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Elsevier’s Dictionary of Reptiles

Author: Murray Wrobel

ISBN: 0-444-51499-6

Publisher: Elsevier B.V.

Europe, Middle East & Africa:

Linacre House, Jordan Hill

Oxford OX2 8DP, UK

US & Canada

11830 Westline Industrial Drive

St. Louis, MO 63146

Publication date: 2004

Price: €150.00 / US$ 165.00

Languages: Latin, English, French, German and Italian

Number of pages: 758

Elsevier’s Dictionary of Herpetological and Related Terminology

Author: David C. Wareham

ISBN: 0-444-51863-0

Publisher: Elsevier B.V.

Europe, Middle East & Africa:

Linacre House, Jordan Hill

Oxford OX2 8DP, UK

US & Canada

11830 Westline Industrial Drive

St. Louis, MO 63146

Publication date: 2005

Price: €85.00 / US$ 93.50

Languages: English

Number of pages: 240

Reviewed by:

Jacopo Màdaro

Let's not mince words: within a few months from each other, Elsevier has published two impressive volumes, further enhancing its primacy.

First, Murray Wrobel's latest. Quoting www.elsevier.com and the leaflet, it covers the "names of orders, families, genera and species of reptiles of the world". Considering that there are 8,240 species of reptiles, from worm lizards to turtles1, Wrobel's 8,826 lemmata seem to translate into a really exhaustive recueil.

As a substance test, I turned to an old quest and went hunting for dragons. Not the mythical ones, but the family Agamidae, subfamily Agaminae, genus Draco, the insectivore flying dragons of SE Asia,.

The most up-to-date listing, compiled by McGuire and Heang in 2001, included 33 species. Wrobel achieves a sound 20/33 (60%). D. quadrasi, palawanensis and mindanensis may be absent, but every flying dragon of consequence is listed from D. maximus, the great flying dragon (8 inches long!), to D. taeniopterus, or Thai flying dragon, a most refined mini-glider with 2-inch wingspan.

Taking advantage of a great zoological site, www.omne-vivum.com, and its extensive English database, I obtained the following table:

Species (McGuire et al)	Omne-vivum	Wrobel
D. affinis	Latin only	Bartlett's Flying Dragon
D. baccarii	––	––
D. biaro	Latin only	Lazell's Flying Dragon
D. bimaculatus	Two-spotted Flying Lizard	––
D. blanfordii	Blanford's Flying Lizard	Blanford's (Flying) Dragon
D. caerulhians	Latin only	––
D. cornutus	Latin only	––
D. cristatellus	Latin only	––
D. cyanopterus	Latin only	––
D. dussumieri	––	Indian Flying Dragon + 5 different regional variations
D. everetti [Omne-Vivum only]	Everette's Flying Lizard	––
D. fimbriatus	Orange-throated Flying Lizard	Fringed Flying Dragon
D. formosus [Wrobel only]	––	Formosa Flying Dragon
D. guntheri	Günther's Flying Lizard	––
D. haematopogon	Red-bearded Flying Lizard	Red-barbed (Flying) Dragon
D. indochinensis	––	––
D. jareckii	Latin only	Jarechi's Flying Dragon
D. lineatus	Latin only	Lined Flying Dragon
D. maculatus	Orange-winged Flying Lizard	Spotty/Spotted Flying Dragon
D. maximus	Giant Flying Dragon	Great Flying Dragon
D. melanopogon	Black-bearded Flying Lizard	Black-barbed (Flying) Dragon
D. mindanensis	Mindanao Flying Lizard	––
D. norvillii	––	Alcock's Flying Dragon
D. obscurus	Malayan Flying Lizard	Veiled Flying Dragon
D. ornatus	White-spotted Flying Lizard	––
D. palawanensis	Latin only	––
D. quadrasi	Quadras' Flying Lizard	––
D. quinquefasciatus	Five-spotted Flying Lizard	Five-lined Flying Dragon
D. reticulatus	Reticulated Flying Lizard	––
D. rizali [Omne-Vivum only]	Riza's Flying Lizard	––
D. spilopterus	Common Flying Lizard	Philippine Flying Dragon
D. sumatranus	––	––
D. taeniopterus	Banded-winged Flying Lizard	(Thai) Flying Dragon/Lizard
D. timorense	––	––
D. volans	F + D only	Common Flying Dragon

Looking at the pairing choices for dragons, not all languages were created equal. Wrobel offers 9 German translations out of 20 Latin headwords, 10 French renditions, but not one drago volante.

This distribution is extreme, but with less than 800 pairings, Italian is somewhat underrepresented, compared to about 2800 names in German and about 2500 in French. Before decrying the neglect of the only language capable of producing the immortal "La liscia biscia sull'erba striscia ed indi poscia essendo moscia alza la coscia e piscia2", we must recognize that one of the best Italian sites in the field, www.serpenti.it, doesn't do much better. It offers 543 names of species in both Latin and English and only 7 Italian equivalents. Specifically:

*Latin name*	Italian name	English name	Wrobel
Acanthophis antarcticus	vipera della morte	common death adder	4I + E
Crotalus adamanteus	crotalo diamantino	Eastern diamondback rattlesnake	4I + E
Crotalus viridis	crotalo verde	Western rattlesnake, prairie rattlesnake	4I + E also: crotalo del Pacifico
Elaphe guttata	serpente del grano	corn snake, red ratsnake	4I + E also: elafe scarlatta
Oxyuranus microlepidotus	taipan	inland taipan	4I + E also: taipan australiano
Oxyuranus scutellatus	taipan - serpente bruno australiano	brown taipan - coastal taipan	4I + E
Thamnophis hammondii	serpente giarrettiera	garter snake - ribbon snake	4I + E

If we verify the most common Italian snakes, Wrobel does even better:

*Latin name*	Italian name		English name		Wrobel
Coluber gemonensis		colubro dei Balcani		Balkans snake		––
Coluber hippocrepis		colubro ferro di cavallo		horseshoe snake		4I + E also: colubro sardo
Coluber viridiflavus		biacco		dark green snake		4I + E also: other 6 Italian variations
Coronella austriaca		colubro liscio		smooth snake		4I + E also: colubro austriaco
Coronella girondica		colubro di Riccioli		Southern smooth snake		4I + E also: other 4 Italian variations
Elaphe longissima		saettone, colubro d'Esculapio		Aesculapian snake		4I + E also: other 4 Italian variations
Elaphe quatuorlineata		cervone		four-lined snake		4I + E also: other 3 English variations
Elaphe situla		colubro leopardino		leopard snake		4I + E also: other 3 English variations
Macroprotodon cucullatus		colubro dal cappuccio		false smooth snake		4I + E also: colubro cucullato
Malpolon monspessulanus		colubro lacertino		Montpellier snake		4I + E also: colubro di Montpellier
Natrix maura		biscia viperina		viperine snake		4I + E also: biscia viperina
Natrix natrix		biscia dal collare		European grass snake		4I + E also: other 8 Italian + 3 English variations
Natrix tessellata		biscia tassellata		tessellated grass snake		4I + E also: other 2 Italian + 3 English variations
Telescopus fallax		serpente gatto		cat snake		4I + E also: other 4 Italian + 3 English variations
Vipera ammodytes		vipera dal corno		horned viper		4I + E also: vipera ammodite and other 5 English variations
Vipera aspis		vipera comune		aspic viper		4I + E + other 4 variations
Vipera berus		marasso		adder		4I + E also: marasso palustre + other 7 English var.
Vipera ursinii		vipera orsini		field adder		4I + E also: meadow viper

Here and elsewhere relevance is the key. There isn't one major poisonous and non-venomous snake, lizard, croc or turtle that doesn't have its Italian (often multiple) appellations. With a perfect Zen shift, this strength is also the dictionary's only minor weakness.

As I had suspected in reviewing Wrobel's previous work, the Dictionary of Amphibians again by Elsevier, no distinction is made between Italian language and Italian koiné. I cannot say why the Sicialian Vèpra is offered together with the Calabrese Vipre as Italian names of the vipera comune, the shy Viper aspis.

In order to properly follow the dialectal approach, the entries should be labeled according to the region and/or the linguistic group [exactly as Wrobel does for English and French variants] and the assemblage should be methodical. While I enjoyed finding Bergamo's bèssa as one variant of the feisty Natrix natrix or European grass snake, I cannot justify the exclusion of the Venetian bixa, the Milanese bissòn and the Campidanese tzerpi.

This minor methodological flaw is typified by three of the many Italian names of the once common swamp turtle: galana d'acqua, tartuca stizziata and tartuca do sciumi. The first, although not Italian, is of unknown and perhaps unknowable origin, and the latter two seem to belong to the Central-Western Sicilian group ("sciume" means river in and around Enna and "stizziato" means spotted there, in Trapani and elsewhere). Alas, if this is the case, then the partitive must be "du" instead of "do".

Still, this is the only typo I found in the whole book, and even the Italian issue is a mere peccadillo. In reality and by all accounts, Wrobel has produced another finely crafted opera mirabilis.

***

While a long search for Murray Wrobel's background has only produced a waif-like fashion model, the title of Compiler and a well-known association with Dr. Geoffrey Creber, editor and University of London paleobotanist, we know from the start that David C. Wareham, the former Curator of the Cannon Aquarium and Vivarium at the Manchester University Museum is the quintessential breeder.

This Elsevier's monolingual gem, based on a previous work, Reptile and Amphibian Keepers Dictionary (Blandford Press: 1993), roams the whole field of herpetology. Please ignore the leaflet and its gloomy audience of "amateur hobbyists faced with … intimidating scientific terms" and "trained zoologists who may sometimes have doubts over the exact meaning of a particular term" (short of politicians, do you know any other professional hobbyists? How well trained is a zoologist who does not know his/her own jargon?). Go straight to the book instead, and marvel.

It covers external features of reptiles and amphibians, herpetological families, selected bibliographies, biological processes, herpetological jargon and acronyms, and a bevy of anatomical, ecological, toxicological, veterinarian and animal behavioral terms, with a grand total of over 3100 headwords and definitions, all carefully cross-referenced.

Pending the reprint of Harvey B. Lillywhite's Dictionary of Herpetology, expected from Krieger Publishing Company in early 2006, and deprived of the 1964 seminal work with the same title by James A. Peters, I tried to put in context Wareham's true achievement using the following references: S. Brandolin Caraffa's (ed.) Dizionario di Zoologia, published in Milan by Rizzoli in 1987, and the equally trusted R.S. Hine /M.C. Fontana's (ed.) Enciclopedia Oxford di Veterinaria, the 1992 Muzzio's Italian version of Oxford's Concise Veterinary Dictionary; plus a few relevant Web sites such as www.kingsnake.com/toxinology, www.embl-heidelberg.de, www.arbec.com, www.uromastix.it and www.cortland.edu.

Randomly skipping along:

English	Italian	Wareham
abduct/adduct (to)	abdurre/addurre	ý only abductor muscle
autotomy	autotomia	þ + autotomy plane, breakage plane
bridge [between carapace and plastron]	ponte [tra carapace e piastrone]	þ
brumation	brumazione	þ
camouflage	colorazione criptica	þ + crypsis, cryptic coloration, disruptive coloration, disruptive outline
coana	choana	þ
diapause	diapausa	þ
dorsolateral ridge	striscia dorsolaterale	þ+ dorsolateral fold
ecdysis	muta	þ + the anthonym endysis
epididymis	epididimo	þ
flipper	natatoia	ý
frill	cresta, collare	þ
intercalary cartilage	cartilagine intercalare	þ + intercalary replacement
keeled scales	scaglie carenate	ý only keel, but with a lengthy definition encompassing all variants
patagium	patagio	þ + patagial rib
pentadactyl	pentadattilo	þ + pentadactyl limb
phycophagous	ficofago	ý
toadlet	rospetto	þ
Unkenreflex	same, riflesso ululone	þ Anglicized as unken reflex
vasoactive	vasoattivo	ý only vasodilator and vasopressor
xeric	xerico	þ + xeric pattern
yolk	vitello	þ + vitellogenesis, vitellogenic activity, vitellogenin

3 misses out of 22 lemmata equal 86% overlap. If this weren't remarkable enough, consider page after page of surprises, some delightful, some sinister: froggery, a gathering of frogs; rhumba, a gathering of rattlesnakes; meristic, of or relating to countable structures of an organism; quincunx, a group of five objects arranged in a rectangle or square, with one object at each of the four corners and a fifth in the center; jubal or the scales behind the head of the Eumece skink; jugal, or the scales below the crocodile's eyes; fuzzy, a new born mouse or rat that has just started to grow its fur; and pinky, a new born mouse or rat that has yet to grow its fur.

51 entries are dedicated to practitioners of note. It is a true herpetological Ghota, covering a span of three centuries, from Linnaeus to Albert and Anna Wright. The very best and brightest in the field is introduced with a touch so genteel it borders on reverence. I had to smile reading the entry about George Jan, a relatively famous Italian zoologist, who co-founded in 1838 and was the first director of the Natural History Museum of Milan. Giorgio, born Georg some two centuries ago, wouldn't have minded the French twist. On the contrary, he would have been the first to herald this dictionary and its author.