Forgive me for not putting this on the literature forum

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The Real Snake Man
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Forgive me for not putting this on the literature forum

Post by The Real Snake Man »

But it gets a lot less traffic, and I thought the vast majority of us would be excited to see this:

http://www.amazon.com/Peterson-Reptiles ... th+America

It's not a surprise for some, but it is now available for pre-order. By the time of publication, it will have been 18 years since the last "3rd edition, expanded" came out in 1998. I was not able to find a corresponding 4th edition of Stebbins' book, but there may very well be one of those in the works as well.

-Gene
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The Real Snake Man
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Re: Forgive me for not putting this on the literature forum

Post by The Real Snake Man »

Just thought I'd add: I emailed Professor Powell today, and he said that the book will include all the taxonomic changes that have taken place over the last 18 years since the last edition, including some of the more "controversial" ones (like the getula split, P. ramspotti, P. slowinskii, P. alleghaniensis and the like, and others). I'd say that this book could set the new taxonomic precedent for the eastern/central regions. A lot of the big changes have remained disliked for over 15 years (I think the guttatus and obsoletus papers came out in the late '90s, and nobody really liked the common king or milk papers), I'd say largely because no widely-read books have come out since that endorsed them. I'm glad to see that what will likely be the most popular herp book on that side of the country in the coming years will have the new taxonomy. I think America's herpers might finally start to accept it. And really, I'm only talking about snakes. There's been a whole new genus of salamanders discovered, and lots of changes in sallie taxonomy since Petranka's book. And Lithobates kauffeldi! I'm super excited.

-Gene
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justinm
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Re: Forgive me for not putting this on the literature forum

Post by justinm »

I'm excited too. I had talked to Joe about this book many times and really wanted to see it come out while he was still with us. I'm sure Powell has carried the torch well, someone needed to. Joe kept telling me he had a very meaningful pile of papers related to this book and it just needed to be edited and put together, along with revisions of range maps.


BTW, I just pre-ordered this book.
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