If there could be a book
Posted: February 19th, 2015, 2:19 pm
Alright, so it's no secret to those who pay attention to the literature that there simply are not enough books out there to satisfy one's appetite for herpetological knowledge. Particularly frustrating is the lack of books that discuss a country or region's herpetofauna in a monograph-type fashion. Field guides are alright, but they're really just for location and identification. A good book about a region's herps goes into depth on natural history, and such books are few and far between. So my question (because I'm bored and this particular sub-forum doesn't get enough traffic) is this: if there could be such a book (or series of books) written for five regions of the world, what would you want those regions to be? As for me, I'd go with:
1. Mexico (Turtles book does exist, and some great regional guides exist, particularly for Baja, the Yucatan, Coahuila, and Chihuahua, but definitely a lot left to be done)
2. Panama (I can't believe this one; there's just nothing for Panama, unless you count Gunther Kohler's Central America books, and those are pretty general)
3. The Western Ghats, India (one of the world's least-known herpetofaunas, and a hotspot for bizarre endemics; I'd like to see Grismer go here after he finishes his Peninsular Malaysia monographs)
4. Sri Lanka (only a lizard book exists, but again, there are a lot of other diverse groups of strange endemics here)
5. Madagascar (there's a field guide for Madagascar, but my general rule is that if there are fewer pages than species, it doesn't count)
1. Mexico (Turtles book does exist, and some great regional guides exist, particularly for Baja, the Yucatan, Coahuila, and Chihuahua, but definitely a lot left to be done)
2. Panama (I can't believe this one; there's just nothing for Panama, unless you count Gunther Kohler's Central America books, and those are pretty general)
3. The Western Ghats, India (one of the world's least-known herpetofaunas, and a hotspot for bizarre endemics; I'd like to see Grismer go here after he finishes his Peninsular Malaysia monographs)
4. Sri Lanka (only a lizard book exists, but again, there are a lot of other diverse groups of strange endemics here)
5. Madagascar (there's a field guide for Madagascar, but my general rule is that if there are fewer pages than species, it doesn't count)