The Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association has just introduced its latest addition to its series of field guides on the flora and fauna of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Reptiles & Amphibians of the Smokies, published this year, joins the other fine field guides: Wildflowers of the Smokies, Birds of the Smokies and Trees of the Smokies published by the Natural History Association. Each of these three earlier publications has won an “Excellence in Interpretation” award from the National Park Service. This attractive and informative guide is likely to follow suit.

The authors of Reptiles & Amphibians of the Smokies are Dr. Stephen G. Tilley, biology professor at Smith College in Northhampton, Mass., and Dr. James E. Huheey, biology professor at the University of Maryland. Both of these individuals have extensive experience researching the herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians) of the Southern Appalachians.

The book is designed to be an accurate, instructive and easy-to-use guide useful to the day hiker as well as the amateur herpetologist. It provides full color photographs of each species plus a listing of essential identifying characteristics as well as distribution and line drawings where needed to illuminate closely related species.

The park is home to 82 known species of herps (reptiles and amphibians.) There are seven species of turtles, nine lizards, 23 snakes, 30 salamanders and 13 toads and frogs. A convenient checklist is provided in the guide.

The 144-page guide includes 40 pages of introductory text which explain how to use the guide; describes the life histories of the different groups of herps; discusses where to find the different species; and gives an overview of the geography, geology and ecology of the Smokies that help create and nurture the incredible biodiversity of the region.

According to Tilley, DNA and other molecular testing has led to many recent classification changes in the world of herpetology. Reptiles & Amphibians of the Smokies uses the most recent nomenclature available and conforms to the “Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico” as published by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (2001.)

Tilley said he and Huheey began working on the project in January 1988 at the request of Steve Kemp of the National History Association. They finished checking the proofs in May.

According to Tilley, research by Ken Dodd of the U.S. Geological Survey and park personnel for the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (an ambitious project to classify all the living species in the park) led to the addition of three herps for the new guide: Mole Salamander, Cave Salamander and Eastern Spadefoot.

Tilley, who teaches a course on salamanders each year for the Smoky Mountain Field School and every other year for the Highlands Biological Station, said the herp population in the Southern Appalachians appears to be stable. He said the greatest threat to these populations in the park are habitat alteration caused by feral hogs, the decline of spruce-fir forests due to the balsam wooly adelgid and possibly acid precipitation.

The pocket-size guide fits easily into a pack, camera case,jacket or vest. Reptiles & Amphibians of the Smokies not only identifies the herps one might accidentally encounter while hiking or camping in the park, it also provides enough information on location, habitat and habits of these colorful but secretive creatures to encourage one to seek them out.

The book can be purchased at all visitor center bookstores or by calling the Natural History Association at 865.436.0120 or from the website www.SmokiesStore.org. The price is $9.95 plus tax.

 

Back to Top
The Smoky Mountain News