Handbook of Larval Amphibians of the United States and Canada - by Ronald Altig & Roy W McDiarmid (Hardcover)

About the Book

Written by the foremost experts on larval amphibians, this is the first guide of its kind and will transform the fieldwork of scientists and fish and wildlife professionals.

Book Synopsis

Generously illustrated, this essential handbook for herpetologists, ecologists, and naturalists features comprehensive keys to eggs, embryos, salamander larvae, and tadpoles; species accounts; a glossary of terms; and an extensive bibliography. The taxonomic accounts include a summarization of the morphology and basic natural history, as well as an introduction to published information for each species. Tadpole mouthparts exhibit major characteristics used in identifications, and the book includes illustrations for a number of species. Color photographs of larvae of many species are also presented. Handbook of Larval Amphibians of the United States and Canada, written by the foremost experts on larval amphibians, is the first guide of its kind and will transform the fieldwork of scientists and fish and wildlife professionals.

Review Quotes

Altig and McDiarmid's Handbook of Larval Amphibians ... synthesizes the scattered literature on the eggs and larval forms of frogs and salamanders in the United States and Canada. In addition to providing an informative key organized into geographic sectorsthe authors present technical advice for how to properly prepare eggs for identification as well as descriptions and illustrations of the structures necessary for identification... With a bit of scanning and searching accounts of related speciesreaders with limited expertise in amphibian larvae should be able to correctly identify many of the larvae with the photographs and illustrations provided.

About the Author

Ronald Altig is Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences at Mississippi State University. Roy W. McDiarmid is a research zoologist and Curator of North American Amphibians and Reptiles at the National Museum of Natural History. He is the coauthor of books including Snake Species of the World and coeditor most recently of Reptile Biodiversity. Altig and McDiarmid are coeditors of Tadpoles: The Biology of Anuran Larvae. Aaron M. Bauer is Professor of Biology and Gerald M. Lemole Endowed Chair in Integrative Biology at Villanova University. He is the author of Geckos: The Animal Answer Guide.