Amphibian reptilia 7

Published 2013 • in the United States of America VOLUME • NUMBER AMPHIBIAN & REPTILE CONSERWION SPECIAL MEX CO ISSUE amphibian-reptile-conservation.org ISSN: 1083-446X elSSN: 1525-9153 Editor Craig Hassapakis USA Berkeley, California, Associate Editors Raul Howard O Clark, Diaz E USA University of Kansas, Erik R Wild Jr Garcia and Associates, USA University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, USA Assistant Editors Alison Daniel D Fogell R Davis University of California, Berkeley, USA Southeastern Community College, USA Editorial Review Board David C Blackburn California C Kenneth Dodd, University of Florida, Harvey B Texas USA Jodi J L Adel A Ibrahim A&M University, USA Taos, Ha’il University, Julian C Lee New Mexico, USA Henry USA R Pakistan Elnaz Najafimajd Ege University, TURKEY USA Rohan Pethiyagoda VENEZUELA Australian Rowley Museum, AUSTRALIA Virginia SAUDIA ARABIA Rafaqat Masroor Museum of Natural History, PAKISTAN Mushinsky University of South Florida, Jaime E Pefaur Australian Jelka Crnobrnja-Isailovc IBISS University of Belgrade, SERBIA SOUTH AFRICA Lee A Fitzgerald Jr USA Peter V Lindeman Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Universidad de Los Andes, Museum, Port Elizabeth Lillywhite University of Florida, Branch Bill Academy of Sciences, USA Nasrullah Rastegar-Pouyani Museum, AUSTRALIA Peter Uetz Commonwealth University, Razi University, IRAN Larry David Wilson USA Institute Regional de Biodiversidad, USA Advisory Board Aaron M Bauer Allison C Alberts Zoological Society of San Diego, Michael USA Villanova University, USA USGS USA Royal Ontario Museum, Antonio W Salas Environment and Sustainable Development, Erdelen Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Robert W Murphy Russell A Mittermeier Conservation International, R RoyW McDiarmid James Hanken Harvard University, USA B Eisen Public Library of Science, Walter UNESCO, FRANCE USA USA Eric R Pianka CANADA University of Texas, Austin, Dawn S USA Wilson AMNH Southwestern Research Station, USA PERU Honorary Members Carl ( Cover 1923 Joseph Gans - 2009 ) C ( T 1939 Collins - 2012 ) : Upper Upper right: Center left: Bolitoglossa franklini Photo by Sean Rovito left: Diaglena spatulata Photo by Oscar Medina Aguilar Agkistrodon bilineatus Photo by Chris Mattison Center right: Lower Lower left: Trachemys gaigeae Photo by Vicente Mata-Silva Heloderma horridum Photo by Tim Burkhardt right: Cerro Mariana, Balsas-Tepalcatepec Depression, ca 12 km NW of Caracuaro, Michoacan Photo by Javier Alvarado -Diaz — Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Worldwide Community-Supported Herpetological Conservation (ISSN: 1083-446X; elSSN: 1525-9153) is published by Craig Hassapakis/Amphibian & Reptile Conservation as full issues at least twice yearly (semi-annually or more often depending on needs) and papers are immediately released as they are finished on our website; http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org; email: arc.publisher@gmail.com Amphibian & Reptile Conservation is published as an open access journal Please visit the official journal website at: http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org Amphibian & Reptile Conservation accepts manuscripts on the biology of amphibians and reptiles, with emphasis on conservation, sustainable management, and biodiversity Topics in these areas can include: taxonomy and phylogeny, species inventories, distribution, conservation, species profiles, ecology, natural history, sustainable management, conservation breeding, citizen science, social networkInstructions to Authors ing, : and any other topic important if you that lends to the conservation of amphibians and reptiles worldwide Prior consultation with editors is suggested and have any questions and/or concerns about submissions Further details on the submission of a manuscript can best be obtained by consulting a current published paper from the journal and/or by accessing Instructions for Authors at the Amphibian website: http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org/submissions.html © Craig Hassapakis!Amphibian & Reptile Conservation and Reptile Conservation Copyright: © 2013 Wilson This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative tribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, which permits unrestricted use and education purposes only provided the original author and source are credited for Commons At- Amphibian & Reptile Conservation non-commercial /-// 7(1): PREFACE AMPHIBIAN & REPTILE CONSERVATION SPECIAL MEXICO ISSUE Wilson LD 2013 Preface ( Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Special Mexico Issue) Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 7(1): Citation: The allure of Mexico first beckoned me in 1957, but from across the border, as along with sister I was visiting family members my The only parents and also is spectacu- Mexico Issue, Wilson, Mata-Silva, and that 482 species of reptiles (excluding In this Special lar Johnson report in Mission, Texas Mexico level of endemicity in a bit west of McAllen, just north of the interna- the marine species) of a total of 849 (56.8%) are Mexi- Reynosa located on the southern bank of the Rio Bravo directly across from McAllen We went to Reynosa just to say we had been in Mexico My first herpetological trip to Mexico occurred in 1966, when Ernest A Liner kindly took me on one of his many journeys We traveled as far south as Chiapas, and saw much of the country and plenty of amphibians and can endemics; Wilson, Johnson, and Mata-Silva indicate Mission is tional border, with 253 species of amphibians of a total of 378 (66.9%) are not found outside of Mexico The combined figure is that 736 endemics out of 1,227 species (60.0%), a percentage substantially higher than that for Central America In Central America, 367 endemic species have been re- corded to date (Wilson and Johnson [2010], and In the ensuing years, I Mexico’s 31 Among states on accounting at the Center for North American Herpetol- but one of ogy website (www.cnah.org), however, compared to the figures for Mexico (see the two Wilson et al papers in- traveled south of the border several occasions, and ultimately visited all several others, took one of Canada (www.carcnet.ca) and the West Indies (Powell and Henderson 2012), of the 628 species listed, 335 are endemic to the United States, for which those trips with Louis Porras, the senior author of the pa- per on cantils in this issue my father, I made During my Ward Wendell Wilson, and career Mexico, although I dicated below), another extensive trip of the ancient ruins for which the country is visited many well known have always been interested I the resulting percentage (53.3%) States about five times the size of Mexico, United States is that of number of even lower than twice the size of that of the United States is its species, it is ing that almost is contain 628 native species, Notably, Central America’s land area is is that much greater than America is 507,966 that for km2/367 = Mexico, and 1,384, which is region already this et al 2010) also is of immense impor- et al papers indicated below, the authors (EVS) measure to Mexico’s herpetofauna and found that 222 of 378 amphibian species (58.7%) and 470 of 841 reptile species in (55.9%) were assigned an EVS that falls into the high vulnerability category In total, 692 species applied the Environmental Vulnerability Score much smaller slightly over one- (56.8%) fall into the highest category of susceptibility to environmental deterioration The relatively small portion fourth that of Mexico amphibian-reptile-conservation.org is neighbor to the north The comparable figure of the Wilson my updating since), although the disparity besouthern neighbors Mexico tance and interest from a conservation standpoint In both (1,024 native species, according to Wilson and Johnson its in The Mexican herpetofauna ogy [naherpetology.org]; data accessed 17 March 2013); Mexico, however, is only about one-fifth the size of the United States Mexico’s herpetofauna also is larger than that of the seven Central American nations combined tween Mexico and in these regarded as a major source of herpetofaunal diversity (Wilson according to the Center for North American Herpetol- [2010], and its for Central northern neighbor (presently, known to when one almost 10 times that of Mexico, indicat- endemism Mountain Publishing, LC, and both are involved in this Special Mexico Issue The herpetofauna of Mexico is impressive from a At 1,227 closer to that km 2/736 = 2,641); and the United States (9,161,966 km 2/335 = 25,808) Thus, the area/endemism ratio for the and Louis Porras, the proprietor of Eagle perspectives much two countries with their respective land areas (area/number of endemics), the resulting figures (areas from the CIA World Factbook; www.cia.gov) are as follows: Mexico (1,943,945 opportunity to co-editors, is compares the degree of endemism was delighted work on the book Conservation of Mesoamerican Amphibians and Reptiles (2010), which dealt with all of Mexico and Central America This massive undertaking presented me with the chance to work closely with two long-time friends, Jerry Johnson, one of my is of Mexico than for Central America Because the United in much of my in recent years I spent time in Central America Nevertheless, at the up- dating since), which equates to 35.8% According to the reptiles with my / June 2013 I Volume | Number | e62 Preface of humanity that recognizes the value and sity as of biodiversity much is critical inhabited by two of the reptiles featured in this issue, the neces- common fighting an uphill battle to salvage biodiversity as possible before it disappears into lizard cantil (Agkistrodon bilineatus ) and the beaded (Heloderma horridum ), as well as the shovel-head- Given the rate of human population growth and the commensurate rate of loss of natural habitats, populations of these unique components of the Mexican patrimony likely will decline steadily, as is happening over the remainder of the planet (Raven et al ments along the Pacific coastal region of Mexico, as well 2011 ) Michoacan extinction (Wilson 2006) One of the most important imperatives Toward this end, five tion Mexico Issue of Amphibian of which the western portion rivers, subhumid environ- lies in the state of aim is to examine the conservation status of the amphibians and reptiles of Mexico, in general, and to focus more closely on a state herpetofauna (of Michoacan) and on two prominent and threatened Mexican flagship species, the common cantil and the beaded lizard Thus, we hope to contribute to the ongoing effort to proFinally, our face, there- papers collectively & three of these species as in the extensive valley of the Balsas and Tepalcatepec written by 10 contributors are expected to appear in this Special all are relatively broadly distributed in conserve the Mexican fore, is to take appropriate steps to herpetofauna we ed treefrog (Diaglena spatulataf Reptile Conserva- These papers are as follows: vide for a sustainable future for the world’s amphibians A conservation reassessment of the reptiles of Mexico based on the EVS measure by (Stuart et al 2010) and reptiles (Bohm et al 2013) Larry David Wilson, Vicente Mata-Silva, and Jerry D Johnson Literature Cited A taxonomic reevaluation and conservation assess- ment of tus the common cantil, M Bohm Agkistrodon bilinea- et al 2013 The conservation status of the world’s reptiles Biological Conservation 157: 372- (Squamata: Viperidae): a race against time by 385 Louis W Porras, Larry David Wilson, Gordon W Janzen DH 1988 Tropical dry most endangered major tropical ecosystem Pp 130-137 In: Biodiversity Editor, Wilson EO National Academy Schuett, and Randall S Reiserer Patterns of physiographic distribution and conservation status of the herpetofauna of Michoac an, DC, USA Press, Washington, Mex- RW (Editors) 2012 Powell R, Henderson by Javier Alvarado-Diaz, Ireri Suazo-Ortuno, Larry David Wilson, and Oscar Medina- Aguilar ico the forests: West Indian amphibians and reptiles Island Florida lists of Museum of Natural History Bulletin 51 85—166 Raven PH, Hassenzahl DM, Berg LR 2011 Environ: Taxonomic reevaluation and conservation of beaded lizards, Heloderma horridum (Squamata: Helodermatidae) by Randall Reiserer, S ment th (8 edition) John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, USA Gordon W Stuart Schuett, and Daniel D Beck SN, Chanson JS, Cox NA, Young BE 2010 The global decline of amphibians: current trends and fu- A ture prospects Pp conservation reassessment of the amphibians of Mexico based on the EVS measure by LD, Townsend JH, Johnson JD Eagle Mountain Publishing, LC, Eagle Mountain, Utah, USA Wilson, EO 2006 The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth W W Norton & Company, New York, New All of these papers deal with issues of herpetofaunal con- and range in coverage from the entire country of Mexico, through a single Mexican state, to York, what have been regarded as single species Each study provides a USA Wilson LD, Johnson JD 2010 Distributional patterns set of the herpetofauna of Mesoamerica, a biodiversity of recommendations These Conservation of Meso- In: american Amphibians and Reptiles Editors, Wilson Larry David Wilson, Jerry D Johnson, and Vicente Mata-Silva servation, 2-15 five papers are gathered under this Preface and hotspot Pp 30-235 In: Conservation of Mesoameri- draw can Amphibians and Reptiles Editors, Wilson LD, the papers into a coherent whole that reinforces the mis- Townsend JH, Johnson JD Eagle Mountain Publishing, LC, Eagle Mountain, Utah, USA Wilson LD, Townsend JH, Johnson JD 2010 Conservation of Mesoamerican Amphibians and Reptiles Eagle Mountain Publishing, LC, Eagle Mountain, Utah, an issue cover The concept behind the cover is to which is to “support the sustainable management of amphibian and reptile biodiversity.” sion of the journal, Thus, the photograph of Cerro Mariana, located in the Balsas-Tepalcatepec Depression between Morelia, in Michoacan, is Huetamo and USA intended to illustrate dry forest, most heavily damaged in Mesoamerica (Janzen 1988), one of the major features of the the type of vegetation state’s Larry David Wilson environment and in which a significant portion of the herpetofauna is found This type of environment amphibian-reptile-conservation.org May 2013 is ii June 2013 | Volume | Number | e62 Copyright: © 2013 Johnson et al This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative mons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Com- Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 3.0 Unported License, which permits unrestricted use for non-com- 7(1): iii-vi mercial and education purposes only provided the original author and source are credited DEDICATIONS Johnson JD, Porras LW, Schuett GW, Mata-Silva Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 7(1): iii-vi Citation: V, Wilson LD 2013 Dedications ( Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Special Mexico Issue) With the publication of this Special Mexico Issue (SMI), the contributing authors were provided with an opportunity to dedicate it to herpetologists areas, and also expand the Zoological Park and move to to “El Zapotal,” a relatively pristine site who have played a sig- edge of the on the southern That new and remarkable city it was facility s named “Zoologico Regional Miguel Alvarez nificant role in their lives, as well as the lives of other her- petologists past was asked ZOOMAT as and present Each of the 10 contributors to identify the person who was most lifetime efforts, influential in their respective careers, especially with respect to popularly called today Because of his “Don Miguel,” as he was called respect- was justly awarded honorary doctoral degrees from the Universidad de Chapingo, in 1992, and from the Universidad Autonomo de Chiapas, in 1993 Over his long what each of them has contributed to SMI The dedicatees it is del Toro, or fully, are: career he received a plethora of other awards, and also numerous conservation projects in conjunction with various local, state, national, and interna- was involved in tional organizations Jerry D Johnson, an avid “herper” since grade school and recently discharged from the Marine Corps course Nam, Viet stint in at Hays Fort companied after a enrolled in the 1971 wintermester and ac- State University (Kansas), Dr Charles A Ely to Chiapas on a migratory bird study Dr Ely, after recognizing Johnson’s eagerness to search for amphibians and reptiles through all sorts of tropical and highland environments, included him on many On initial return trips during the next several years 1971 Johnson trip, briefly met Don Miguel that at the old Zoological Park In 1974, Dr Ely arranged for he and Johnson to pitch tents in Don Miguel’s back yard, located near the Zoo This initiated an opportunity to mingle with s of interesting people, including the Alvarez del all sorts Toro family, their friends, eling naturalists scientific conservation related disciplines He moved to what then was known at the came servation efforts were in dire in Chiapas to know him straits, while dis- how con- and pondering his doubts about the possibility that anything resembling a natural Chiapas Don Miguel would persist into the future In 1985, published a book entitled \Asi Era Chiapasl how Chiapas had changed 40 years since he had arrived in the state Even today, Johnson often thinks about how habitat destruction had altered the Chiapan environment since he began investigations there that described became downtown Tuxtla Gutierrez in 1971, as a college his life tireless sophomore um, his publication record, including books and papers on numerous vertebrate and invertebrate groups, and his solemn activism on conservation issues One of his greatest legacies was convincing several generations of politicians at in the He now realizes that and professional experiences have passed rather quickly, but sadly, environmental decay Zoological Park and Natural History Muse- an even greater pace Johnson now is accelerating concentrates much of his professional efforts on conservation issues, hoping that humankind can avoid tion Jerry also is total environmental devasta- reasonably sure that Don Miguel really didn’t expect preservation efforts to be very successful, in Chiapas to help develop a system of natural protected amphibian-reptile-conservation.org Don Miguel’s cussing the status of herpetology in Chiapas, as the Instituto de His reputation grew exponentially because of his influential On a typical day, Don Miguel often would during those walks Jerry Chiapas in 1942, and after a short stint as keeper and curator how Zoo During those walk among the Zoological Park’s animal enclosures, and a long career devoted to a multitude of zoological and work visiting the and conservation work had become, and elsewhere Miguel Alvarez del Toro (August 23, 1917-August 2, 1996) was bom in the city of Colima, Colima, Mexico, according to an obituary in Herpetological Review by Oscar Flores-Villela and Wendy Hodges in 1999 He moved to Mexico City in 1932, where he attended and later graduated from high school Although his formal education was limited, his repute as an avid naturalist spread rapidly and at the age of 21, while still in Mexico City, he began Historia Natural located near who were times Johnson realized just Miguel Alvarez del Toro the Director of and a continuous flow of trav- Hi June 2013 I Volume | Number | e64 Dedications but he didn’t give up his dream of a more conservationoriented populace by continually teaching people preserving natural habitats which probably being, is is important to their the only way book why that set the standard for state herpetological publi- Roger perhaps is best known as the author of the best selling book in herpetological history, A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern North America, which was illustrated by Isabelle The book was published in 1958, and expanded versions followed in 1975, 1991, and 1998 For the majority of amphibian and reptile enthusiasts and herpetologists living in the eastern part of the United States during those years, this book became their bible In 1973, Roger retired early from the Philadelphia Zoo, after Isabelle had become ill The Conants then moved to Albuquerque, where Roger became an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico and devoted cations own well- conservation will ever succeed With great pleasure, Johnson dedicates his Mexico edition of Amphibs ian and Reptile Conservation to Miguel Alvarez del Toro, who in his opinion was the leading advocate and pioneer contributions to this special of biodiversity conservation in 20 th century Mexico much of his time to herpetology Isabelle passed away Roger discovered that his close friend, Howard K Gloyd, was terminally ill Howard had been busy working on a project that he and Roger started in 1932, and because of Howard’s deteriorating condition Roger made an enormous commitment and assured Howard that the project would be completed This hugely in 1976, and soon after important contribution, entitled Snakes of the Agkistro- don Complex: a Monographic Review, was published by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR) in 1990 During this time Roger also was busy writing his memoirs, A Field Guide to the Life and Times of Roger Conant, which was published in 1997 by Selva, and details his remarkable life and illustrious career Roger Conant in his early 20s Roger Conant (May 6, 1909-December 19, 2003) was born in Mamaroneck, New York, USA As a child he developed a passion for the age of 19 became reptiles, especially snakes, and at the Curator of Reptiles at the Tole- Zoo After assembling a sizeable collection of reptiles for public display, he was promoted to General Curator Because of the close proximity of Toledo he occasionally would sity to Ann visit herpetologists at the Arbor, Univer- of Michigan and became close friends with a then- Howard K Gloyd Eventually, Roger become the Curator of Herpetology at the graduate student, left Toledo to Philadelphia Zoo, and in time Throughout became the zoo’s Director his 38-year career at Philadelphia he partici- pated in weekly radio shows, edited the zoo’s publications, this and made frequent television appearances During time he also helped establish the Philadelphia Herpe- tological Society, served as President of the Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, and as President of Roger Conant American Association of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists In 1947 Roger married Isabelle Hunt Conant, an accomplished photographer and illustrator who had been working at the zoo for several years, and during the following two decades the couple made several collecting trips to Mexico Roger’s first of 240 scientific publica- Costa Rica (1982) the tions (including 12 books) decade later came at the Rosa National Park, Louis W Porras and Gordon W Schuett, two very close friends of Roger’s, were involved at several levels with the Agkistrodon monograph and Roger’s autobiography Because of their mutual interest in Agkistrodon, in age of 19; about a January of 1982 the he authored The Reptiles of Ohio, a landmark amphibian-reptile-conservation.org in Santa trio traveled to Costa Rica in search of cantils and although no individuals were found in the iv June 2013 | Volume I Number | e64 Dedications they managed to secure preserved specimens for field, study In July of that year, Porras returned to Costa Rica with John Rmdfleish and collected what became the holotype of Agkistrodon bilineatus howardgloydi Additional information on the life of Roger Conant appears in an obituary published in the June 2004 issue of Herpetological Review Among how Roger had several solicited tributes indicating affected his colleague’s lives and careers, Porras wrote the following summary: As a giant in herpetology, no doubt many will be writing about Roger Conant ’s amazing organizational skills, attention to detail, literary contributions, lifelong produc- and so on From a personal perspective, however, Roger was my friend, mentor, and father figure He enriched my life in so many ways, and it would warm his heart to know that by simply following his example, he tivity, will continue to so Schuett summarized his tribute as follows: In reflection, I have no doubt that Roger Conant pos- sessed genius His was not displayed in eccentric man- nerisms and arrogant actions, but ability to collect, organize, large-scale projects In his in a subtle and quiet Aurelio Ramfrez-Bautista in Chamela, Jalisco (2011) and process information for research, each and every de- ful to Dr was painstakingly considered Roger’s vast achievements are even more remarkable knowing that he was largely self-educated If genius is measured by the degree to which one’s ideas and work influence others, Roger among the giants of knowledge Roger, to your remarkable and enviable Cheers life-al- tering introduction to herpetology Their association has tail stands Ramfrez-Bautista for his farsighted and led to a lifetime friendship, and a road of excitement and opportunities that Vicente never envisioned possible Dr Ramfrez-Bautista mentor should to you, become life in is the epitome of what an educator and be, providing students the opportunity to professional scientists working in a world sorely need of commitment to environmental sustainability Yes, Indeed! Aurelio Ramfrez-Bautista was cruz, Mexico, and today is bom in Xalapa, Vera- a professor and biological in- vestigator at the Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Hi- dalgo Dr Ramfrez-Bautista has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications, including five books and 40 book chapters, made numerous presentations on the ecology and conservation of the Mexican herpetofauna, and has become one of the leading herpetologists in the country During his many years as an educator and re- numerous bacheVicente Mata-Silva met searcher, Dr Ramfrez-Bautista advised lor, master, and doctoral students Dr Ramfrez-Bautista in the summer of 1998, as an un- dergraduate student working on his thesis on the herpeto- fauna of a portion of the state of Puebla They developed a friendship, and through Dr Ramirez-Bautista’s mentor- ing Vicente developed a passion for gy, especially Chihuahuan Desert Hobart M Smith in Mexico (1930) Mexican herpetolo- reptiles, that Hobart Muir Smith (September 26, 1912-March 4, 2013) was bom Frederick William Stouffer in Stanwood, Iowa, USA At the age of four, he was adopted by Charles continued throughout his undergraduate studies and later through master’s, doctoral, and post-doctoral work in and Evolutionary Biology program at Texas at and Frances Smith; both of the University of El Paso They have continued to nificant research projects the Ecology work on however, before Dr Smith finished college sig- on the conservation and ecology of the Mexican herpetofauna Vicente amphibian-reptile-conservation org is his adoptive parents died, State University (KSU) In the engaging spective” written by David Chiszar, extremely grate- i/ June 2013 | at Kansas “historical per- Edwin McConkey, Volume | Number | e64 Dedications and Margaret M Stewart and published in the 2004(2) issue of Copeia, the authors recount an amazing story indicating that when Dr Smith (HMS) was Mexican herpetofauna During his long life he authored more than 1,600 publications, including 29 books the — greatest output in the history of herpetology Chiszar et in his senior year in high school he was plagued by tachycardia and (2004: 421-422) indicated that an allergy to caffeine, which ended his interest in running the three and led the it, because I tions of a major in entomology Howard K Gloyd, a Pliocercus book, and the Candoia monograph In 1947, (!) HMS somewhat older student who was reptiles He made HMS a change of heart, this decision after that “HMS hopped into Taylor’s car BA and moments 1968 During this period in his career, one of the SMI came under his Da- influence In 1958, Larry and the following year enrolled in Decatur, Illinois, Millikin University in that at After two years and hav- city ing exhausted the coursework offered by the biology department U Wilson decided at Millikin, to move to the which became a turning point in his life There, he met HMS and managed to survive a number of his courses, including comparative anatomy During the two years that led to his graduation, Wilson cemented his in- these authors also claim literally collected his until vid Wilson graduated from Stephen Decatur High School having traveled American West on collecting trips with Dr Gloyd, whose association with Dr Conant is discussed above Gloyd and his major professor at the University of Michigan, Dr Frank Blanchard, suggested that HMS contact Edward H Taylor at the University of Kansas (KU) As noted by Chiszar et al (2004: 419), “this was probably the act that cinched HMS to a herpetological orientation and fact, University of at the Urbana-Champaign, and remained there contributors to the kiboshed entomology.” In became a professor of zoology Illinois at however, and he became determined to study amphibians and monograph, KSU with expecta- had better A fortunate meeting with majoring in herpetology, brought checklists, the Sceloporus Upon I not gonna live very long” completing high school, he headed for was most proud of Handbook of Lizards, the comparative anatomy textbook (which Wilson used when he took the course under HMS), the Synopsis of the Herpetofauna of Mexico, the to youthful resolution that they reported as fol- lows: “If I’m gonna anything worthwhile, get to Mexican HMS al of I, terest in later bound for Mexico,” and that “the rest is history.” zoology and, due to Smith’s influence, decided to attend graduate school and major in herpetology Also, due Mesoamerican amphibians and to Smith’s interest in reptiles, Wilson was determined to specialize in studying these creatures, and in 1962 ventured south and never re- turned to live in the flatlands of the “Great Corn Desert.” In 1983, Wilson had the opportunity to acknowledge his gratitude to the Smiths by organizing a symposium on the Mexican herpetofauna in their honor, connection with the annual City, Utah SSAR which was held in meeting in Salt Lake Although much of Wilson’s overall work has focused on the Honduran herpetofauna, this special issue on the Mexican herpetofauna provided him with an opportunity to reawaken his love for the country where his fieldwork outside the knowledge US began his debt to Dr in 1966, and to again ac- Hobart Muir Smith, one of the most important people in the history of herpetology As Wilson stated in a tribute to HMS on his centenary published last year in Herpetological Review, “I only one of in Hobart M Smith and Rozella B Smith many ways small and people large who know I am are indebted to Dr Smith For me, however, his influence determined the direction of my career and, in a significant at the University of Wyoming (1960) way, the nature of the contributions I have made our to field.” In 1940 (Wilson’s birth year), at age 26, he married Rozella Pearl Beverly Blood, were graduate students at who he met while both KU Their marriage endured until Rozella’s death in 1987 Dr Acknowledgments Smith began working prising the Special —The authors of Mexico Issue com- the papers are very grateful to Sally Mexico in 1932, before any of the SMI contributors was born, and those early collecting trips instilled a lifelong dedication for studying the Mexican herpetofauna Nadvornik, Other collecting ventures followed during the remainder Ramfrez-Bautista Louis Porras provided the photographs of the decade The material assembled during these trips of Roger Conant The image of Miguel Alvarez del Toro allowed him to begin a life-long journey to record the was taken from composition, distribution, and systematics of the amazing de Chiapas in who kindly of her father, Hobart nas, supplied the photographs we used M Smith, and Uriel Hemandez-Sali- who helpfully provided the image we used of Aurelio / amphibian-reptile-conservation.org vi the rd edition of his book, June 2013 I Volume | Los Reptiles Number | e64 Xenosaurus tzacualtipantecus The Zacualtipan knob-scaled This medium-large lizard (female holotype measures 188 lizard is endemic mm in total length) in eastern Hidalgo, at an elevation of 1,900 known Madre Oriental of eastern Mexico only from the vicinity of the type locality m in pine-oak forest, and a nearby locality at 2,000 m in northern Veracruz (Woolrich- Pina and Smith 2012) Xenosaurus tzacualtipantecus newmanorum and X is to the Sierra platyceps (Bhullar 2011) is As with thought to belong to the northern clade of the genus, which also contains X its congeners, X tzacualtipantecus is an inhabitant of crevices in limestone consumes beetles and lepidopteran larvae and gives birth to living young The habitat of this lizard in the vicinity of the type locality is being deforested, and people in nearby towns have created an open garbage dump in this area We determined its EVS as 17, in the middle of the high vulnerability category (see text for explanation), and its status by the IUCN and SEMARNAT presently are undetermined This newly described endemic species is one of nine known species in the monogeneric family Xenosauridae, which is endemic to northern Mesoamerica (Mexico from Tamaulipas to Chiapas and into the montane portions of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala) All but one of these nine species is endemic to Mexico Photo by Christian Berriozabal-Islas rocks This species amphibian-reptile-conservation.org 01 June 2013 I Volume | Number | e61 Copyright: © 2013 Wilson et al This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative mons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Com- Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 3.0 Unported License, which permits unrestricted use for non-com- 7(1): 1-47 mercial and education purposes only provided the original author and source are credited A conservation reassessment of the reptiles based on the EVS measure ^arry David Wilson, Vicente Mata-Silva, and Jerry Centro Zamomno de D of Johnson Biodiversidad, Escuela Agricola Panamericana Zamorano, Departamento de Francisco Morazdn, ment of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas —Mexico at El Paso, El Paso, Texas 79968-0500, Mexico HONDURAS Depart- USA the country with the most significant herpetofaunal diversity and endemism in Mesoamerica Anthropogenic threats to Mexico’s reptiles are growing exponentially, commensurate with the rate of human population growth and unsustainable resource use In a broad-based multi-authored book published in 2010 ( Conservation of Mesoamerican Amphibians and Reptiles CMAR), conservation assessment results differed widely from those compiled in 2005 by IUCN for a segment of the Mexican reptile fauna In light of this disparity, we reassessed the conservation status of reptiles in Mexico by using the Environmental Vulnerability Score (EVS), a measure previously used in certain Central American countries that we revised for use in Mexico We updated the total number of species for the Mexican reptile fauna from that reported in CMAR, which brought the new number to 849 (three crocodilians, 48 turtles, and 798 squamates) The 2005 assessment categorized a small percentage of species in the IUCN threat categories (Critically Endangered, Endangered, and Vulnerable), and a large number of species in the category of Least Concern In view of the results published in CMAR, we considered their approach overoptimistic and reevaluated the conservation status of the Mexican reptile fauna based on the EVS measure Our results show an inverse (rather than a concordant) relationship between the 2005 IUCN categorizations and the EVS assessment In contrast to the 2005 IUCN categorization results, the EVS provided a conservation assessment consistent with the threats imposed on the Mexican herpetofauna by anthropogenic environmental degradation Although we lack corroborative evidence to explain this inconsistency, we express our preference for use of the EVS measure Based on the results of our analysis, we provide eight recommendations and conclusions of fundamental importance to individuals committed to reversing the trends of biodiversity decline and environmental degradation in the country of Mexico Abstract is ; Key words EVS, lizards, snakes, crocodilians, turtles, —Mexico es IUCN categories, IUCN 2005 Mexican Reptile Assessment que contiene la diversidad y endemismo de herpetofauna mas significative en Mesoamerica Las amenazas antropogenicas a los reptiles de Mexico crecen exponencialmente acorde la tasa de crecimiento de la poblacion humana y el uso insostenible de los recursos Un libro publicado por varios autores en 2010 ( Conservation of Mesoamerican Amphibians and Reptiles; CMAR) produjo resultados sobre conservacion ampliamente contrarios a los resultados de una evaluacion de un segmento de los reptiles mexicanos conducida en 2005 por la UICN A la luz de esta disparidad, se realizo una nueva evaluacion del estado de conservacion de los reptiles mexicanos utilizando una medida llamada el Calculo de Vulnerabilidad Ambiental (EVS), revisado para su uso en Mexico Se actualizo el numero de especies de reptiles mexicanos mas alia del estudio de CMAR, por lo que el numero total de especies se incremento a 849 (tres cocodrilidos, 48 tortugas, y 798 lagartijas y serpientes) La evaluacion de 2005 de la UICN clasifico una proporcion inesperadamente pequena de especies en las categories para especies amenazadas (En Peligro Critico, En Peligro, y Vulnerable) y un porcentaje respectivamente grande en la categoria de Preocupacion Menor En vista de los resultados publicados en CMAR, consideramos que los resultados de este enfoque son demasiado optimistas, y reevaluamos el estado de conservacion de todos los reptiles mexicanos basandonos en la medida de EVS Nuestros resultados muestran una relacion inversa (mas que concordante) entre las categorizaciones de la UICN 2005 y EVS Contrario a los resultados de las categorizaciones de la UICN 2005, la medida de EVS proporciono una evaluacion para la conservacion de reptiles mexicanos que es coherente las amenazas impuestas por la degradacion antropogenica del medio ambiente No tenemos la evidencia necesaria para proporcionar una explicacion para esta inconsistencia, pero expresamos las razones de nuestra preference por el uso de los resultados del EVS A la luz de los resultados de nuestro analisis, hemos Resumen el pais Correspondence Emails: 'bufodoc@aol.com (Corresponding amphibian-reptile-conservation.org author), 02 vmata@ utep.edu, 3jjohnson@ utep.edu June 2013 I Volume | Number | e61 Alvarado-Diaz et al Subtotals 94 — — — — — — Totals 159 26 58 71 Sum 212 31 79 98 Leptotyphlopidae Loxocemidae Natricidae 11 Viperidae 10 Xenodontidae 2 Totals — — — 5 — — 15 35 44 The IUCN system Coleonyx elegans The elegant banded gecko is broadly distributed on both versants, from southern Nayarit and Veracruz in Mexico southward to Guatemala and Belize In Michoacan, provinces Its EVS has been indicated as been assessed, and this gecko is 9, it placing inhabits the Coastal Plain and Balsas-Tepalcatepec Depression physiographic it at the upper end of the low vulnerability category, regarded as Threatened by SEMARNAT This individual its came from IUCN status has not Colola, on the coast of Michoacan Photo by Javier Alvarado-Diaz Ctenosaura 15, placing clarki it in the The Balsas armed lizard is endemic to the Balsas-Tepalcatepec Depression Its lower portion of the high vulnerability category, considered as Threatened by this species EVS has been gauged as has been judged as Vulnerable by IUCN, and SEMARNAT This individual is from Nuevo Centro, Reserva de la Biosfera Infiernillo-Zicuiran, near the Presa Infiernillo on the Rio Balsas in southeastern Michoacan Photo by Javier Alvarado-Diaz Amphib Reptile Conserv http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org | 157 September 2013 | Volume | Number e71 | Physiographic distribution and conservation of Michoacan herpetofauna The IUCN system is the most widely used system for cat- egorizing the conservation status of the world’s organisms, although it is skewed heavily toward chordate mals, as assessed by Stuart et al (2010b) Of the 64,788 IUCN Red List by the year 2009; first step We listed the current for the IUCN Red Michoacan herpetofauna animals had been assessed, a miniscule 0.56% In fact, toward providing a The species assessed to the seven IUCN lows: Critically Endangered (CR) List categorizations and summa- in Table rized the results in Table compara- only 7,615 of 1,359,365 species of other described tively, only the is given species adequate protection for perpetuity ani- described chordate species, 27,882 (43.0%) had been assessed on the ment, however, 212 allocations of the = categories are as fol5 species (2.3%); En- if all of the 1,424,153 animal species treated in Stuart dangered (E) = 10 (4.7%); Vulnerable (VU) = 12 (5.6%); et al (2010b) are considered, only 2.5% have been as- Near Threatened (NT) = (1.9%); Least Concern (LC) sessed on the so much IUCN Red List This extant situation is not IUCN of a criticism of the effectiveness of the system, but rather a criticism of the lack of attention giv- en to conservation of the world’s organisms by humanity at large (Wilson 2002) As a case in point, Stuart (2010b) reported that if et al number of total number = 127 (60.0%); Data Deficient (DD) = 26 (12.3%); and Not Evaluated (NE) = 28 (13.2%) These results are typical of those allocated for reptiles (see Wilson et al all Mexican amphibians and 2013a,b) As a consequence, only 27 of the 213 species (12.7%) occupy the threatened a provisional target 106,979 animal species (only 7.5% of the of described species) were established in attempting to develop a broader taxonomic base of threatened animal species, the estimated cost to complete would be about categories (CR, judged at the EN, or VU) Six of every 10 species are lowest level of concern (LC) Finally, 54 species (25.5%) have been assessed either as DD or have not been assessed (NE) $36,000,000 Completion of a threatened species assess- Table IUCN Red List categorizations Families for amphibian and reptile families in Number of Species Michoacan Non-native species are excluded IUCN Red Critically Endangered Vulnerable Endangered Bufonidae Craugastoridae — — Eleutherodactylidae Hylidae 11 Leptodactylidae Microhylidae Ranidae 10 — 1 List categorizations Near Threatened — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1 — — — — — — Rhinophrynidae Scaphiopodidae — — — — — — 43 Ambystomatidae — Plethodontidae — Subtotals 2 Caeciliidae Subtotals — — — — — — — — — — — 53 — — 1 — — — — — — Subtotals Totals 1 1 — — — — — — 31 1 — — 1 11 2 — — — — — — — — — — 2 — — — — — — — — — Cheloniidae Dermochelyidae 1 Geoemydidae Kinosternidae — — Subtotals 1 1 Bipedidae — Anguidae — — — — — — 158 http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org 32 Subtotals | Deficient — — — Amphib Reptile Conserv Concern 1 Data — — Crocodylidae Least — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1 September 2013 Not Evaluated | Volume — — | Number e71 | Alvarado-Diaz Corytophanidae Dactyloidae Eublepharidae Helodermatidae Iguanidae Mabuyidae et al Subtotals 94 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Totals 151 96 21 28 Sum 212 10 12 127 26 28 Phrynosomatidae 20 Phyllodactyiidae Scincidae Sphenomorphidae Teiidae Xantusiidae 57 Subtotals Boidae Colubridae 28 Dipsadidae 33 Elapidae Leptotyphlopidae Loxocemidae Natricidae 11 Viperidae 10 Xenodontidae Totals — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 2 — — — — — — — — — — — — Its was photographed at Nuevo — — — — — — 19 — — — — — — — — — — — 39 — — 19 15 11 — — 1 — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1 — — 1 1 — — — — — — 2 54 16 19 is endemic to Michoacan, where EVS has been assigned a value of 16, category, this species has been judged as Least individual 1 Phyllodactylus duellmani Duellman’s pigmy leaf-toed gecko Depression and the Sierra Madre del Sur — — — — — — — — — — — — — placing it it is found in the Balsas-Tepalcatepec in the middle of the high vulnerability Concern by IUCN, and accorded a Special Protection status by SEMARNAT This Centro, Reserva de la Biosfera Infiernillo-Zicuiran, near the Presa Infiernillo on the Rio Balsas in southeastern Michoacan Photo by Oscar Medina-Aguilar Amphib Reptile Conserv http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org | 159 September 2013 | Volume | Number e71 | Physiographic distribution and conservation of Michoacan herpetofauna Based on the application of only a small per- this system, centage of the species in the would be scheduled to receive the greatest amount of state These 27 species attention in- clude eight anurans, seven sala- manders, one crocodylian, three and four turtles, four lizards, snakes Whereas most of these species appear to merit a threat- ened inasmuch as 16 of status, the 27 species are country-level endemics and el six are state-lev- endemics (22 species, 81.5% of the 27), the herpetofauna of Michoacan is characterized by endemism than country of Mexico a higher level of for the entire (140 of 212 species [66.0%] vs 736 of 1,227 species [60.0%]) If endemism can be considered an important criterion for listing a species as threatened under the Leptodeira uribei Uribe’s cat-eyed snake is Michoacan, and northward through the lowlands distributed to Jalisco along the coastal plain in and southward to Oaxaca Its IUCN system (which it is not, this system stantial as then a sub- exists), number of other candi- EVS has been gauged as 17, placing it in the middle of the high vulnerability category, its IUCN status has been assessed as Least Concern, and it is considered a Special Protection species by SEMARNAT This individual was found at San Mateo, near the Reserva de la dates are available for choosing Biosfera Chamela-Cuixmala on the coast of Jalisco Photo by Javier Alvarado -Diaz that (Table 10), a significant issue needs to be addressed A similar issue is num- the ber of species judged as Data Of these 26 Deficient (Table 9) species, 17 are country and nine are state level endemics Assign- ment of the DD status leaves these species in limbo, and requires additional fieldwork before applying for a change in a species’ status Other papers in this special Mexico issue have criticized the use of the DD cat- egory, with Wilson et (2013b) al labeling these species as “threat The species in disguise.” signif- icance of such species can be ig- nored in the “rush to judgment” that sometimes assessments the IUCN accompanies conducted using system (NatureServe Press Release 2007) Thamnophis postremus The Michoacan gartersnake allocated as 15, placing it in the is a state endemic Its EVS Another problem with the has been lower portion of the high vulnerability category, been judged as Least Concern by IUCN, and this species it has has not been provided a status by SEMARNAT This individual came from San Lucas in the Balsas-Tepalcatepec Depression in http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org | system is dis- cussed in the lead-in paragraph to this section, i.e., that some species have not been evaluated Michoacan Photo by Javier Alvarado- Diaz Amphib Reptile Conserv IUCN use of the 160 September 2013 | Volume | Number e71 | Alvarado-Diaz (the NE species) Given the average cost of producing an IUCN was described et al 2010b), it al takes a considerable investment to assign a species to a category other than NE Nonetheless, one is left as a “dumping ground” by Wilson et who opined that “a more discerning look would demonstrate that many of these species should be threat assessment for a single species ($534.12, according to the figures in Stuart et al (2013b), partitioned into with relegating IUCN categories other than LC,” e.g., the threat categories and NT Currently, 127 of the 212 such species to a “wastebasket of neglect.” In the case native species of amphibians and reptiles (59.9%) are of the Michoacan herpetofauna, 28 species placed in the fall into this category, including nine lizards and 19 snakes (Table To be fair, the distributions of Costa Rica (Rodriguez et al Adding more species to the essarily a beneficial step, snakes LC LC ( inasmuch as is this which includes 31 assignments on the basis that Phyllodactylus duellmani, Aspidoscelis calidipes, and (Table also are state-level endemics 7) not nec- category Table 10 Summary of the distributional status of amphibian and reptile families in Number Families We question these Thamnophis postremus ) status category 9), 83 of these species are country -level endemics, and three 2013) At that workshop, most of these species were assigned an category (Table anurans, one salamander, two turtles, 39 lizards, and 54 most of these species (21) extends outside of Mexico and thus were assessed in a Central American Workshop held in May of 2012 in 9) LC Michoacan Distributional Status of Species Endemic Non-endemic Country (NE) Endemic (CE) (SE) State Non-native (NN) — — — — — — — — — — — 11 1 Rhinophrynidae 1 Scaphiopodidae 1 — — — — — — 44 16 23 3 — — — Bufonidae Craugastoridae — Eleutherodactylidae — Hylidae 11 Leptodactylidae 2 Microhylidae Ranidae Subtotals Ambystomatidae Plethodontidae Subtotals Caeciliidae Subtotals — — — — — 54 16 Crocodylidae 1 Subtotals 1 Cheloniidae 2 Dermochelyidae Geoemydidae — — — — 30 1 — — — — 1 Kinosternidae 1 — — — — — — Subtotals Bipedidae — — Anguidae Corytophanidae 1 — Dactyloidae — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Totals Amphib Reptile Conserv http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org | 161 September 2013 | Volume | Number e71 | Physiographic distribution and conservation of Michoacan herpetofauna Gekkonidae — Helodermatidae 1 — — Iguanidae Mabuyidae 1 — 20 15 — — — — — Phyllodactylidae Scincidae — — Sphenomorphidae 1 — — — Teiidae Xantusiidae — — — — — — — — — — — 58 16 37 1 — — Colubridae 28 12 15 Dipsadidae 33 19 Elapidae 2 — Leptotyphlopidae 1 Loxocemidae 1 — — 11 — — — — — — — — — — Viperidae 10 Xenodontidae — — — — Subtotals 95 32 53 Totals 161 54 92 13 Sum 215 70 122 20 Phrynosomatidae Subtotals Boidae Natricidae Typhlopidae Rena Totals bressoni Depression Its The Michoacan slender blindsnake EVS is has been estimated as 14, placing Data Deficient by IUCN, and a state endemic, and it at the its distribution is limited to the Balsas-Tepalcatepec lower end of the high vulnerability category, it has been judged as SEMARNAT considers it a Special Protection species This individual was found in the municipality of Tacambaro in Michoacan Photo by Oscar Medina-Aguilar Amphib Reptile Conserv http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org | 162 September 2013 | Volume | Number e71 | Alvarado-Diaz et al The EVS (Environmental Vul- nerability Score) system of con- servation assessment was first applied to the herpetofauna of Honduras by Wilson and McCranie (2004) Since that time, this system has been applied to the herpetofaunas of Belize (Stafford et 2010), Guate- al mala (Acevedo et 2010), al Nicaragua (Sunyer and Kohler 2010), Costa Rica (Sasa et Panama 2010), and al al (Jaramillo et 2010) In this special Mexi- co issue, the EVS measure also has been applied to the herpeto- fauna of Mexico (Wilson et Crotalus basiliscus The west coast Mexican rattlesnake Sonora Madre to northwestern Michoacan In Michoacan, del Sur, distributed from southern it SEMARNAT This individual is Its in the middle of the high vulnerability category, been assessed as Least Concern by IUCN, and it is 2013a, b) In this paper, found in the Coastal Plain, Sierra and the Balsas-Tepalcatepec Depression physiographic provinces has been reported as 16, placing by it is is EVS it has regarded as a Special Protection species from San Mateo, on the coast of Jalisco Photo by Oscar Medina-Aguilar al we utilized the computed by Wilson et al (2013a,b), which are indicated in Table and summarized in Table 11 for the 208 species for which the scores are calculable scores We arranged the resultant scores me- into three categories (low, dium, and high vulnerability), which were established by Wilson and McCranie (2004) The EVS for members of the Michoacan herpetofauna range from to 19 (Table 11) The lowest score of was calculat- ed for three anurans (the bufonid Rhinella marina the hylid , Smilisca baudinii, and the ranid Lithobates forreri) and one snake (the leptotyphlopid Epictia goudotii) The highest value of 19 was assigned to the viperid Crotalus tancitarensis The summed scores entire herpetofauna over the range, but for the vascillate still gener- from the lower scores through to peak at 14 and ally rise of decline (Table thereafter 11) Similar patterns are seen for am- phibians and reptiles separately, although the species numbers for amphibians Crotalus pusillus The Tancitaran dusky rattlesnake region of the Sien a Its EVS it it peak of 13 instead of 14, as EVS at an is the case for reptiles in the upper portion of the high vulnerability has been assessed as Endangered by SEMARNAT found in the Sierra de Coalcoman del Sur and the western portion of the Transverse Volcanic Axis has been estimated as 18, placing category, by Madre is IUCN, and it is considered as Threatened This individual came from Cerro Tancftaro, the highest mountain in Michoacan, located in the west-central portion of the Armphib Reptile Conserv state http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org | Photo by Javier Alvarado-Diaz 163 September 2013 | Volume | Number e71 | Physiographic distribution and conservation of Michoacan herpetofauna Table Environmental Vulnerability Scores (EVS) for amphibian and 11 the left encompasses Families low vulnerability scores, and to the right reptile species in Michoacan, arranged by family Shaded area high vulnerability scores Number Environmental Vulnerability Scores of Species 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 2.3 14.0 9.3 14.0 7.0 4.6 2.3 7.0 11.1 33.3 22.2 11.1 11.1 7.5 3.8 7.5 15.7 14.0 18 19 Bufonidae Craugastoridae Eleutherodactylidae Hylidae 11 Leptodactylidae Microhylidae Ranidae 10 Rhinophrynidae Scaphiopodidae 43 Subtotals Subtotals % 7.0 4.6 2.3 4.6 7.0 7.0 7.0 Ambystomatidae Plethodontidae Subtotals Subtotals % 11.1 Caeciliidae Subtotals Subtotals % 100 53 Totals Totals % 5.7 3.8 1.9 3.8 5.7 5.7 5.7 3.8 11.3 11.3 16.8 5.7 Crocodylidae Subtotals Subtotal % 100 Geoemydidae Kinosternidae Subtotals Subtotal % 25.0 25.0 25.0 25.0 Bipedidae Anguidae Corytophanidae Dactyloidae Eublepharidae Helodermatidae Iguanidae Mabuyidae 20 Phrynosomatidae Phyllodactylidae Scincidae Sphenomorphidae Teiidae Xantusiidae 57 Subtotals Subtotal % 11 3.5 5.3 7.0 1.8 1.8 12.3 14.0 5.3 19.3 Boidae Colubridae 28 Dipsadidae 33 Elapidae Leptotyphlopidae Loxocemidae Natricidae 11 Viperidae To" Amphib Reptile Conserv http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org | 164 September 2013 | Volume | Number e71 | to Alvarado-Diaz Xenodontidae — — — — — — — — — 1 11 12 13 10 — 1.1 1.1 3.2 6.4 7.5 8.6 2.2 4.3 6.4 3.2 11.8 12.9 14.0 10.8 3.2 2.2 155 1 10 10 6 14 11 14 25 22 18 % Totals — 93 Subtotals Subtotal — — — — — et al Total % — 0.6 0.6 1.9 5.2 6.5 6.5 3.9 3.9 9.0 7.1 9.0 16.1 14.2 11.6 1.9 1.3 Sum Sum Totals 208 4 10 13 13 20 17 23 28 26 20 — 1.9 1.4 1.9 4.8 6.3 6.3 4.3 3.8 9.6 8.2 11.1 13.5 12.5 9.6 3.3 1.0 Totals % EVS After organizing the into low, medium, and high The absolute and nificance are apparent numbers relative categories, a number of conclusions of conservation from low for each of these categories, 1.1 0.6 0.5 sig- to high arranged (2013b), “given the geometric pace at which envi- by major herpetofaunal group, are as follows: anurans et al = 17 (39.5%), 17 (39.5%), (21.0%); salamanders = ronmental threats worsen, since they are commensurate = (0.0%), with the rate of human population growth, (100%), (0.0%); crocodylians = (0.0%), (0.0%), to (0.0%), (55.6%), (44.4%); caecilians (100%); turtles = (25.0%), (50.0%), (25.0%); = 10 (17.6%), 19 (33.3%), 28 (49.1%); and snakes = 28 (30.1%), 25 (26.9%), 40 (43.0%) The highest absolute and relative numbers for each of the amphibian fall into medium the when range, evident numbers are added, as follows: 17 (32.1); 23 13 (24.5) For the reptile groups, the pattern under consideration.” The in that the largest absolute groups, except for turtles, is 46 (29.7); and 70 The trend seen Sum- A broad erra total species, summary, application of the members of EVS measure and at relatively lower elevations along Madre higher elevations in the Si- at del Sur, the Transverse Volcanic Axis, and reptiles are recorded from the state, native and three non-native species to the ( including 212 Lithobates cates- beianus, Hemidactylus frenatus, and Ramphotyphlops the herpetofauna of medium with this capacity the Central Plateau In total, 215 species of amphibians Michoacan demonstrates starkly that the absolute and relative numbers increase dramatically from the low category of scores through the the only one of the array of habitat types are found in Michoacan, pec Depression to those 56 (26.9%) are assigned to the low category, 69 (33.2%) to the medium category, and 83 (39.9%) to the high category In is the Pacific coastal plain and in the Balsas-Tepalcate- (45.1) Of the 208 we examined ranging from those for reptiles also applies to the herpe- tofauna as a whole EVS Conclusions all ming these numbers illustrates the general trend for reptiles, in which numbers increase from low to high: 39 (25.2); can be Conclusions and Recommendations different the high range that and and relative numbers for fall into three systems these (43.4); have a conservation assessment measure important applied simply, quickly, and economically to the species liz- ards groups it is braminus) The native amphibians comprise 43 anurans, The nine salamanders, and one caecilian native reptiles constitute 151 squamates (including the marine Pelamis category to the high category platura ), seven turtles (including the marine Chelonia mydas, Dermochelys coriacea, and Lepidochelys oliva4 Comparing the results of the three cea ), and one crocodylian With respect systems inces inhabited, the When we compared the results assessment systems, it lowest to the highest occupancy figures of the three conservation was obvious EVS that the is five) the only one for which the entire land herpetofauna of Mi- The number of taxa decreasing order, is (i.e., one through in each of the provinces, in as follows: Sierra Madre del Sur (103 the only sys- species); Balsas-Tepalcatepec Depression (98); Trans- that provides a fair accounting of the distribution- verse Volcanic Axis (97); Coastal Plain (71); and Central choacan can be assessed The tem EVS number of physiographic provnumbers drop consistently from the to the al status also is Plateau (29) of species (state-level endemic, country-level endemic, and non-endemic) Furthermore, this tation of the system Among the five provinces, the represen- major herpetofaunal groups is as follows: and those anurans = Balsas-Tepalcatepec Depression; salamanders of the two on the Mexican herpetofauna in this special = Transverse Volcanic Axis (all species limited here); caecilians = Sierra Madre del Sur and Transverse Volca- is cost-effective, as the authors of this paper Mexico from issue assembled these contributions homes, simply by using the communicative the Internet it The only disadvantage of the their nic Axis (single species limited to these ability of EVS is lizards that does not apply to marine species; today, however, a sizable number of conservation champions working with marine Amphib Reptile Conserv turtles Sierra Sur; turtles Madre = Coastal Plain; Thus, as noted by Wilson tofaunal resemblance 165 is = Madre del and crocodylians = Coastal here) The degree of herpe- del Sur; snakes Plain (single species limited at least are http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org | = two provinces); greatest Sierra between the Balsas-Te- September 2013 | Volume | Number e71 | Physiographic distribution and conservation of Michoacan herpetofauna palcatepec Depression and the Sierra Madre del Sur The has been applied to a greater proportion of the herpetofauna of Michoacan (compared to the greatest resemblance of the Coastal Plain herpetofauna also is to that of the Balsas-Tepalcatepec Depression system), resemblance of the herpetofauna Finally, the greatest of the Transverse Volcanic Axis is some 13% has not been applied to about it we species Furthermore, to that of the Central SEMARNAT of the question the applicability of aspects of this system, especially with regard to Plateau, and vice versa Within Michoacan, close to one- the significant use of the Data Deficient category and half of the native herpetofauna the overuse of the Least is limited in distribution physiographic province, in the following de- to a single creasing order: Transverse Volcanic Axis, Coastal Plain, Concern category In addition, the expense of creating IUCN threat assessments and the manner are created (e.g., in which they workshops that del Sur, bring together workers from far-flung areas of the world and Central Plateau Most of these single-province spe- to a single location within the area of evaluation for sev- cies also are country-level endemics eral days) often is cost-prohibitive Balsas-Tepalcatepec Depression, Sierra We employed three Madre conservation status of Michoacan’s herpetofauna vation status of members of the Michoacan herpetofauna The EVS system (SEMARNAT, IUCN, and EVS) The SEMARNAT sys- the herpetofauna of Michoacan half of the species unassessed system this it (i.e., is was developed originally for use with amphibians and reptiles in Honduras, but later was tem was developed for use in Mexico by the Secretarfa de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales Although when also found this system deficient in presenting a useful appraisal of the systems for assessing the conser- widely used in Mexico, We expanded for use elsewhere Special applied to was applied vation, having “no non-marine status”) & Mexico Issue of Amphibian leaves almost one- it America In in Central Reptile Conser- to all of the native reptiles of this Mexico (Wilson amphibians and et al 2013a,b) analyzed the results We adopted the scores developed in these two papers for applying this system to the herpetofauna of Michoacan use with the Michoacan herpetofauna, and analyzed the Given the results Nevertheless, we documented and significantly SEMARNAT system, incomplete coverage of the we found it discovered that once EVS evaluated using the insufficiently useful medium, and high score for our purposes IUCN We cies increases strikingly categories are broadly recognized (e.g., Critically En- um to the high category system is applied and used globally of the species were system and allocated to low, categories, the number of spe- from the low through the medi- Its The all dangered, Endangered, and Vulnerable, the three socalled threat categories) Although this system presently Recommendations Based on our conclusions, a number of recommendations follow: Given that the degree of her- petofaunal acan is endemism in Micho- greater than that for the country of Mexico, and that a substantial number of those en- demic species are known only from the tection state, the level of pro- afforded to the state’s herpetofauna is vation interest of major conser- One hundred and twenty-one species are endemic at the country level and an addi- tional 20 are endemic level Thus, the total for these two groups is at the state 141 (66.5% of the total native herpetofauna), a fig- ure 6.5% higher than that for the Porthidium hespere The western hog-nosed viper inhabits the coastal plain of western Mexico, from southeastern Colima 18 placing , it in the to central Michoacan Its is has been reported as upper portion of the high vulnerability category, Data Deficient by IUCN, and assigned a Special Protection individual EVS status it by http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org | 166 The al 2013a,b) species with the most con- has been judged as servation significance are the 20 SEMARNAT state This from Coahuayana on the coast of Michoacan Photo by Oscar Medina-Aguilar Armphib Reptile Conserv country (Wilson et mend endemics, and we recom- a conservation assessment September 2013 | Volume | Number e71 | Alvarado-Diaz of the and country-level endemic species state2 Garcia- Vazquez and Aurelio Ramirez-Bautista for their herpetofauna that focuses on the state’s Michoacan contains a helpful reviews of our work Funding for fieldwork UMSNH areas at the global, national, state, and local lev- Because the distribution of the herpetofauna els mend that this work be Literature Cited we recom- in these areas only is being determined, accelerated to form a da- Acevedo M, Wilson LD, Cano EB, Vasquez-Almazan C 2010 Diversity and conservation status of the Guatemalan herpetofauna Pp 406-435 In: Conservation of Mesoamerican Amphibians and Reptiles Editors, Wilson LD, Townsend JH, Johnson JD Eagle Mountain Publishing, LC, Eagle Mountain, Utah, USA Alvarado-Diaz J, Campbell JA 2004 A new montane rattlesnake (Viperidae) from Michoacan, Mexico tabase for creating a state-level conservation plan An evaluation of the level of protection afford- ed to the state’s is critical for determining areas with high species richness, a high herpetofauna in protected areas number of endemic species, or species at risk, as well as the degree of overlap within the various protected areas We recommend an evaluation of areas in the state, based on all Herpetologica 60: 281-286 the protected Alvarado-Diaz their ability to support Once a distributional database is sis (Serpentes: Viperidae) assembled for I Herpetological Review 38: 155-157 the state’s herpetofauna in protected areas, and a Bryson capacity analysis completed, a robust conservation plan needs to be developed Estrada- Virgen A, Suazo-Ortuno J, 2007 Natural history notes on Crotalus tancitaren- viable populations of the resident herpetofauna was provided by the Consejo de Investigacion Cientifica, number of protected sizable et al RW, Murphy RW, Graham MR, Lathrop A, Jr Lazcano D 2011 Ephemeral Pleistocene woodlands and implemented connect the dots for highland rattlesnakes of the Cro6 Considering that agriculture, logging, and cattle talus intermedins group Journal of ranching are the leading factors in the local extirpation and extinction of ecosystems and 2011 their now are the dominant landscapes - 12 2012 IUCN Red List of Threatened IUCN Species Version 2012.2 Available: www.iucnredlist.org [Accessed: the state, the potential for the conservation of the March 2013] Casas- Andreu G, McCoy CJ 1979 Anfibios y Reptiles de Mexico Limusa, Mexico DF, Mexico Casas- Andreu G, Valenzuela-Lopez G, Ramirez-Bautis- evaluated the 15 Management strategies that allow for maximal numbers of herpetofaunal species to survive and thrive in these altered landscapes also need to ta be defined Ultimately, preciate, humans protect only versidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico DF, what they ap- Mexico and thus a conservation management programs for all Chernela J 2012 the end of groups of people, especially the young, as well as the involvement of local people in Como hacer una coleccion de anfibios y Cuademos del Instituto de Biologia 10 Uni- A 1991 reptiles plan must encompass environmental education implementing these programs A species apart: life Acknowledgments —We GM Indiana University Press, Bloom- Sodikoff CIA World Contreras generously sharing the data accumulated for their papers ico Issue number Crump ML, also are grateful our work on this paper In addition, we Torres for his help in updating the of amphibians and Michoacan Finally, Amphib Reptile Conserv we LAC, MS Smithsonian Washington DC, USA Foster Institution Press, Duellman WE 1961 The amphibians and reptiles of Michoacan, Mexico University of Kansas Publications, thank Jonatan Museum are grateful to Uri http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org | Scott NJ 1994 Visual encounter surveys and Monitoring Biological Diversity, Standard Methods for Amphibians Editors, Heyer WR, Donnelly MA, McDiarmid RW, Hayek unflagging encouragement, enthusiasm, and support of reptiles of de las Provincias Clima- Pp 84-92 In: Measuring literature Craig Hassapakis, the editor of this journal, for his list Mapa Agricultura y Fomento, Direccion de Geografia, Meteorologia e Hidrologia, Instituto Geografico, Mexico Louis was especially helpful in providing us a remark- We 1942 Porras for of issues that arose while preparing this paper, and to able job of copy-editing our work AA toldgicas de la Republica Mexicana Secretarfa de kindly offering his counsel and assistance on a he and Donald E Hahn for providing needed www.cia.gov [Ac- Factbook Available: Mex- in this Special We extend our gratitude to Louis W USA cessed: 21 February 2013] leagues Jerry D Johnson and Vicente Mata-Silva for on Mexican amphibians and reptiles Pp 18-38 In: The Anthropology of on Culture and Species Death Ed- itor, are indebted to our col- ideology, science and Extinction, Essays ington, Indiana, to tancitarensis In: in herpetofauna in these environments needs to be Campbell JA 2007 Crotalus resident species, and that human-modified en- vironments : Biogeography 167 of Natural History 15: 1-148 September 2013 | Volume | Number e71 | Physiographic distribution and conservation of Michoacan herpetofauna Duellman WE 1965 A biogeographic account of herpe- 1202 tofauna of Michoacan, Mexico University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History 15: NatureServe Press Release 2007 North American 627-709 Duellman WE 2001 The Hylid Frogs of Middle America (2 volumes) Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Contributions in Herpetology, Volume 18, Ithaca, New reptiles finds rare Assessment of good news Avail- able: www.natureserve.org/aboutUs/PressReleases/ NatureServe%20reptile%20assessmentRed%20 Fist%20news%20release%209- 12-07 [Accessed: 21 New York, USA May Haddad CFB, Garcia PC A, DR, 2012] Campbell JA, Wheeler WC 2005 Systematic review Oca A, Poe S, Scarpetta S, Gray F, Fieb CS 2013 Synonyms for some species of Mex- of the frog family Hylidae, with special reference to ican anoles (Squamata: Dactyloidae) Zootaxa 3637: Hylinae: phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revi- 484-492 Faivovich J, Museum of the American History 294: 1-240 sion Bulletin Flores -Villela O, Canseco-Marquez F 2004 Frost Nieto Montes de Ramlrez-Bautista A 1994 Manual y Claves Ilustradas de los Anfibios y Reptiles de la Region de Chamela, of Natural Nuevas es- Jalisco, Mexico Cuaderno No 23, Instituto de Bi- pecies y cambios taxonomicos para la herpetofauna ologla, Universidad Nacional de Mexico Acta Zoologica Mexicana 20: 115-144 Mexico DF, Mexico Canseco-Marquez F, Ochoa-Ochoa FM 2010 Geographic distribution and conservation Rodriguez JE, Bolanos Flores-Villela O, F, Matamoros reptiles 302-321 tos de las Fistas Rojas de la ians Conservation of Mesoamerican Amphib- and Reptiles Editors, Y (Editors) Wilson FD, Townsend JH, de Centroamerica Utilizando los lineamien- UICN 6-10 de mayo, 2012 Estacion Biologica Palo Verde, Bagaces, Gua- UICN/SSC Johnson JD Eagle Mountain Publishing, FC, Eagle nacaste, Costa Rica Mountain, Utah, USA ing Specialist Group-Mesoamerica Flores-Villela OA, Mendoza-Quijano Conservation Breed- (CBSG Meso- america), Costa Rica Gonzalez-Porter F, 2013 Taller para evaluar el estado de conservacion de los of the Mexican Central Highlands herpetofauna Pp In: Autonoma de Mexico, G 1995 Recopilacion de las Claves para la Deter- Sasa M, Chaves G, Porras FW 2010 The Costa Rican minacion de Anfibios y Reptiles de Mexico Publicaciones Especiales del Museo de Zoologfa, No 10, herpetofauna: conservation status and future perspec- Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Facul- can Amphibians and Reptiles Editors, Wilson FD, Mexico Townsend JH, Johnson JD Eagle Mountain Publishing, FC, Eagle Mountain, Utah, USA tad de Ciencias, Departamento de Biologfa, tives Pp DF, Mexico SEDUE Gonzalez-Hernandez AJ, Garza-Castro JM 2006 Herpetofauna del municipio de acan, Mexico Pp 140-152 Nuevo Urecho, Micho- su Biodiversidad Editors, Ramlrez-Bautista A, CanF Huacuz ED 1995 Serpientes Smith 3: 140-151 del Estado de Michoacan Smith IUCN Red Smith Fist Bousquets J J, Jaramillo F J, tion 1950 An annotated checklist and of Mexico exclusive of the snakes Museum P, 199: Edgar P, Penn MG 2010 Distribu- and conservation of the herpetofauna of Belize Pp 370-405 In: Conservation of Mesoamerican Am- phibians and Reptiles Editors, Wilson FD, Townsend JH, Johnson JD Eagle Mountain Publishing, FC, Eagle Mountain, Utah, Stuart SN, Chanson The global JS, USA Cox NA, Young BE decline of amphibians: In: 2010a current trends Conservation of Mesoamerican Amphibians and Reptiles Editors, Wilson FD, Townsend JH, Johnson JD Eagle Mountain Publishing, FC, Eagle Mountain, Utah, USA I Mex194— http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org | An annotated checklist and and future prospects Pp 2-15 Suazo-Ortuno Revista Mexicana de la Biodiversidad 82: Amphib Reptile Conserv to the reptiles Stafford PJ, Walker Mexico 2011 Herpetofauna de Tacambaro, Michoacan, ico 1948 1-253 2010 Halffter G, Florente- CONABIO, Mexico DF, Medina-Aguilar O, Alvarado-Dlaz An annotated checklist and Bulletin of the United States National The herpetofauna of Panama: distribution and conservation status Pp 604-673 In: Conservation of Mesoamerican Amphibians and Reptiles Editors, Wilson FD, Townsend JH, Johnson JD Eagle Mountain Publishing, FC, Eagle Mountain, Utah, USA Florente-Bousquets J, Ocegueda S 2008 Estado del conocimiento de la biota Pp 283-322 In: Capital Natural de Mexico Compilers, Soberon 1945 to the HM, Taylor EH keys org [Accessed: 18 Jaramillo Urbano amphibia of Mexico Bulletin of the United States National Museum 194: 1-118 categories and criteria Available: www.iucnredlist March 2013] C, Wilson FD, Ibanez R, Secretarla de Desarrollo to the snakes HM, Taylor EH keys Mexico, Mexico DF, Mexico for using the 2000 Catalogo de la Biodiversi- of Mexico Bulletin of the United States National Museum 187: 1-239 M.S Thesis, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de IUCN 2010 Guidelines HM, Taylor EH keys Publicaciones de la Sociedad Herpetologica Mexicana UMSNH Conservation of Mesoameri- y Ecologla, Universidad Michoacana San Nicolas de Hidalgo, Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico faunisticos de Mexico: Avances en el Conocimiento de seco-Marquez F, Mendoza-Quijano In: dad en Michoacan Inventarios Herpeto- In: and 510-603 168 September 2013 | Volume | Number e71 | Alvarado-Diaz Stuart SN, Wilson EO, McNeely JA, Mittermeier RA, Rodriguez JR 2010b The barometer of life Wilson LD, Mata-Silva V, Johnson JD 2013a Science vation reassessment of the reptiles of 328: 177 Sunyer J, on the Kohler G 2010 Conservation status of the herpetofauna of Nicaragua Pp 488-509 In: Conser- Reptile Conser- V 2013b A Mexico & Reptile EVS measure Amphibian Wilson LD, McCranie JR 2004 The conservation MS of the herpetofauna of Honduras Amphibian Thesis, Univer- tion Townsend JH, Wilson LD 2010 Conservation of the Honduran herpetofauna: issues and imperatives Pp 460-487 In: Conservation of Mesoamerican Amphibians and Reptiles Editors, Wilson LD, Townsend JH, Johnson JD Eagle Mountain Publishing, LC, Eagle gle of Mesoamerican Amphibians and Reptiles Ea- Mountain Publishing, LC, Eagle Mountain, Utah, Addendum Flores-Villela O 2006 Estudio After this paper was placed in proof, herpetofaunistico en el Playon de Mexiquillo y areas adjacentes en la costa sur del estado de Michoacan, In: report of a new Michoacan distribution Biodiversidad Editors, Ramfrez-Bautista A, Canse- 3, (Editor) Coniophanes melanocephalus [Black-hea- The specimen was found Mexico, DF, Hoyo Mexico GLE RA, Quintero-Dfaz ded Stripeless Snake] Herpetological Review 42: 242) Publicaciones de Sociedad Herpetologica Mexicana discovered a GE, and Domfnguez-De La Riva MA 2011 Geographic cos de Mexico: Avances en el Conocimiento de su F we record for Coniophanes me- (Carbajal-Marquez lanocephalus Inventarios Herpetofaumsti- co-Marquez L, Mendoza-Quijano Rep- USA Mountain, Utah, USA Mexico Pp 110-136 & Wilson LD, Townsend JH, Johnson JD 2010 Conserva- Michoacan, Mexico F, status Conservation 3(1): 6-33 tile Vargas- Santamarfa con- Conservation 7(1): 97-127 sidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo, Morel- Villasenor & Mexico based servation reassessment of the amphibians of based on the 2011 Herpetofauna del Municipio de Ario de Rosales, Michoacan, Mexico la measure Amphibian Wilson LD, Johnson JD, Mata-Silva Mesoamerican Amphibians and Reptiles Editors, Wilson LD, Townsend JH, Johnson JD Eagle Mountain Publishing, LC, Eagle Mountain, Utah, ia, EVS A conser- vation 7(1): 1-47 vation of USA Torres MY et al del Aire, Municipality of Taretan, at an elevation of 887 m This locality 2005 La Biodiversidad en in “subtropical dry forest” at lies within the northernmost fin- ger of the Balsas-Tepalcatepec Depression in central Mi- Michoacan: Estudio de Estado Comision Nacional choacan The para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad, Secretarfa de Urbanismo y Medio Ambiente, UMSNH, EV S been assessed as of Coniophanes melanocephalus has 14, placing it in the high vulnerability DD (Wilson et al 2013), and no status is available in the SEMARNAT syscategory, Mexico DF, Mexico Wilson EO 2002 The Future of Life Alfred A Knopf, its IUCN status reported as tem (www.semarnat.gob.mx) New York, New York, USA Wilson LD, Johnson JD 2010 Distributional patterns Received: 26 of the herpetofauna of Mesoamerica, a biodiversity hotspot Pp 30-235 Amphibians and In: Accepted: 04 June 2013 Conservation of Mesoamerican Reptiles Editors: Wilson March 2013 LD, Published: 03 September 2013 Townsend JH, Johnson JD Eagle Mountain Publishing, LC, Eagle Mountain, Utah, USA Amphib Reptile Conserv http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org | 169 September 2013 | Volume | Number e71 | Physiographic distribution and conservation of Michoacan herpetofauna Javier Alvarado-Dfaz is a herpetologist and professor of vertebrate zoology and herpe- tology at the Universidad de Michoacan, Mexico His main interest in herpetology is the conservation of Mexican amphibians and reptiles, He snakes is a member from sea turtles to montane of the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores and has pub- number of peer-reviewed papers and books on conservation and ecology of Mexican herpetofauna lished a the Ireri Suazo Ortuno is a herpetologist and professor of zoology and herpetology at the Universidad de Michoacan, Mexico Her principal interest in herpetology the conservation of amphibians and reptiles in is a member human modified is landscapes She of the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores, and has published peer- reviewed papers on the ecology of tropical herpetofaunal assemblages She also is the director of the Instituto de Investigaciones sobre los Recursos Naturales de la Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo Larry David Wilson is a herpetologist with lengthy experience in Mesoamerica, to- taling six collective years (combined over the past 47) Larry is the senior editor of the recently published Conservation of Mesoamerican Amphibians and Reptiles and a co-author of seven of Professor of Biology at its chapters He Miami-Dade College retired after 35 years of service as in Miami, Florida Larry is the author more than 290 peer-reviewed papers and books primarily on herpeincluding the 2004 Amphibian & Reptile Conservation paper entitled “The or co-author of tology, conservation status of the herpetofauna of Honduras.” His other books include The Snakes of Honduras, Middle American Herpetology, The Amphibians of Honduras, Amphibians & Reptiles of the Bay Islands and Cayos Cochinos, Honduras, The Amphibians and Reptiles of the Honduran Mosquitia, and Guide to the Amph ibians & Reptiles of Cusuco National Park, Honduras He also served as the Snake Section Editor for the Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles for 33 years Over his career, Larry has authored or co-authored the description of 69 currently recognized herpetofaunal species and six species have been named in his honor, including the anuran Craugastor lauraster and the snakes Cerrophidion wilsoni, Myriopholis wilsoni, and Oxybelis wilsoni Oscar Medina-Aguilar graduated from the Facultad de Biologfa of the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo in 2011 He studied the herpetofauna of Tacambaro, Michoacan, as part of his degree requirements His interests include the systematics and distribution of the amphibians and reptiles of Mexico In 2011, the results of his study of the herpetofauna of Tacambaro were published in the Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad Amphib Reptile Conserv http://amphibian-reptile-conservation.org | 170 September 2013 | Volume | Number e71 | CONTENTS Administration, journal information (Instructions to Authors), and copyright notice Larry David Wilson —Preface {Amphibian & Jerry D Johnson, Louis W Porras, Reptile Conservation Special Mexico Inside front cover Issue) i Gordon W Schuett, Vincente Mata-Silva, and Larry David Wilson Dedications {Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Special Mexico Issue) —A conservation reassessment of of Mexico based on EVS measure Louis W Porras, Larry David Wilson, Gordon W Schuett, and Randall Reiserer—A taxonomic Larry David Wilson, Vicente Mata-Silva, and Jerry D Johnson the rep- the tiles S evaluation and conservation assessment of the dae): a race against Randall iii S Reiserer, common cantil, re- Agkistrodon bilineatus (Squamata: Viperi- time 48 Gordon W Schuett, and Daniel D Beck Taxonomic reassessment and conservation beaded lizard, Heloderma horridum (Squamata: Helodermatidae) 74 Larry David Wilson, Jerry D Johnson, and Vicente Mata-Silva A conservation reassessment of the amstatus of the — phibians of Mexico based on the EVS measure —Patterns Suazao-Ortuno, Larry David Wilson, and Oscar Medina-Aguilar of physiographic distribution and conservation status of the herpetofauna of Michoacan, Mexico Javier Alvarado Diaz, Ireri 128 Back cover Table of Contents VOLUME 97 2013 NUMBER ... 19 17 30 25 31 47 52 50 44 24 — 0.3 0.3 1.8 2.6 2.3 5.0 4.4 7. 8 6.5 8.1 12.3 13.6 13.1 11.5 6.3 2.3 1.8 — — — — — 841 1 13 15 31 30 47 54 71 100 115 123 1 27 65 24 15 — 0.1 0.1 1.0 1.5 1.8 3 .7 3.6... Subtotals Subtotal % 413 0.2 0 .7 1.5 11 13 14 28 39 49 54 67 78 38 10 2 .7 3.1 3.4 6.8 9.4 11.9 13.1 16.2 18.9 9.2 2.4 0.5 Boidae amphibian- reptile-conservation.org 0 17 June 2013 I Volume I Number... tions) well outside the past range.” (2010: 77 4 -77 7) provided six detailed and intensely no is in captivity or as a naturalized population (or popula- can Amphibians and Reptiles, Wilson and Townsend