Don Broadley is universally regarded as the "godfather" of modern African herpetology. WIth more than six decades of active research based in Zimbabwe, Don's career has been at the nexus of the field since shortly after his arrival in Africa. IN his autobiography, Don presents the many details that have made up his life in herpetology. HIs numerous field trips, their participants and the reptiles and amphibians collected are all outlined in the orderly fashion that has characterised his many technical publications. DOcumented too are his first contacts with herpetologists around the world. THis reveals how central Don has been to research programs near and far, providing data, specimens and expertise to a tremendous number of researchers and facilitating the last half century's growth in African herpetology. [...] In Umtali and then in Bulawayo, Don built one of the largest collections of amphibians and reptiles in Africa, with its greatest strengths in the Zambesiaca region, incorporating Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Botswana - areas where most of Don's own field trips and those of his close associates generally took place. TOday, because of Don, the collection in Bulawayo, one of the largest in Africa, it is rich in type material and the Museum's journal Arnoldia is known to herpetologists around the world. BEcause of Don's centrality to herpetology, this book is a chronicle of the discovery of the herpetofauna of southeastern Africa. STories from many of Don's field trips, such as his run-in with a lioness in Botswana, have become legendary. HIs snake bites are even more storied from a stiletto snake bite only a few months after arriving in Rhodesia, to the 1960 puff adder bite that cost him his middle finger, to the boomslang bite that necessitated the transfusion of 13 pints of blood. ALl are documented in this book. [...] Don was an unassuming man, yet his life was anything but uneventful and his contributions were many. ANd all of this was achieved against the backdrop of hardships that life in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe have brought. FRom the war of independence to hyperinflation, Don persevered, driven by his abiding fascination with the African herpetofauna. WHether the reader is a longtime friend of Don's or someone for whom the name Broadley is familiar only from the literature cited of innumerable papers, this book will provide new insights into an extraordinary life in herpetology.

This Scientific Bibliography of the “Far Northern Drakensberg” is a continuation by the Afromontane Research Unit of the University of the Free State (ARU) to document published and other similar works on the mountains of the summer rainfall area of South Africa. It follows “A Scientific Bibliography of the Drakensberg, Maloti and Adjacent Lowlands” which was published in 2020 (Moffett 2020), and which covered the area between the North-Eastern Cape and the North-Eastern Free State. The current work extends this northward by including articles and publications dating back to 1875 (E.Cohen, on the Lydenburg goldfields) reaching as far as the Wolkberg and Woodbush near Tzaneen in Limpopo Province. Figure 1 shows the boundary of the area covered, and although referred to as the Far Northern Drakensberg in this work, it is identical to that described as the LMEE, Limpopo, Mpumalanga & Eswatini Escarpment by Clarke et al (2022). Although slightly separate from the “lower” escarpment, the mountainous Barberton and adjacent Eswatini area, as well as the Leolo Mountains in eastern Sekhukhuneland are also included. Details on how the boundary in figure 1 was determined are given in Clark et al (2022). Bibliographies on two further ranges in the summer rainfall area, viz. the Magaliesberg in Gauteng province and the Soutpansberg in Limpopo province are to be the subject of future compilations.

Issues in Life Sciences: Amphibian and Herpetological Research: 2011 Edition is a ScholarlyBrief™ that delivers timely, authoritative, comprehensive, and specialized information about Life Sciences—Amphibian and Herpetological Research in a concise format. The editors have built Issues in Life Sciences: Amphibian and Herpetological Research: 2011 Edition on the vast information databases of ScholarlyNews.™ You can expect the information about Life Sciences—Amphibian and Herpetological Research in this eBook to be deeper than what you can access anywhere else, as well as consistently reliable, authoritative, informed, and relevant. The content of Issues in Life Sciences: Amphibian and Herpetological Research: 2011 Edition has been produced by the world’s leading scientists, engineers, analysts, research institutions, and companies. All of the content is from peer-reviewed sources, and all of it is written, assembled, and edited by the editors at ScholarlyEditions™ and available exclusively from us. You now have a source you can cite with authority, confidence, and credibility. More information is available at http://www.ScholarlyEditions.com/.

Sperm Competition and Sexual Selection presents the intricate ways in which sperm compete to fertilize eggs and how this has prompted reinterpretations of breeding behavior. This book provides a theoretical framework for the study of sperm competition, which is a central part of sexual selection. It also discusses the roles of females and the relationships between paternal care in sperm competition. The chapters focusing on taxonomic development are diverse and cover all the major animal groups, both vertebrate and invertebrate, and plants. The final chapter provides an overview discussing the relationship between sperm competition and sexual selection in terms of both function and mechanism and how these translate into species fitness. This book will be of prime interest to behaviorists, ecologists and evolutionary biologists, suggesting new avenues of research and new ways of approaching old problems. The only up-to-date summary of a central and popular subject Well known editors and authors Provides a theoretical framework for the study of sperm competition Covers all major animal groups Includes a chapter on plants

Southern Africa is home to a remarkably diverse and rich reptile fauna, which is presented in this book in a lively and accessible way. A Guide to the Reptiles of Southern Africa introduces the 517 species currently described in the region and presents interesting insight on reptile identification and diversity, distribution patterns, and biology and behaviour. It also offers tips on finding and observing reptiles, as well as unravelling the facts and fallacies of snakebite. Southern African reptiles fall into three main groups (orders): snakes and lizards, crocodiles and shelled reptiles, and each group comprises in turn a number of related families and sub-groups, which form the basic structure of the book. The reptiles are discussed within their relevant groups according to appearance, biology, reproduction, distribution and conservation status. Informative panels with simple icons provide key information on distribution, typical habitat and period of activity, and a wealth of full-colour photographs brings the subject matter vividly to life.

The fourth edition of the textbook Herpetology covers the basic biology of amphibians and reptiles, with updates in nearly every conceptual area. Not only does it serve as a solid foundation for modern herpetology courses, but it is also relevant to courses in ecology, behavior, evolution, systematics, and morphology. Examples taken from amphibians and reptiles throughout the world make this book a useful herpetology textbook in several countries. Naturalists, amateur herpetologists, herpetoculturists, zoo professionals, and many others will find this book readable and full of relevant natural history and distributional information. Amphibians and reptiles have assumed a central role in research because of the diversity of ecological, physiological, morphological, behavioral, and evolutionary patterns they exhibit. This fully revised edition brings the latest research to the reader, ranging over topics in evolution, reproduction, behavior and more, allowing students and professionals to keep current with a quickly moving field. Heavily revised and updated with discussion of squamate (lizard and snake) taxonomy and new content reflected in current literature Includes increased focus on conservation biology in herpetology while retaining solid content on organismal biology of reptiles and amphibians Presents new photos included from authors' extensive library