The Amphibians and Reptiles of Sulawesi: Underestimated Diversity in a Dynamic Environment

Abstract

Compared with the herpetofauna of the Sunda shelf islands, the diversity of amphibian and reptile genera on Sulawesi is impoverished. The oceanic charac- ter of the herpetofauna is the result of the million-year-long geographic isolation of Sulawesi which is separated from surrounding islands by deep ocean trenches. However, despite ambitious investigations by several industrious scientists during the past two centuries, recent fieldwork on Sulawesi and its smaller off-shore islands has revealed that the diversity of amphibians and reptiles has been largely underestimated. Since the last herpetological synopsis was published in 1996, 30 new amphibian and reptile species plus five subspecies have been described or newly recorded for Sulawesi and its satellite islands. In addition, more than 40 species, mainly skinks, have been identified as new to science and await formal description. This represents an increase by more than 35%! In total, about 210+ different species of amphibians and reptiles are currently recognized from the Sulawesi region almost 60% of which are endemics.