Update for HerpDistributionSA available
The android app has been updated with the latest available data and can be found at https://www.facebook.com/HerpDistributionSA
The android app has been updated with the latest available data and can be found at https://www.facebook.com/HerpDistributionSA
This is the last few days to go out and contribute to the Find your Frog project! The project only accepts observations from March so be sure to go out frogging soon.
The South African Frog Atlas is being updated! We need your help by reporting your frog sightings. By better understanding where species are, we are better able to protect them and direct conservation efforts to where they are needed most. The 'Find your Frog’ Bioblitz will be accepting contributions during March. Photograph them, upload the details here and share your records to social media using #FindYourFrog you could win a R1000 & other spot froggy prizes.
New species from Swaziland, Smaug swazicus plus a new diagnostic key, check it out:
Bates MF, Stanley EL. 2020. A taxonomic revision of the south-eastern dragon lizards of the Smaug warreni (Boulenger) species complex in southern Africa, with the description of a new species (Squamata: Cordylidae) PeerJ 8:e8526 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8526
This paper on the distribution of Kinixys spekii that uses and cites iNaturalist data.
"Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are relatively unknown in terms of their herpetological diversity. Based on specimens collected in the Congolese region of the Katanga and the northeast of Angola during the first decades of the twentieth century, de Witte and Laurent independently suggested, based on morphological and coloration differences, that populations of T. megalura of these regions could belong a new "race". We compared specimens of T. megalura (including the type specimens of T. megalura and T. massaiana) with Angolan and Katangan museum specimens as well as newly collected specimens from Angola. Coloration pattern and morphological characters, in combination with substantial divergence in the 16S mitochondrial gene, confirm the distinctiveness of the west Central African form, and it is here described as a new species. Data regarding its natural history, ecology and global distribution are presented."
A recent publication that incorporates iNaturalist data. Read it here:
https://biotaxa.org/hn/article/view/46230/47319
Just wanted to share a graph of the records. We seem to be on an all time high upload rate for both frogs and reptiles, but this doesn't seem to be increasing. We averaged 316 reptile and 55 frog records per month in 2018. Keep up the good work and let's try exceed this in 2019.
Here is a cumulative graph showing the records from the start of 2010.
I've been working on an android app (HerpDistributionSA) that is finally ready for use. It is an offline app that shows you what species occur in your immediate vicinity (DS or QDS) and lets you browse maps that have been generated from various sources (including iNaturalist).
Download and use the app here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-YXyl9fzyEhDYrCWKA-3UE5awxv-LjpQ
Or if you have an iphone (shame) or just use a pc, download the maps here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1S1EV-BCMmVreqVXTmd6Khm_xsVvbDzZK
The idea for this app was born on a fieldtrip in the Klein Karoo with Werner Conradie and Luke Kemp. We would often find interesting species in the field, but were unsure if they represented range extensions without the resources on hand. Loading the 2014 Reptile Atlas was a great offline resource, but lacked many recent records and excluded frogs. Louis frog app is also a great general resource, but the distribution maps are predictions based on confirmed records and lack the detail desirable for discovering new populations or range extensions. I decided that field herpetologists could do with a tool that can be used in the field to view species distribution ranges: but with no data requirements and up to date taxonomy and distribution records. After compiling some maps I realised that it would be useful and fun to show a list of species in the immediate vicinity of the user, so they do not need to trawl through maps to know which species have already been recorded. This was the main motivation for the app, as the maps could simply to loaded onto a device and viewed as images.
The other motivation I had for creating this app was during the Frog and Reptile IUCN RedList assessments (2015 and 2017). Locality data is gathered from all possible sources to help in the assessments, but often the data is in such poor condition that somebody has to go through the data and wade through coordinate typos, mis-identifications, georeferencing errors, low precision coordinates and really all sorts of problems. This data is then sent back to the sources which are requested to make the changes, however, these changes are often never made (for numerous reasons) and come the next assessment (or any scientific data request) the same data vetting is required, and using the same data from before is problematic for institutions that are constantly updating and correcting their databases (as they should be doing). I wanted to present the data that we currently have in our 'source' institutions, so that people can challenge data accuracy and put pressure on these institutions to get their data into shape, and not just left alone somewhere on a hard-drive. The great advantage of platforms such as iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/home) and Reptile/FrogMap (http://vmus.adu.org.za/vm_projects.php?) is that you can pick up an error and directly go verify it on their websites (using filters and searches) and correct it if necessary. Maybe other institutions will someday adopt a similar strategy by making their databases (such as specify) searchable online.
If you recall, the Forest Cobras have been revised and the only species in South Africa is N. subfulva. The name is now recognised on iNaturalist.
Help get this taxon properly identified by shifting your agreements.
Thanks!
See: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=113055&subview=grid&taxon_id=30489