o_19ko2dt161ng2j4e1tgnoqv1s45a.pdf

INDRANEIL DAS & NORSHAM YAAKOB (2007)
description of a number of new amphibian species by Kiew (1972; 1984a; 1984b; 1984c;
1987); Yong’s (1977) rediscovery of Rhacophorus robinsoni in Peninsular Malaysia; Berry
and Hendrickson’s (1963) description of Leptobrachium nigrops; sea snake inventories by
Lim and Balasingam (1969); Hendrickson’s (1966) account of the herpetofauna of Pulau
Tioman; Yong et al.’s (1988) report of direct development in the frog genus Philautus; Denzer
& Manthey’s (1991) checklist of the lizards of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, to mention
a few. Toward the end of the decade, a fine introductory work to the fauna of southeast Asia
was published by Manthey & Grossmann (1997). With German text and richly illustrated
with colour photos, the volume has a comprehensive species listing covering Sundaland (the
Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Bali and associated islands), and descriptions of
representatives from every genera of amphibians and reptiles.
Ecological research on turtles has been conducted by a number of colleagues in Peninsular
Malaysia. After the early observations on the natural history of the now endangered river
terrapin, Batagur baska, by Khan (1964), intensive studies, involving radio telemetry, were
conducted by Edward Owen Moll (1939–) of Eastern Illinois University (Moll 1980). The
same worker also reported on natural history and exploitation of other non-marine turtles of
West Malaysia (Dunson & Moll 1980; Moll 1976; 1978), and wrote a status paper on the
estuarine and marine turtles of Peninsular Malaysia (Siow & Moll 1981). In the wake of Moll,
studies on estuarine turtles, especially the painted terrapin, Callagur borneoensis, was
conducted as part of a doctoral thesis by Dionysius Shankar Kumar Sharma, staff of World
Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia—apart from internal reports, the results are not publicly
available. A valuable report by Sharma (1999) is available on the trade in tortoises and
freshwater turtles. Marine turtles of Peninsular Malaysia have been the subjects of intensive
studies in comparison, primarily by Chan Eng Heng, Professor of Zoology at Kolej Universiti
Sains dan Teknologi Malaysia. A number of scientific papers have resulted from these studies
(Chan & Liew 1996); 1999; Liew & Chan 2002; Tan et al. 2000).
Starting in 2001, Larry Lee Grismer (1955–) and collaborators, including the authors of this
essay, inventoried the Seribuat Archipelago, including its most famous island, Pulau Tioman,
producing island lists, new species descriptions and biogeographic analyses (Grismer 2005;
Grismer et al. 2006; Grismer & Das 2005; Grismer et al. 2003; Grismer et al. 2004a; Grismer
et al. 2004b; Grismer et al. 2004c; Grismer & Leong 2005; Grismer et al. 2002a; Grismer et
al. 2002b; Diaz et al. 2004; Grismer et al. 2006; Youmans & Grismer 2006). These studies are
on going, and have in recent years, been extended to the Malay Peninsula and Pulau Langkawi,
on the west coast (Grismer et al. 2006). Other important works from this century include
Vogel et al. (2004), who revised the pit vipers previously referred to Trimeresurus popeiorum
(at present, Popeia popeiorum), recognising several species within the group, David & Pauwels
(2004) and Norsham & Lim (2003), described new species of Macrocalamus. Another
colleague who made important contributions to regional herpetology is Tzi-Ming Leong (1972–
), formerly a graduate student with the National University of Singapore, and currently with
Singapore National Parks, who published extensively on the herpetofauna of the Malay
Peninsula and adjacent areas (e.g., Grismer & Leong 2005; Leong 2000; Leong & Grismer
2004; Leong & Lim 2003b; Leong et al. 2003), and especially on amphibians and their larvae
(e.g., Leong 2002; 2004; Leong & Lim 2003a; 2003c; Leong & Norsham 2002), as part of a
recent doctoral thesis. Jeet Sukumaran (1971–), formerly with World Wide Fund for Nature-
Malaysia and Universiti Malaya, and currently a graduate student at the University of Kansas,
produced several site inventories (Sukumaran 2003; Sukumaran et al. 2006), an as yet
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