Frogs and Reptiles of the Murray–Darling Basin A Guide to Their Identification, Ecology and Conservation

About this book

The Murray–Darling Basin spans more than 1 million square kilometres across the lower third of Queensland, most of New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, northern Victoria and the south-eastern corner of South Australia. Wildlife habitats range from the floodplains of the Basin to alpine areas, making the region of special ecological and environmental interest.

Frogs and Reptiles of the Murray–Darling Basin is the first comprehensive guide to the 310 species of frogs and reptiles living in the Murray–Darling Basin. An overview of each of the 22 catchment areas introduces the unique and varied climates, topography, vegetation and fauna. Comprehensive species accounts include diagnostic features, conservation ratings, photographs and distribution maps for all frogs, freshwater turtles, lizards and snakes recorded in this important region.

Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction

FROGS
Foam-nesting ground frogs (Family Limnodynastidae)
Ground frogs (Family Myobatrachidae)
Tree frogs (Family Pelodryadidae)
True toads (Family Bufonidae)

FRESHWATER TURTLES
Side-necked Freshwater Turtles (Family Chelidae)

LIZARDS
Southern padless geckos (Family Carphodactylidae)
Diplodactylid geckos (Family Diplodactylidae)
Cosmopolitan geckos (Family Gekkonidae)
Flap-footed lizards (Family Pygopodidae)
Skinks (Family Scincidae)
Dragons (Family Agamidae)
Monitor lizards/goannas (Family Varanidae)

SNAKES
Blind snakes (Family Typhlopidae)
Pythons (Family Pythonidae)
Colubrid snakes (Family Colubridae)
Venomous land snakes (Family Elapidae)

Species checklist
Glossary
References
Index of common names
Index of scientific names

Customer Reviews

Biography

Michael Swan was previously a senior herpetofauna keeper with Melbourne Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary and was part of captive breeding programs for the Fijian Iguana, Broad-headed Snake, Corroboree Frog, Stuttering Frog, Philippine Crocodile and many other species. He is now the coordinator of the Lilydale High School reptile collection, the largest school collection of reptiles and frogs in Australia. He is also a keen photographer and has written numerous articles, papers and books about reptiles and frogs.