We just wanted to provide a quick recap of some of the information regarding the JMIH which will be kicking off this week in New Orleans:

1) The local host committee has made arrangements for a second venue for a no-host social on July 6th, starting at 7:00 p.m at the House of Blues (225 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 70130).   Admission is free of charge and there will be appropriately priced drinks as well as  an “open mic” event.

2)  If you are an oral presenter, you will need to submit your presentation onsite to the audio-visual technicians who will be located in Studio on the 2^nd floor of the New Orleans Marriott by 3:00 p.m. the day before your presentation.

3) If you are a poster presenter, please review the information for poster presentations on the web site at http://conferences.k-state.edu/joint-meeting/presentation-information/poster-presentations.  This link provides information and guidelines for presentations. Set up is from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on the day of your presentation.  Please have your poster up by noon to give time for attendees to view it before the scheduled poster session. Your poster should be removed immediately after your presentation at 6:00 p.m.  Please note, you will need to bring your own pins to hang on the boards!!

4) There will be several fund raising events held by participating organizations to help support student travel.  Events specifically associated with SSAR include the Silent Auction which will start 1 pm Thursday July 7th in the Bonaparte Room on the 4th floor.  The Silent Auction room will be open 1 – 5 PM on Thursday July 7th, 8 am – 5 pm on  Friday and Saturday July 8th/9th, and 8 am until 12:30 pm Sunday July 10th.  Check back between 12:30 and 1:30 pm on the 10th to see if you won any items.  Payments will need to be paid at this time, cash and credit are both accepted.  The Live Auction, co-run with The Herpetologists League, will be at 9:00 PM on Sunday July 10th in Salons D-H. 

If you would like to donate any items to either the Silent or Live Auction please contact Samantha Kahl (samantha.kahl@ttu.edu) or Vincent Farallo (vfarallo@gmail.com). Donated items can include anything herp related (although nothing made from animal parts).  An example of one of the nicer donated item is this drawing of Diadophis punctatus by Chris Sheil.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in New Orleans!

As always, we will have a live and silent auction at this years JMIH in New Orleans to help fund student travel to attend future meetings. If you would like to donate anything to the live or silent auction you can bring the items directly to the meeting or send them ahead of time. Items should be related to herpetology in some way, however we can not auction off any animals or items taken from animals. Typically items include books, art,  clothing, trinkets, etc.

If you would like to send items ahead of time please send them to the following address:

Kyle Piller
Attn: SSAR Live Auction
Southeastern Louisiana University
Dept. of Biological Sciences
Hammond, LA 70402

We would like donators to include the following information with their donation (typed, if possible):

1. Name of Donator
2. Title of the donation, or a brief description of the donation or its history.
3. Estimated value of the donation, or purchase price of the item.
4. Contact information for donator
5. Preference (if any) for the live or silent auction

If you plan on bringing an item to the meeting please find Samantha Kahl (samantha.kahl@ttu.edu) or Vincent Farallo (vfarallo@gmail.com) once you have arrived. Preferably send us an e-mail beforehand so we have an idea of what to expect and can also arrange a time for you to drop off the item.

Also if you would like to volunteer to help with the live auction including auction runners during the auction itself, item setup before the auction, and people to watch auction items during the conference, please contact Samantha Kahl (samantha.kahl@ttu.edu).

We look forward to seeing everyone in New Orleans!

Plethodon shermani

As part of the 90th anniversary year of the Highlands Biological Station there will be a Special Highlands Conference on Plethodontid Salamander Biology this August 4th-7th held at The Mountain Retreat & Learning Center and The Highlands Biological Station.

The Special Highlands Conference on Plethodontid Salamander Biology will feature a mix of invited review papers, contributed papers, and posters. Anyone is welcome to submit a contributed paper, so long as they follow the instructions below. To submit a Contributed Paper (15 minutes, including Q&A) or Poster please email the following information to Sarah Woodley (woodleys@duq.edu) with Highlands Plethodontid Conference in the subject line:

1. Name, institution, email address, and phone of corresponding author

2. Indicate if your contribution is a paper or a poster

3. Title

4. Author list (full names; e.g., James T. Costa, Sarah K. Woodley)

5. Institutional affiliation (use numbered superscripts to match authors to different institutions)

6. Abstract (300 word maximum)

The deadline for paper submissions AND for registration is May 15th, 2016. After this date, registration prices will increase by $10.00 per person.

Limited speaking slots may necessitate declining some paper proposals, but we will attempt to accommodate as many paper proposals as possible according to timeliness of submission and topic area.  In this event authors are encouraged to consider submitting a poster instead.

There are a variety of housing packages available as well as a reduced price for students. For more information about the conference and to register, please visit the conference’s website.

March 18th is the deadline to submit an abstract for this year’s JMIH held in New Orleans, Louisiana, July 6th-10th 2016.

This includes regular symposia presentations, contributed oral presentations, posters, and 5-min lightening talks.

For more information or to submit your abstract, please click this link.

It should be noted that in order to present in New Orleans, all presenters, including symposia presenters, must register and pay for the meeting. Meeting registration is done through a separate online system accessed from the Registration Information page and requires a separate login username and password.  Your username and password are not necessarily the same for the two systems. This is not required by the deadline, but is required in order to give your presentation(s).

We look forward to seeing everyone this summer in New Orleans!

Each year the Herpetological Education Committee (HEC) selects the recipient of the Meritorious Teaching Award in Herpetology. The awardee is selected based upon outstanding and/or notable teaching effectiveness and mentoring of research students in the area of herpetology. Letters of nomination should be submitted to the HEC Chair (Scott Boback, bobacks@dickinson.edu) by 31 March 2016. More information can be found here.

The private foundation established by the late Carl Gans is continuing his legacy in herpetology and biology through the dissemination of his works and offering grants to students within his fields of study.

The fund has announced that it will support travel awards available to both graduate and undergraduate students who are attending any of three different meetings in 2016, two of which are herpetology focused, including the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in New Orleans, LA (July 6-10) and also the World Congress of Herpetology in Hangzhou, China (August 15-21).  All students are eligible for these awards regardless of nationality. Applications can only be submitted for a single conference (ex. you can not apply for funding to attend both JMIH and WCH). Applicants must present a paper (oral or poster) at the meeting within the broad spectrum of research conducted by Gans on the biology of reptiles and amphibians to be eligible. The application deadline for both awards is 15 March 2016. See here for more information and application instructions.

Professor Gans was considered one of the preeminent specialists on the biology of reptiles and made contributions to their systematics, comparative and functional morphology, physiology, biomechanics, and behavior in over 600 publications. The fund consists of a Board of Trustees led by Leo Gans, Dr. Ronald Gans, and Eva Lynn Gans, and a Scientific Advisory Board, which is under the direction of Drs. Kraig Adler, Aaron Bauer, Amos Bouskila, Herb Rosenberg, and Linda Trueb.

Carl Gans in 1997 holding a Shingleback Skink (Tiliqua rugosa), taken from the 2010 obituary in Herpetological Review by Kraig Adler

The Gans Collections and Charitable Fund has recently published Gans’ Biology of the Reptilia series online, freely available at carlgans.org. The series consists of 22 volumes and approximately 14,000 pages, covering the morphology, behavior, development, ecology, neurology, and physiology of reptiles. The webpage provides the complete table of contents and index of the series, as well as direct access to the full content of every volume. The Fund hopes that access to this valuable resource will enable and inspire further study in these fields.

The 8th World Congress of Herpetology will take place August 15th to 21st 2016 in Hangzhou, China. For more information please visit the website dedicated to this years meeting or view the most recent announcement.

There will also be substantial support for students to attend this years meeting. Herpetology students from around the world are invited to apply for the WCH8 Student Support Schemes. Up to 48 scholarships are available for Full conference support (8) and Partial conference support (40). Scholarships are competitively based on academic merit; however priority will be given to students from under-represented countries.

For more information on the awards please see the full announcement here.  You can also visit the website of the World Congress of Herpetology.

Submit your application via email with WCH Scholarship Application in the subject heading, no later than 16 February 2016 to:

Professor Jean-Marc Hero, WCH Secretary General:m.hero@griffith.edu.au

AND

Professor Xiang Ji, WCH Secretary General Elect: xiangji150@hotmail.com / jixiang@njnu.edu.cn