r011g326's blog

Second year KU Herpetology student Carl Hutter has just been awarded a Rosemary Grant Graduate Student Research Award from the Society for the Study of Evolution. This $2500 award will help further Carl's work on the systematics of Madagascan frogs. Congratulations to Carl!

We are pleased to announce that all attendees of SSAR 2015 will receive an 11-by-15–inch commemorative poster featuring a spectacular new watercolor of a male collared lizard by natural history artist David M. Dennis. Dennis's artwork is well-known to herpetologists and has been reproduced in many books including Bill Duellman's "Hylid Frogs of Middle America." The posters are high quality printings on card stock and are laminated for durability. Posters will be available at registration and throughout the meeting to all registered attendees.

The May 15 deadline for submitting titles and abstracts for oral presentations and posters for SSAR 2015 is now only one week away!  We have already received a large number of submissions, so be sure to submit as soon as possible to ensure that we don't run out of space for your presentation. If you are a student, we encourage you to consider signing up for one of the student presentation competitions sponsored by SSAR. The option to join these competitions is available via the abstract submission portal.

The previously scheduled tours of the eastern Kansas field sites of legendary snake ecologist Henry Fitch on the afternoon of Thursday, July 30 have already filled to capacity. We were pleased with the outpouring of enthusiasm for this very special SSAR 2015 event and are now pleased to announce that George Pisani has agreed to open up four additional Fitch Reserve tour time slots at 9:00 and 2:00 pm, on both Friday and Saturday; with transportation provided from the meeting venue. Sign up now by contacting the conference organizers via e-mail (ssar2015@ku.edu)!

We are still early in the registration process, but space in all of our tours and field trips is filling quickly. We are offering tours of KU Herpetology and a field trip to the Henry Fitch Natural HIstory Reserve on the afternoon of the meetings' first day (Thursday, July 30th) and a tour of Allen Press on the day after the meeting (Monday, August 3rd). Capacity for all of these trips is limited due to space and transportation issue, and all of them are already at least half full. Be sure to sign up soon if you want to go on a tour or field trip! You can book a spot in any on of these trips or tours at the time of registration. If you are already registered and would like to book a spot on one of the trips please contact the conference coordinators via e-mail (ssar2015@ku.edu).

SSAR 2015 will close with an outdoor picnic in a field directly behind the main meeting venue and adjacent to KU's football stadium. This location is beautiful and centrally located. In addition to easy access to the main meeting venue and nearby lodging (e.g., The Oread Hotel and the GSP Dormitories), the picnic location also features several turtle ponds and a small forested area. The price of a picnic ticket will get you admission to the picnic tents as well as two drink tickets and a full buffet. The picnic option is very popular among early registrants, so we urge everyone to get a ticket while you still can. Due the events popularity and the need to confirm total attendance prior to the day of the event, picnic tickets must be purchased in advance (ideally at the time of registration) and will not be available on-site after the meeting begins.

We previously noted that any students are eligible for the student member rate ($160) so long as they are a member of one of the three major North American herpetological societies (SSAR, HL, ASIH), or any other international, national, or regional herpetological society. We also previously noted that we would require written documentation of such membership. However, we have now eliminated the requirement that students provide this written documentation. We trust you. If you are a student and a member of any herpetological society you are welcome to register at the student member rate without the need to provide written documentation. We reserve the right to later confirm membership and provide registrants with renewal reminders where appropriate.

Led by undergraduate collections assistant Matt Buehler, other undergraduate help remove beetles and their frass from a python skin. A recent inspection of the KU Herpetology dry specimen holdings indicated that several specimens were infested with descructive dermestid beetles. The specimens in danger are being frozen to kill all the beetles and cleaned by hand.

Undergraduate herpetology collections assistants Rooney and Matt with two newly accessioned snakes from the Philippines. On the left is Rooney with a burmese python (the longest non-venemous snake in the world) and on the right is Matt with a king cobra (the longest venemous snake in the world).

Graduate student Scott Travers has just returned from a very successful expedition to the Solomon Islands. New material acquired during his trip includes two of the most spectacular lizards in the world: the prehensile tailed skink (Corucia zebrata) and a giant crocodile skink (Tribolonotus).