Okay... some folks on the list brought this up once upon a time. I'd like
to bring it up again. A lot of folks on the list keep species of gecko that
are difficult, if not impossible, for researchers to obtain. In many cases,
countries of origin will grant permits for commercial export for the pet
trade, but will not allow a foreign researcher to collect the same species
from the same locality (some countries do so ONLY if all specimens stay in
the country... or if the researcher gets a business license and obtains a
commercial exporters permit... sad but true). So.... this, along with a
general lack of research funds for natural history based sciences, leaves a
lot of us to rely on private collectors for such things as Goniurosaurus or
Rhacodactylus specimens, to name but two genera.
If anyone has a gecko who eventually dies.... and you don't have something
planned already.... please consider donating the specimen to a museum
collection. Some museum collections won't take specimens without locality
data. Others (such as Yale Peabody Museum... YPM) are willing to ignore the
lack of locality for a species that cannot be gotten otherwise.
Currently, the gecko and pygopod collection at YPM is relatively small.
Larger than our varanid collection for sure, but still.... we are growing.
Among the genera lacking in our collection are Rhacodactylus, Goniurosaurus,
Uroplatus (NON-henkeli... we have a lot of those), Gonatodes, Teratoscincus,
and many others whose photos I've seen on the GGA web page.
Please let me know (off list if you like) if you have anything that you
wouldn't mind donating to the collection so that they can be used in future
studies.
Thanks,
Greg
--
Gregory J. Watkins-Colwell
Dept. of Biology
Sacred Heart University
5151 Park Avenue
Fairfield, CT 06432
and
Yale Peabody Museum
Dept. of Vertebrate Zoology
170 Whitney Ave
PO Box 208118
New Haven, CT 06520-8118
Fax 203-432-3758
###########################################################################
THE GLOBAL GECKO ASSOCIATION LISTSERV
WebSite: www.gekkota.com Archive: [EMAIL PROTECTED]/
The GGA takes no responsibility for the contents of these postings.
###########################################################################
