonrook Street, PMB 50 Gold Coast Mail Centre HAWKER A.C.T. 2614 BUNDALL Qld. 9726 E-mail:- [email protected] E-mail:- [email protected] Committee Member: Committee Member: Paul Horner Graeme Gillespie Curator of Terrestrial Vertebrates Arthur Rylah Institute Museum & Art Gallery of the NT 123 Brown St., Heidelberg GPO Box 4646 VIC 3084 Darwin NT 0801 E-mail:- [email protected] E-mail:- [email protected] ASH Website: http://www.gu.edu.au/school/asc/ppages/academic/jmhero/ash/frameintro.html Direct all membership enquiries to Dr Scott Keogh, Secretary/Treasurer, School of Botany and Zoology, The Australian National University, Canberra 0200, ACT. Membership forms can be downloaded from the ASH web site. This newsletter is for private circulation amongst members of the Australian Society of Herpetologists Incorporated. Inclusion of any information does not constitute publication. Any original research material included here should not be reproduced or referred to without the permission of the author and the editor of the Newsletter. Index Editorial………………………………… 4 ASH2002 Photo Gallery……… 19 Minutes of 29th AGM……………… 7 ASH2002 Award Winners………23 Council Report……………………… 10 Student Research Awards…… 24 Auditor’s Report…………… 11 Regional Reports………………… 25 2003 AGM news…………………… 15 Abstracts Birrigai………………… 76 Library news………………… 16 ASH2002 Trivia Answers………111 Know your members…………… 17 ASH2002 Trivia Qns…………… 18 Newsletter of the Australian Society of Herpetologists 41 (May 2003) 4 Editorial In the words of Jeffrey Lebowski, in the 4 years since you last received ASH news “a lot of new shit has come to light”. Rather than squeeze this information into one enormous document, I decided to create two newsletters. All of the “house-keeping” of ASH from February 1999 to July 2002 can be found in Newsletter 40 (also produced in May 2003). This includes important records such as the Minutes from Annual General Meetings, Minutes from the Meetings of Council, Auditor’s Reports, and the Abstracts from ASH Conferences from the all too distant past (Yungaburra, Queensland in 1998; Ross River, Alice Springs in 1999; Gum Leaves, Tasmania in 2001). Please be warned: not only is Newsletter 40 incredibly boring, it contains a huge number of pages of text. Rest assured that all of the really juicy information, including uncensored pictures of members at ASH2002, can be found in this more colourful Newsletter 41 (also produced in May 2003). The main purpose of Newsletter 41 is to fill you in on what’s been going down in Australian herpetology since 1999. It also includes the house-keeping details from the last financial year. For the first time in the history of ASH, the newsletter is being distributed in electronic format. We have provided the files in both PDF format and RTF format. In addition to emailing these documents to the ASH List server, you will be able to download them from the ASH website. Since many of you will have attended our scientific meetings, I have positioned the abstracts from these conferences at the end of the newsletter to make it easier for you to print only the first part of the document without this information. Our Secretary/Treasurer, Scott Keogh, has made a big effort to get everything up to date on the membership front. You will be contacted sometime soon via email with details about your membership status and advice on how to renew your membership. Once absoluately everthing is up- dated, ASH will move to an electronic system where membership will be due at the same time each year. The exact date will be advised so keep checking the web site. Please also note that all present and past members of ASH will remain on the ASH List server until everything is up-dated. A fun time was had by all at the last AGM at Birrigai in 2002. Personally, delivering my choice of disco music through kick arse speakers to a group of herpetologists has been one of the major highlights of my life. Special thanks must go to our ASH Dancing Queens, Jacquie Herbert and Dale Roberts, for leading the way. It seems that Dale is also a talented musician. We have received a lot of enquires from talent scouts about his rap performance entitled “Group sex in frogs”. On behalf of Dale, we are currently negotiating with rapping icon “Shaggy” about including the video footage of this performance in an up- coming rap music video clip. We’ll keep you posted on developments. In the meantime, we hope to make the video available to ASH members as soon as possible. In this newsletter you’ll find some news about the next AGM to be held in December 2003 at the Mary River Park in the Northern Territory. Keith Christian and Paul Horner have been working hard to put together what promises to be an action packed meeting. Keep your eyes and browsers on the ASH web site for more news and updates. Last year Marion Anstis, and Mark Hutchinson and Roy Swain, published impressive identification books on some of Australia’s herpetofauna. Marion’s book is entitled “Tadpoles of South-eastern Australia: a guide with keys” and is published by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature. Mark and Roy’s book, co-authored with Michael Driessen, is entitled “Snakes and lizards of Tasmania” and is published by the Nature Conservation Branch and University of Tasmania. Please contact Marion ([email protected]) or Roy ([email protected]) direct for more information.