The sixth edition of the Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America (Crother, 2008, SSAR Herpetological Circular 37:1–84) is the “Official Names List” for the three major North American herpetological societies. Although this publication is intended to aid users of scientific and common names, we argue that current practices for authoring, reviewing, and using this list, in some cases, generate taxonomic chaos. By this we mean that users are uncertain of which name to use and/or the rationale for using a particular name, and efficient communication is hindered by this confusion. Most importantly, through inadequate and inconsistent review of this list, the societies have endorsed unnecessary and arbitrary name changes and are uncritically promoting individual taxonomic viewpoints when a clear choice on the most appropriate name has not been reached by the community. This problem is exemplified by North American anurans for which 57 of the 100 species have scientific names (i.e., genus-species combinations) different from the previous version of the list. Forty-eight of these new combinations result from changes to the genus name, and there is controversy over the proposed genus names for at least 43 of these. Despite this controversy and that a stated goal of the list is to report on such controversies, the alternative names are not discussed. As a result, for these taxa, the list fails to provide adequate information for users to make informed decisions on name usage. Here, we examine the role of such lists in taxonomy. Although we specifically focus on the arbitrary changes to the names of North American Bufo and Rana, the continuation of current practices for generating the list will promote instability and taxonomic confusion on a broader scale. We conclude with recommendations for improving the utility of such lists and for avoiding unnecessary taxonomic chaos.

Standard names lists of the North American herpetofauna have been published since 1882, with the newest list published in 2008. The most recent list was criticized by Pauly et al. in this issue's Points of View forum. Specifically, Pauly et al. question the function and review process of such a list, the stability of scientific names, and the authority of the list, with an unfavorable conclusion for those involved in authoring the list. I provide counter arguments to the controversial points raised by Pauly et al. and pose the question: which is a greater impediment to taxonomic freedom of scientific names, imposed taxonomic stability or the nonexistent authority attributed to the list?

The Point of View by Gregory Pauly, David Hillis, and David Cannatella misrepresents the motives and activities of the anuran subcommittee of the Scientific and Standard English Names Committee, contains a number of misleading statements, omits evidence and references to critical literature that have already rejected or superseded their positions, and cloaks the limitations of their nomenclatural approach in ambiguous language. Their Point of View is not about promoting transparency in the process of constructing the English Names list, assuring that its taxonomy is adequately reviewed, or promoting nomenclatural stability in any global sense. Rather, their Point of View focuses in large part on a single publication, The Amphibian Tree of Life, which is formally unrelated to the Standard English Names List, and promotes an approach to nomenclature mistakenly asserted by them to be compatible with both the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and one of its competitors, the PhyloCode.

Physical aspects of anurans constrain sound production, and noisy habitats pose a challenge to signal recognition and detection. Habitat acoustics impose selection on anuran calls within the phylogenetic and morphological constraints of the vocal apparatus of senders and the auditory system of receivers. Visual displays and alerting calls can be used as alternative or additional signal strategies to overcome these problems. In this study, we investigated sound pressure levels and spectral features of calls of the ranid rock-skipper frog Staurois latopalmatus, exclusively found at waterfalls of Bornean streams. A total of 176 calls and waterfall recordings were analyzed to characterize acoustic signals and environmental noise. To obtain information on possible signal adaptations, dominant frequency and snout–vent length of 75 ranid species were collected from the literature and compared to our findings. Distributions along acoustically characterized rapids and waterfalls within a 1-km long river transect showed that S. latopalmatus exclusively occurs in noisy habitats. Two different call types could be distinguished in S. latopalmatus: a short, single-note call and a long, multi-note call. Both calls had a lower sound pressure than the noise produced by waterfalls. The dominant frequency analyses revealed that the signal-to-noise ratio can be maximized within high frequency bands around 5 kHz. Correlations of frequency versus body size in ranids indicated that S. latopalmatus has higher call frequencies than predicted by body size, suggesting acoustic adaptation to environmental noise. We conclude that acoustic signal efficiency in environments with low-frequency dominated noise can only be attained through high frequency calls. The single-note call is interpreted as an alerting signal directing the receiver's attention to a subsequent visual signal. The multi-note call is interpreted as a graded aggressive call. We suggest that microhabitat characteristics represent strong selective pressures on the form of acoustic signals. Short calls with a narrow frequency band could reflect a trade-off among detectabilty, sound propagation and discrimination between individuals.

Acoustic signals are constrained by background noise. Visual signals are an alternative or complementary communication mode in noisy habitats and play a fundamental role in anuran communication. The Bornean rock-skipper frog, Staurois latopalmatus, is a diurnal species living along fast-flowing streams and waterfalls. Males perform foot-flagging displays with either one or two legs to advertise their readiness to defend their territories. In quantitative video analyses of visual displays during 14 male-male agonistic interactions, totaling 106 minutes, foot flagging performed in the direction of the interacting male was the most common display and was performed at a higher rate than advertisement calls. According to a dyadic transition matrix, foot flagging was preceded by foot-flagging displays of interacting males. Advertisement calls were temporally coupled with foot flaggings and act as introductory components to direct the receiver's attention to the subsequent visual display. We conclude that foot flagging acts as a spacing mechanism and may have resulted from the ritualization of agonistic male behavior to minimize physical attacks.

Competition between closely related species can affect behavioral interactions. Intense interspecific competition may favor the evolution of elevated levels of interspecific aggression, termed alpha selection. Salamanders of the genus Plethodon exhibit territorial aggression, and in some cases interference mechanisms may have evolved under the process of alpha selection. Throughout Ohio, two closely related and ecologically similar species of salamander, Plethodon cinereus (red-backed salamander) and P. electromorphus (northern ravine salamander), occur in similar habitats and can be found in sympatry. However, the occurrence of syntopic areas is infrequent compared to the range overlap of each species and seems to be limited by factors other than broad geographic factors. Here, we used salamanders from allopatric and sympatric locations to examine the behavior of both species toward interspecific intruders. We hypothesized that animals in sympatry would exhibit heightened aggression compared to salamanders from allopatric areas. We found support for this hypothesis, indicating that intense interference competition may occur between P. cinereus and P. electromorphus in sympatry. Further, our results are consistent with the hypothesis of alpha selection at the level of behavioral aggression. These results suggest that sympatry may represent an unstable equilibrium where neither species can gain a competitive advantage.

We examined habitat use in a population of synurbic watersnakes with equal access to urban and natural habitats to test the hypotheses that species occupy urban environments either by (1) restricting their activities to any remaining natural areas, or (2) capitalizing on, instead of avoiding, artificial features. For three years we radio-tracked 50 northern watersnakes (Nerodia sipedon) living in a 40-ha area along 2 km of a city stream in Pennsylvania (USA). Half the study site is urbanized (municipal park and an active industrial area), and half is a relatively natural conservation area. Habitats selected by snakes in the two areas were significantly different: in the natural half, snakes occupied areas with a wide riparian zone and dense canopy cover; in the urban half, they frequently used artificial substrates and were in close proximity to people. Snakes were relocated 2520 times, yet were found at only 113 sites. Frequently reused sites were mostly artificial, including piles of scrap metal or concrete, holes in a railroad bed adjacent to the stream, and dead evergreen trees secured into the stream bank to combat erosion. Urban and natural areas were approximately equal in area and stream length, and had similar numbers of snake-selected sites (64 urban, 49 natural), but urban sites were used by more snakes. Of sites used by more than five different snakes, 22 of 26 were in the urban area. Snakes were found within 5 m of a tagged conspecific at 38% of urban area relocations compared to 15% of natural area relocations. These data suggest that anthropogenic structures in urban environments provide conditions (concealment, thermal) that offset dangers posed by closer proximity to people.

Drymarchon couperi (eastern indigo snake) has experienced population declines across its range primarily as a result of extensive habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation. Conservation efforts for D. couperi have been hindered, in part, because of informational gaps regarding the species, including a lack of data on population ecology and estimates of demographic parameters such as survival. We conducted a 2-year radiotelemetry study of D. couperi on Fort Stewart Military Reservation and adjacent private lands located in southeastern Georgia to assess individual characteristics associated with probability of survival. We used known-fate modeling to estimate survival, and an information-theoretic approach, based on a priori hypotheses, to examine intraspecific differences in survival probabilities relative to individual covariates (sex, size, size standardized by sex, and overwintering location). Annual survival in 2003 and 2004 was 0.89 (95% CI  =  0.73–0.97, n  =  25) and 0.72 (95% CI  =  0.52–0.86; n  =  27), respectively. Results indicated that body size, standardized by sex, was the most important covariate determining survival of adult D. couperi, suggesting lower survival for larger individuals within each sex. We are uncertain of the mechanisms underlying this result, but possibilities may include greater resource needs for larger individuals within each sex, necessitating larger or more frequent movements, or a population with older individuals. Our results may also have been influenced by analysis limitations because of sample size, other sources of individual variation, or environmental conditions.

We examined whether embryos of the green frog (Rana clamitans) would adaptively alter hatching times in the presence of both egg predators (the crayfish Procambarus nigrocinctus) and tadpole predators (the dragon nymph Anax junius). Under laboratory conditions, we exposed eggs with developing embryos to four experimental treatments that varied in the type of caged predator: egg predator only, tadpole predator only, both predators together, or no predator. As predicted, the presence of an egg predator caused a significant reduction in time to hatching. However, contrary to our prediction, eggs also hatched sooner in the presence of a tadpole predator. Moreover, there was no significant interaction between the effects of the two predators and thus no evidence that R. clamitans embryos can distinguish between predator types. We also found significantly lower hatching success in the presence of an egg predator, despite the fact that the predator did not have direct contact with the eggs. These results suggest adaptive early and delayed hatching do not co-occur in this species with this particular predator regime.

Gopher tortoises spend most of their time in burrows from which they emerge to forage and perform behaviors such as courtship and mating. Previous literature is divided regarding the mating system of this species; some assert that gopher tortoises conform to female defense polygyny, and others assert that scramble competition polygyny is more likely. Here, telemetry data were used to record the frequency with which pairs of tortoises shared burrows and the frequency with which they apparently chased each other from burrows. Additionally, telemetry locations were used to estimate patterns of dispersion of individuals. If gopher tortoises conformed to female defense polygyny, then males should have: (1) moved frequently to share burrows with females, (2) rarely shared burrows with males, (3) infrequently displaced females from burrows, and (4) frequently displaced males from burrows. Similarly, females should have: (1) infrequently moved to share burrows with either sex, and (2) infrequently chased either sex. Also, females should have shown an aggregated dispersion relative to other females. On the contrary, we found that males moved equally frequently to share burrows with adults of both sexes and chased females from burrows more frequently than they chased other males. Females moved more frequently to share burrows with males than with females and chased males more often than they chased other females. Females did not have an aggregated pattern of dispersion relative to other females. These data were most consistent with scramble competition polygyny.

Basic information, such as population size and density, is needed for conservation and management of many species, especially threatened species. Thus, well-designed population monitoring programs that use appropriate methods for estimating parameters of interest, including density and survival, are needed as well. Mark-recapture and distance-sampling are established methods for estimating density in wildlife surveys. The sand dune lizard (Liolaemus multimaculatus) is an endemic and vulnerable species that inhabits dune habitats in Argentina. At present, however, there are no accurate estimates of density of this species and no established monitoring programs. The objectives of this study were (1) to test the use of mark-recapture and distance-sampling methods and (2) to estimate density of this species in Mar Chiquita Reserve (37° 37′ S–57° 16′ W), an important area for the protection of this species. For distance-sampling surveys, we used a systematic line-transect design; for mark-recapture sampling, we performed exhaustive surveys and captured, marked, and recaptured lizards manually. Based on distance-sampling, populations were estimated at 3.6 and 5.4 individuals per ha in 2007 and 2008, respectively; corresponding estimates based on mark-recapture data were 5.2 and 4.1 individuals per ha in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Detection probabilities were 0.23 in both 2007 and 2008 distance-sampling analyses and capture probabilities were 0.02 and 0.05 in 2007 and 2008 mark-recapture analyses. Based on these estimates, the Mar Chiquita Reserve contains a population of at least 10,000 individuals. Both methods were adequate for estimating populations of sand dune lizards, given the facility with which individuals can be detected and captured. The distance-sampling method requires less effort, but the mark-recapture method allows estimates of survival as well as density. Results of this work provide the baseline for developing a monitoring program for this lizard, and we suggest that the distance-sampling method be used to monitor all populations of sand dune lizard.