Bibliotheca Herpetologica 20(2)

Zadik, J. and J. W. Gibbons. 2026. From Catesby’s Land Frog to Anaxyrus terrestris: Reevaluating the Type Specimen of the Southern Toad. Bibliotheca Herpetologica 20(2):13–20.

The Southern Toad, Anaxyrus terrestris (Bonnaterre, 1789), is an abundant anuran in the coastal plains of the southeastern United States. Their short limbs and thick, warty skin make them well adapted to a terrestrial lifestyle, earning them their species name. Yet, the taxonomic origin of the epithet presents problems.

Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre officially described the species Rana terrestris in 1789. His official description referenced an account and illustration titled “Rana terrestris” published by Mark Catesby in Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands (Vol. 2, Part 9, Plate 69). Bonnaterre’s use of Catesby’s account designated it the type specimen for Anaxyrus terrestris, making Catesby’s “Rana terrestris” the definitive reference for this species.

Type specimens are usually museum or herbarium specimens, but in some cases, naturalists’ illustrations serve this purpose, including many of Catesby’s depictions. In most cases, Catesby’s accounts provide enough detail to serve effectively as type specimens, but the ambiguous nature of “Rana terrestris” is problematic and calls into question its suitability for serving this role. Arguably, “Rana terrestris” inaccurately represents Anaxyrus terrestris and likely depicts a different species altogether. We do not intend to suggest a name change for the species but aim to highlight the flaws in Catesby’s print as representative of Anaxyrus terrestris and discuss the nuances of referencing historical naturalist accounts.

Bibliotheca Herpetologica 20(1)

Lambertz, M. 2026. An Early Contribution to Chelonian Anatomy by Johannes Müller (1801–1858): The Drawings for the Zootomical Dissertation of Carl August Mohring (1799–1838) on the Osteology of Trionyx aegyptiacus from 1824. Bibliotheca Herpetologica 20(1):1–12.

Johannes Müller (1801–1858) undertook a study visit in Berlin with Karl Asmund Rudolphi (1771–1832) right after defending his dissertation during the early 1820s. During that time he worked on various subjects but did not publish any of it himself. However, he contributed the drawings for the plates that accompanied the dissertation of Carl August Mohring (1799–1838) in 1824. Mohring had received the task to describe the osteology of Trionyx triunguis, which was referred to as “Trionyx aegyptiacus”, and a specimen of which had been recently acquired for the anatomical-zootomical museum by Rudolphi. Friedrich Wilhelm Hemprich (1796–1825) and Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1795–1876) were at that time collecting in Egypt and Arabia and in friendly contact with Rudolphi, making them a likely source of origin for the specimen, which today has to be considered lost. Müller provided drawings of the skull in various views, and also of the entire articulated skeleton. These illustrations were at that time the most detailed representations of the anatomy of a trionychid turtle published. For Müller, these were his first contributions to comparative anatomy that actually surfaced in print.

Wahlgreniana volume 4: On Amphibians and Reptiles in Linnaeus’s Students’ Dissertation

Just published: 

Lavilla, Esteban O. 2026. On Amphibians and Reptiles in Linnaeus’s Students’ Dissertations. International Society for the History and Bibliography of Herpetology, Salt Lake City, Utah, vi, 136 pages.

Linnaeus oversaw 185 doctoral dissertations throughout his career. These theses, often overlooked in the vast Linnaean legacy, offer valuable insights into the scientific understanding of amphibians and reptiles during the 18th century.

Two of these theses, Siren lacertina and De Morsura serpentum, deal with amphibians and reptiles as central topics. Another three, Amphibia Gyllenborgiana, Museum Adolpho-Friedericianum, and Surinamensia Grilliana, describe collections that were duly donated to the University, all of which have a significant component of Amphibia in the Linnaean sense. Two more, Lignum colubrinum and Radix senega, deal with the identification and uses of supposed antivenins of vegetal origin. In addition to these seven, amphibians and reptiles were occasionally mentioned in another 25 dissertations.

This volume contains English translations of seven complete dissertations, plus the herpetological portions of twenty-five additional dissertations. The 466 added footnotes and an the extensive bibliography, place these translations in their original context and makes them accessible to the modern reader.

Available in Hardcover (ISBN: 979-8-218-88776-6) for $40 ($24 for ISHBH members), plus postage.

With this volume of Wahlgreniana, each volume will be published simultaneously in print and Open Access. An open access edition of this volume is available at: https://archive.org/details/linnaeuss-student-dissertations 

Print copies may be ordered through www.ISHBH.com or email Editor@ISHBH.com 

Beyond Herpetological Academics

 Just Published:

Dodd, Jr., C. Kenneth. 2026. Beyond Herpetological Academics: History, Biographies, Memoirs, Outreach, and Other Interests. Privately Published, Gainesville, Florida, 37 pages.

You might think research scientists had enough to do with planning, conducting, analyzing, and writing up the results of research projects, teaching, public service, seminars and conferences, and seemingly endless administrative duties, not to mention a home life, to keep them occupied. Despite these responsibilities, however, many professional scientists have gone beyond the workplace to write about the history of their profession or specialty, biographies of colleagues past and present, memoirs of their own careers and adventures, popular outreach print media, and other subjects that have interested them that may be far from herpetology, natural history or even outside the realms of science. To date, there has not been a compilation of these efforts, and the following bibliography seeks to recognize the efforts of herpetologists, regardless of their professional affiliation, in these often related but extracurricular undertakings. 

 

Available Open Access at: https://archive.org/details/beyond-academics-2nd-edition-revised 

 

Wahlgreniana Series

The Wahlgreniana book series is now available open access through the Internet Archive.

Search for "Wahlgreniana" to find all of the books published in this series (https://archive.org/search?query=wahlgreniana)

 So far the series contains:

Wahlgreniana 1

Bour, Roger and Josef F. Schmidtler. 2022. Nikolaus Michael Oppel’s Drawings, Watercolors, and Engravings 3. Crocodiles (1807–1817): A comparative study of some historical and recent crocodile illustrations. ISHBH, Salt Lake City, x, 184 p.

Wahlgreniana 2

Dodd, C. Kenneth, Jr. 2022. Bibliography of the Anurans of the United States and Canada. Version 3. Part 1: 1698–2012. Part 2:  2013-2021. ISHBH, Salt Lake City, x, 282 p.

Wahlgreniana 3

Moriarty, John J. and Aaron M. Bauer. 2024. State and Provincial Amphibian and Reptile Publications for the United States and Canada, Second Edition. ISHBH, Salt Lake City, vi, 85 p.

In addition to Wahlgreniana, the Internet Archive is a repository for all ISHBH publications. Each paper, as well as the complete journal volumes are uploaded to the Internet Archive as they are published. This ensures the lasting availability of these publications in case anything were to happen to the ISHBH website. This also enhances the ability to fins ISHBH publications through internet searches.

All volumes of Wahlgreniana remain available in hard copy through the society and various online bookstores. Each volume of the journal will continue to be printed and distributed to members. Back issues of many volumes are also available for purchase.

Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(12)

Koch, A. 2025. Carl Hagenbeck’s Trade in Reptiles, His Historical Reptile Exhibitions, and His Herpetological Legacy Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(12):132–150.

The name of Carl Hagenbeck is commonly linked to the Hamburg Zoo, a circus, the large-scale animal trade, and the controversial historical ethnological shows, so-called human zoos or Völkerschauen. All these enterprises were involved with animals, whether they were wild or domestic. Although reptiles, and particularly amphibians, appear to have played no major role in Carl Hagenbeck’s international endeavors, this paper aims to explore his historical impact on herpetologists, reptile keepers, and the public, particularly in German-speaking countries. I will demonstrate that historical studies of herpetology and herpetoculture have neglected Carl Hagenbeck’s firm and will reveal the significant role that large reptile species, such as crocodiles, alligators, and giant snakes played in his various endeavors, but especially in his reptile exhibitions, which have received little attention from historians and herpetologists to date. Therefore, Carl Hagenbeck’s influence on scientists, animal keepers, and the general public deserves greater recognition.

Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(11)

Dodd, C. K. Jr. 2025. A Note on Carolina Frog Farms, Columbus County, North Carolina, USA. Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(11):128–131.

In the mid-1950s, Douglas Reynolds of Baltimore, Maryland, had the idea of developing a frog farm industry at his family’s farm in Old Dock, Columbus County, North Carolina. Reynolds was in the U.S. Navy in World War II where he was an electrician, an occupation he followed in Baltimore. He was seriously injured in an electrical accident that hospitalized him for nearly a year. While recovering, he became friends with a physician named Leonard McGlothlin who convinced him to look into frog farming as a way to supply American demands for frog’s legs. McGlothlin traveled with Reynolds to the Reynolds’ family farm and after seeing the farm, suggested that frog farming might be suitable in eastern North Carolina. To Reynolds, it seemed like a way to supplement the farm income.

After several years, Reynolds was able to dig his first one-acre pond. He imported his first bullfrogs from New Orleans. Combined with bullfrogs from Arkansas, he claimed to have developed a new breed of bullfrog, the “Giant Food Frog.” His father, Henry Earl Reynolds, and two assistants ran the farm, named Carolina Frog Farms, which he supervised by flying back and forth from Baltimore to North Carolina in his private plane. No information could be found on the fate of the Carolina Frog Farms, how long it operated, or how successful or unsuccessful it was. Douglas Reynolds never returned to live in Old Dock, and his father died in December 1960 perhaps ending the younger Douglas’ incentive to continue the enterprise.

In connection with the establishment of Carolina Frog Farms, Reynolds, in collaboration with others, published a book on frog farming in 1957 titled The Breeding of Giant Food Frogs. In terms of frog-farming publications, The Breeding of Giant Food Frogs is certainly one of the most professionally produced books. Today, however, both the book and Carolina Frog Farms are little-known and nearly lost to memory. The only apparent historic evidence of the farm’s existence is this small book on how to construct a frog farm and raise bullfrogs and some period newspaper articles. The image below is from p.77 and shows Douglas Reynolds’ sister Edna (Peggy) Worrell holding American Bullfrogs at Carolina Frog Farms.

Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(10)

Bell, C. J., and S. Skwarcan. 2025. A Snake Icon in Industrial Advertising: Oldsmobile, the 39^th Fighter Squadron and Life Magazine in 1943. Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(10):122–127. 

Snakes, and especially venomous snakes, are well represented as icons on heraldic crests, emblems, patches and other insignia of the United States armed services. Their use may variously represent power, strength, speed, resiliency, tenacity, flexibility, and the danger a unit poses to its enemies. On 18 October 1943 readers of Life magazine encountered a striking, full-page, full-color advertisement dedicated to the “Cobra Cannoneers” featuring a prominently placed cobra rising above a cloud bank with mouth open and fangs exposed. The ad was dedicated to the 39^th Fighter Squadron of the U. S. Army Air Corps and simultaneously promoted the industrial productions of the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors in support of the United States war effort in World War II. The squadron was reactivated as the 39^th Tactical Reconnaissance Training Squadron in 1969. Apart from short service as a test squadron they remained a flying training unit since 1990 and are currently stationed at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas.

Throughout that history the cobra emblem was retained but it was modified in several ways. In the early design of the emblem the snake’s mouth is open, a red forked tongue extending between two exposed fangs. In later designs either two or four drops of venom are dripping from the fangs. A special ‘morale’ patch was issued during the COVID shutdown that featured a festive, holiday version of the emblem in which the cobra dons a Santa Claus hat and drips venom towards Santa’s sleigh and reindeer as they pass in front of the cloud bank below the cobra’s head.

It is clear from our preliminary exploration of military heraldry that snakes of various kinds are somewhat common in emblems and unit insignia of the armed services of the United States of America. The Oldsmobile advertisement in 1943 is special because it brought this example of reptilian iconography to the attention of a broad audience in the readership of Life Magazine, one of the prominent magazines of the time in the United States.

Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(9)

Lavilla, E. O. 2025. Science, Myth, and Otherness: Herpetological Readings of Linnaeus’s Lapland Journal. Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(9):116–121.

After a turbulent beginning to the 18th century—marked by wars, famine, plague, and foreign invasions—Sweden began a slow process of reconstruction in 1721. It was in this context that Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) emerged, a figure who would not only reshape natural science but also wield considerable influence on Swedish economic policy well into the 1770s. Linnaeus promoted an innovative idea for the time: to reduce imports by identifying and acclimatizing useful plants from abroad, making them grow in the harsher environments of the Baltic states.

To achieve this goal, Linnaeus and his select group of students undertook scientific expeditions both in Sweden and across the globe. Their twin objectives were to understand the country’s ecology and to collect seeds and plants suitable for cultivation. These journeys also produced a wealth of information on plants, animals, minerals and human societies from all corners of the world, meticulously recorded under Linnaeus’s guidance.

Between 1732 and 1749, Linnaeus embarked on five major journeys through Sweden: to Lapland (1732), Dalarna (1734), the Baltic islands of Öland and Gotland (1741), Västergötland (1746), and Scania (1749). This article focuses solely on the 1732 Lapland expedition—Linnaeus’s first and most iconic journey. It marked the transformation of the student into a field naturalist and left a lasting imprint on his scientific development. The content of this article is based on the manuscript of the Iter Lapponicum held at the Linnean Society of London in 1732 and on the transcription prepared by Ewald Ährling in 1889.

Just Published — Now Available

ISHBH contributed to the publication this, the 35th volume in the Contributions to Herpetology series published by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. As a result ISHBH has a limited number of copies available for sale: ISHBH members $81.00 (plus postage), non-members $90.00 (plus postage). 

Savage, Jay M., Marcus Sparreboom and Gregory K. Pregill. 2025. The Dutch Indies Commission and the Herpetological Legacy of Heinrich Boie (1794–1827). SSAR, Villanova, xiv, 360 p. (7). Clothbound. $90 (ISHBH members $81) 

 Although never published, Heinrich Boie’s Erpétologie de Java, written two centuries ago, was one of the most influential herpetological works of the 19th century. Boie’s manuscript served as the basis for many descriptions of amphibians and reptiles published between the 1820s and 1850s by his brother Friedrich and leading herpetologists of the early 19th century like Schlegel, Fitzinger, Tschudi, Gravenhorst and Wagler. 

In this volume, Jay Savage, Marcus (Max) Sparreboom, and Gregory Pregill place Boie and his work in the context of The Natural History Commission of the Netherlands Indies — the larger scientific endeavour in which Boie was a participant — review Boie’s surviving manuscript text and accompanying plates housed in the archives of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, and trace Boie’s herpetological legacy through the generation of authors who were influenced by his work. The authorship of names attributed to Boie and the nomenclatural, taxonomic, and bibliographic details of the works that referenced Erpétologie de Java are also critically evaluated in a series of 16 appendices, resolving many nomenclatural issues relating to Southeast Asian reptiles and amphibians.

Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(8)

Dodd, C. K. Jr. 2025. Herpetology in the Report of the First Scientific Expedition to Manchuokuo. Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(8):108–115.

In 1931, the Empire of Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria and in 1932 proclaimed the puppet state of Manchuokuo (spelled Manchukuo in the West). In 1933, they invaded the Chinese province of Jehol, formerly known as Rehe, to form a buffer zone between China and the puppet state of Manchuokuo. The First Scientific Expedition to Manchuokuo (FSEM) occurred during the transition from Han Chinese rule to Japanese rule, when Imperial Japan was interested in demonstrating to the world it could create a modern multi-ethnic Pan-Asian state. The FSEM centered its activities in Jehol between Chifeng, Chaoyang, and Chengde, the largest cities at the time, with occasional forays north or south of these cities, such as to the wetlands along the Chaogedu’er River in what is today the Yudaokou Grassland Forest Scenic Park.

The FSEM reported six species of amphibians and 10 species of reptiles from Jehol. No salamanders were found. The frogs Bombina orientalis, Dryophytes japonicus, and Kaloula borealis are now known to be present but were not observed. One lizard, Scincella modesta, and three snakes, Euprepiophis mandarinus, Oocatochus rufodorsatus, Orientocoluber spinalis, also were not recorded, although they are present on the western side of the Bohai Sea. No fossil amphibians or reptiles were found based on the summer fieldwork in northern Manchuokuo in 1933, but it was later noted that fossils of Pelodiscus maackii were found in Quaternary deposits near where Tokunaga had worked.

Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(7)

Bauer, A. M. 2025. Testudo atlas Barton, 1806, a long-forgotten synonym of the Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) and a senior secondary homonym of the largest tortoise that ever lived. Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(7):101–107.

Benjamin Smith Barton (1766–1815) was based in Philadelphia, the cultural and intellectual hub of the United States at the turn of the 19^th century. Although he was plagued by unfinished projects, chronic debt, and was considered by some ambitious, untalented and unqualified (e.g., he never received the medical degree he claimed to have), Barton nonetheless achieved success and renown, holding positions of prestige and respect in institutions and societies in the United States and enjoying a positive reputation in Europe, where he had established a network of correspondents.

Barton was prolific, writing on medical topics and ethnography as well as natural history. In the field of herpetology his main contributions were on salamanders, rattlesnakes, and the alligator. Many of his papers were addressed to European colleagues and published in the form of letters to particular scientists. For example, his 1808 monograph on Siren was addressed to the philologist Johann Gottlob Schneider (1750–1822), although it was apparently never sent to him. However, beyond his more noteworthy contributions on amphibians and reptiles, Barton also published smaller notes, largely unnoticed by later workers, some of which proposed new names. For example, in 1807 Barton erected three new names for species of Cryptobranchus in The Philadelphia Medical and Physical Journal, a periodical that he founded and edited. This paper had apparently been cited only once until it was recently rediscovered. I here provide a brief discussion of another Barton herpetological contribution, the description of the Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus), that seems to have escaped detection for more than 200 years.

Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(6)

Jacobs, H. J., and G. M. Shea. 2025. The Natuurkundige Commissie on New Guinea in 1828. II. Serpentes (Colubridae, Elapidae, Typhlopidae) and Sauria (Agamidae, Dibamidae, Gekkonidae, Varanidae). Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19(6):57–100.

The second Dutch Natuurkundige Commissie spent nearly twelve years in the Dutch East Indies. Most of the scientists died during the expedition, with only Salomon Müller returning to the Netherlands with the collections. The progressive loss of the senior scientists, Boie and Macklot, resulted in Müller moving up the ranks of seniority and taking progressively greater responsibility for the collection and documentation of the zoological collections. The recent release online of the archival manuscript material from this expedition has allowed a better understanding of the extent of their collections. In this second part of our study of the archival material relating to the expedition’s voyage to New Guinea in 1828, we document and translate the material relating to the eleven species of snakes and non-scincid lizards: Psamophis chlorogastra Müll. and Elaps oculiferus Müll., Dendrophis capistratus Müll., Dipsas lacrÿmans Müll., Tropidonotus picturatus Müll., Acontias polygrammicus Müll., Acontias coecus Cuvier, Calotes megapogon Müll., Hemidactylus baliatus Müll., Gonyodactylus Boiei Müll., and Varanus prasinus Mull., as Müller chose to call them. We place these descriptions and images in the context of the state of knowledge of the reptile fauna at the time of the Natuurkundige Commissie, as well as the contributions they made to progressing knowledge of the region’s herpetofauna, often involving formal publication of new taxa by Hermann Schlegel in Leiden and Duméril and Bibron in Paris, among others.