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319 Book Reviews Peters, W.C.H. (1838-1883): The Herpetological Publications of Wilhelm Peters (1815-1883). Published in 1995 by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles in cooperation with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde. 714 pages, 114 plates, 9 photographs, maps, index. The series Facsimile Reprints in Herpetology of the SSAR has published 46 volumes of reprints of classic books and papers in herpetology. The present book provides all of Peters' herpetological publications, which number 202. One important publication, "Reise nach Mossambique", which summarizes the results of his extensive field work in Mozambique from 1842 to 1848, is reprinted at larger size than other papers. The book also has an introduction prepared by A.M. Bauer, R. Gdnther, and M. Klipfel. The introduction includes a biography, an annotated herpetological bibliography and a synopsis of herpetological taxa described by Peters. His professional career was linked to the Berlin Zoological Museum, where he served as director for more than 25 years. To illustrate Peters' monumental work in systematic herpetology, of the 125 genera and 649 species of amphibians and reptiles that were described as new by him, 56 genera and 414 species are considered valid today. I found the synopsis especially useful because it provides information on number and location of type material, type locality, present name, and comments. I recommend this publication not only to herpetologists with difficult access to good libraries but also to others which may want to reach easily an extensive literature on their own desk. Alfredo Salvador (Madrid) Kuzmin, S.L. (1995): Die Amphibien Russlands und angrenzender Gebiete. Die Neue Brehm-Bücherei Bd. 627, Westarp Wissenschaften, Magdeburg, 274 pp. ISBN 3-89432-457-0. Price: 46.- DEM This book presents an overview of the amphibians of Russia and adjacent territories, i.e. the former Soviet Union. The first 70 pages are devoted to short introductory chapters on general topics, including zoogeography and climate of the region as well as amphibian ecology and development and aspects of their conservation. These are followed by identification keys for eggs, larvae and adults. The bulk of the book is taken up by species accounts dealing with the 41 currently recognised species of this region, including the recently described Rana terentievi Mezhzherin, 1992. Up-to-date distribution maps and comprehensive bibliographies are strong points of these reports; unfortunately, the references are not cited directly in the text, but only collected at the end of each chapter, which somewhat diminishes their usefulness. On four colour plates, photographs of most species in life are shown (the animal labelled as Bombina bombina is obviously a Bombina orientalis). Many of the black and white illustrations are less attractive and informative, presenting low contrast reproductions of series of museum specimens. Altogether, this volume gives a valuable summary of current knowledge, which also helps to identify research needs in the systematics, ecology and conservation biology of the amphibians of the northern Palaearctic region. Günter Gollmann (Wien)
Amphibia-Reptilia – Brill
Published: Jan 1, 1997
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