The Amphibia of Trinidad

Abstract

Compared with the other vertebrate groups the Amphibia of the island of Trinidad are relatively poorly known. There have been four surveys of the group, one in the last century and the others in the earlier part of the present. The earliest is that of MOLE & URICH (1894) in which twelve species are listed and a brief account given of the breeding habits of one species, and another species listed later in the same source. Approximately thirty years later Roux (1926) examined a collection made by KUGLER and reported fourteen species. A year later LUTZ (1927) visited the island and made a collection listing fourteen species giving brief notes on their distribution. Apart from these references, which are essentially nothing more than lists of species, there has been only one comprehensive study of the group, that of PARKER (1933) which was based on collections made by URICH and VESEY-FITZGERALD, in which twentythree species are listed and in which a key to identification is presented. A year later PARKER (1934) reviewed a minor taxonomic problem and described a new species of Gastrotheca from the island. There are, of course, scattered references to Trinidad amphibia in the literature falling generally into two groups, those dealing with limited collections or particular aspects of life histories of individual species and those in which particular groups of species are being reviewed. In the former category are the papers of BEEBE (1952), DITMARS (1941), GANS (1956), KENNY (1956 and 1966) and in the latter those of DUELLMAN (1956), DUNN (1949), FUNKHOUSER (1957), GALLARDO (1961 and 1965), PARKER (1937) and RIVERO (1961). There is no doubt that there is need for a general study and review of the Amphibia of the island. Since PARKER’S study was published, the names of nine of the twenty-three species have been altered in one way or another, some even at the generic level, while two hitherto unrecorded species have been found. Apart from this, however, there has been surprisingly little recorded on general life histories of the Trinidad species or of mainland representatives of these species. Admittedly some species are comparatively well known but these are mostly forms with peculiar life histories or habits, for example Pipa pipa, Pseudis paradoxus and possibly Bufo marinus, which would attract the attention of herpetologists. Nevertheless, the bulk of the species remain nothing more than names in taxonomic reviews. While the adult forms may be fairly well known taxonomically, most of the tadpoles are still unknown. A search of the literature, both of Trinidad forms as well as mainland forms has revealed descriptions only of three forms.