Islands and Snakes

Dr. Harvey B. Lillywhite is Emeritus Professor of Biology at the University of Florida. He is past Director of the Seahorse Key Marine Laboratory and has held international visiting positions at six universities, NASA-Ames Research Laboratory, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He has published 4 books and numerous articles related to biology of snakes, with emphasis on understanding adaptation of structure and function relating to ecology, behavior and evolution. Dr. Lillywhite has conducted field research in Costa Rica, Australia, India, Fiji, Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, and other parts of Asia. He was listed in the top 2% of scientists worldwide based on standardized citation indicators.Dr. Marcio Martins is a Full Professor of Ecology at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. He has published 4 books and numerous scientific articles on the natural history, ecology, and conservation of frogs and snakes, including several studies on island snakes from Brazil and Mexico. He has been participating actively in the production of red lists of amphibians and reptiles (both in Brazil and for the IUCN). He was the president of the Brazilian Society of Herpetology (BSH) from 2011 to 2019 and is now a member of the IUCN Viper Specialist Group.

• Preface Acknowledgments List of Contributors 1. Snakes of a Continental Island: History and Patterns of Discovery of the Snake Fauna of Borneo to the Start of the Anthropocene - Indraneil Das 2. Serpents of Paradise: Biogeography of the Snake Fauna on New Guinean Islands - Mark O'Shea and Simon Maddock 3. Reproductive Strategies of the Golden Lancehead, Bothrops Insularis, From Queimada Grande Island: Constraints and Challenges - Karina N. Kasperoviczus, Henrique B. Braz, Ligia G. S. Amorim, and Selma M. Almeida-Santos 4. Lanceheads in Land-Bridge Islands of Brazil: Repeated and Parallel Evolution of Dwarf Pitvipers - Ricardo J. Sawaya, Fausto E. Barbo, Felipe G. Grazziotin, Otavio A. V. Marques, and Marcio Martins 5. Two Islands, Two Origins: The Snakes of Trinidad and Tobago - John C. Murphy, John C. Weber, Michael J. Jowers, and Robert C. Jadin 6. Giant Snakes and Tiny Seabirds on a Small Japanese Island - Masami Hasegawa and Akira Mori 7. Distribution Patterns of Snakes and Conservation Importance of Islands in the Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago, Bay of Bengal, India - S. R. Chandramouli 8. Diversity, Endemism, and Biogeography of Island Snakes of the Gulf of California, Mexico - Gustavo Arnaud, Ricardo J. Sawaya, and Marcio Martins 9. Natural History and Conservation of the Galapagos Snake Radiation - Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia and Carolina Reyes-Puig 10. Paradise Lost: Collapse of the Unique Cottonmouth Population on Seahorse Key - Mark Robert Sandfoss 11. Marooned Snakes: Ecology of Freshwater Natrix Maura Isolated on the Atlantic Islands of Galicia (Spain) - Pedro Galán and François Brischoux 12. Golem Grad: From a Ghost Island to a Snake Sanctuary - Xavier Bonnet, Dragon Arsovski, Ana Golubovi'c, and Ljiljana Tomovi'c 13. Welcome to Paradise: Snake Invasions on Islands - Natalie M. Claunch, Keara L. Clancy, Madison E. A. Harman, Kodiak C. Hengstebeck, Diego Juárez-Sánchez, Daniel Haro, Arik Hartmann, Mariaguadalupe Vilchez, Rebecca K. McKee, Amber Sutton, and Christina M. Romagosa 14. Gartersnakes of the Beaver Archipelago: A Story of Plasticity and Adaptation - Gordon M. Burghardt, Mark A. Krause, John S. Placyk Jr., and James C. Gillingham 15. Prospects and Overview for Conservation of Snakes on Islands - Harvey B. Lillywhite and Marcio Martins

I began reading this book with a somewhat cynical eye. Snakes on islands are certainly interesting, especially to an evolutionary ecologist like myself, but can we really argue that they are especially useful model systems to explore general issues in ecology and evolution? After all, snakes are difficult animals to work with, and islands are difficult places to access. Is there some- thing about island life and its novel opportunities and threats that induces spectacular and consistent shifts in snake biology? The clear answer, from this well-produced volume, is a resounding yes.