The cover of Herp Review Volume 55 Issue 4 features the Mehuin Green Frog, Insuetophrynus acarpicus, an IUCN endangered species known only from a few localities near Valdivia, Chile. More than half of Chile’s ca. 60 species of anurans are endemic and more than half are given an IUCN or national level of Threatened. A primary cause of these amphibian declines is alteration of Chile’s unique temperate forests for agriculture or timber. This individual was found under a joint expedition led by Dr. José J. Nuñez of the Universidad Austral de Chile and Dr. Dante Fenolio of the San Antonio Zoo, accompanied by William W. Lamar and photographer Timothy Paine during a research and conservation collaboration. Several localities were visited, and a number of unique frog species were found. The locality of this individual was private land overlooking the southern Pacific Ocean held by a couple intent on protecting the local frog species. Our cover image was captured by Timothy Paine, a retired captain with the San Francisco Police Department who serves on the Board of Directors for Field Projects International.

Full contents are available online to SSAR members at https://ssarherps.org/herpetological-review-pdfs/. Select sections are Open Access and available for download at the same link. If you are not a member of SSAR, please consider joining the leading international herpetological society. Student and online-only rates are available. Please visit the membership page for more information: https://ssarherps.org/about-ssar/membership/.

The SSAR is now on the social media platform, Bluesky! Follow us to get the latest updates
in herpetology, society news, and research: @ssarherps.bsky.social

Now available at the SSAR Bookstore: Contributions to Herpetology, Vol. 35 — The Dutch Indies Commission and the Herpetological Legacy of Heinrich Boie (1794–1827). 376 pp., 60 color plates, 18 figures. Essential for systematists & herp historians. Order: store10270226.company.site/%E2%80%8BVol…

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— ssarherps.bsky.social (@ssarherps.bsky.social) August 15, 2025 at 3:42 PM

The SSAR offers travel awards for students and postdocs to attend and present their research at the annual Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH). Congratulations to this year’s recipients!

Metallinou Postdoctoral Travel Award:

Dr. Kevin Mulder, Ghent University
Dr. Steven Hromada, Fresno Chaffee Zoo

To learn more about this award, visit: https://ssarherps.org/ssar-awards/metallinou-postdoctoral-travel-award/.

Student Travel Award:

Rizki Kurnia Tohir, IPB University
Tayci Sullivan, Southern Illinois University
Sydney Wayne, Auburn University
Cole J. Ivie, California Polytechnic State University
Sudipta Kalita, University of Dayton
Felipe R. Floreste, University of São Paulo
Daisy Wong, California Polytechnic State University
Brendan Enochs, University of Dayton
Nicole Stevens, Texas A&M University
Sydney Hermann, Marshall University

To learn more about this award, visit: https://ssarherps.org/ssar-awards/student-travel-award/.

George B. and Mary S. Rabb Undergraduate Poster Award

The SSAR’s George B. Rabb Undergraduate Poster Award is sponsored by the George and Mary Rabb Foundation. It honors Mary Rabb who achieved much in the realm of amphibian research and conservation of all species, and George Rabb, who was a former Director of the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago and a highly respected leader of many global wildlife conservation initiatives. George was excellent at identifying students with strong potential in conservation and conservation-related research and informally mentoring them to maximize their impact on the field. 2025 marked the 7th year of this competition. Due to the generous donation from the George and Mary Rabb Foundation, two awards were given and a travel award was given to a student randomly selected from among the competitors. The poster winners received a check for US $250 and a book. We thank Chuck Crumly for book donations this year. The travel award is $500. To learn more about this award, visit: https://ssarherps.org/ssar-awards/georgerabbaward/.

This year’s judges were John Abramyan (University of Michigan-Dearborn) and Tom Radomski (Washington University in St. Louis).

The 2025 winners of the Rabb Undergraduate Poster Award are:

Mason Polencheck (University of Minnesota), “Land-Use Effects on the Skin Microbiome of the Common Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus)”

Mikayla-Anne Woodring (Moravian University), “Morphological Changes in Xenopus laevis Tadpoles’ Guts When Exposed to Polyethylene Microplastics in Water”

The travel award winner is Leah Stimpson.

Congratulations!

Victor Hutchison Graduate Student Poster Award

The SSAR graduate student poster awards honor Victor Hutchison for his extensive contributions to herpetology and the development of future herpetologists. We held the 15th annual SSAR Victor Hutchison Student Poster competition in St. Paul on 11 July 2025. Awardees received a check for US $250 and book. We thank Chuck Crumly for book donations this year. For more information about this award, visit: https://ssarherps.org/ssar-awards/victor-hutchison-award/.

This year’s judges were Ed Basham (University of Texas at Austin), Christopher Howey (University of Scranton), Tiffany Kosch (University of Melbourne), Sara McClelland (Moravian University), Kevin Mulder (Ghent University), Jeanine Refsnider (University of Toledo), and Robin Suyesh (University of Delhi).

The 2025 recipients of the Hutchison Graduate Poster Award are:

Physiology, Morphology, Evolution, Genetics, & Systematics:

Nikole Schneider (University of South Dakota), “Feats of supercontractile strength: Functional convergence of supercontracting muscle properties among hyoid musculature in chameleons”

Conservation & Management:

Taylor Thomisee (Arkansas State University), “Amphibians on the MAP: Differences in Community Composition within Wetland Reserve Easements”

Ecology, Natural History, Distribution, & Behavior:

Oscar Ramon Fokou (University of Yaoundé), “Amphibian Diversity in the Dja Faunal Reserve, Southern Cameroon: Insights from a Comprehensive Survey of Lowland Rainforest Habitats”

Congratulations!

The 33rd annual Seibert Awards were presented at the 2025 Joint Meeting of Ichthyology and Herpetology (JMIH) in St. Paul, Minnesota. These awards are named in honor of Henri C. Seibert, an early and endless supporter of the SSAR (having served as an officer for over 20 years).

In recognition of outstanding student presentations at the annual meeting, two awards were given in each of three categories: Conservation, Evolution & Systematics, Ecology, and Morphology & Physiology. Congratulations to the award recipients:

Conservation/Evolution/Systematics:

Winner: Lizzy Patton, Villanova University, “Hidden in Plain Sight: Novel Mitochondrial Rearrangement and Deep Divergences in Widespread Southern African Agama”.

Honorable Mention: Hannah Bradley, University of New Mexico, “Snake Fungal Disease: How long has it been here?”

Ecology:

Winner: Jessica Yates, University of Central Florida, “Tropic Ties or Thermal Drift: Do Spectacled Caimans (Alligatoridae: Caiman) Keep Their Cool in Florida?”

Honorable Mention: Griffin Nicholson, Texas A&M University, “Calls of Introduced Frogs Attract a Threatened Native Species: Phonotactic Responses Between American Bullfrogs and Chiricahua Leopard Frogs”.

Morphology/Physiology:

Winner: Júlia Laterza Barbosa, Yale University, “Arboreality and the evolution of hydrothermal physiology in neotropical frogs”.

Honorable Mention: Natasha Stepanova, University of Michigan, “Backtalk: Clade-specific Determinants of the Number of Precloacal Vertebrae in Squamates”.

For more information on the Henri Seibert award, visit: https://ssarherps.org/ssar-awards/henri-seibert-award/.

The SSAR is looking for a volunteer to fill the Publications Secretary position beginning January 2027. This is one of six officer positions within the society and is a great opportunity for bibliophiles interested in herpetology, or those interested in learning more about leadership roles and the history of the SSAR. The publications office is responsible for storing the society’s inventory of books and journals, filling orders placed on the SSAR Bookstore webpage, fielding questions about missing journals/book orders, and shipping of orders both domestically and internationally.

If you are interested in learning more, please contact the current Publications secretary, Cari Hickerson (chickerson@jcu.edu), for details regarding the duties associated with this position. To learn more, visit https://ssarherps.org/about-ssar/ssar-organization/.

Faculty who are recruiting students for the 2026-2027 academic year (or postdocs to begin any time) can fill out this form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScpewCPaGo9RbLWGixhY9EM5qRsxBeG9vQlSqJJp
1ZmAoUlcA/viewform

The form populates a view-only spreadsheet that prospective applicants can use to find labs that match their interests.

Prospective applicants to master’s, PhD, and postdoctoral positions can check out this spreadsheet of faculty who are currently recruiting:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/128uzmPMezRNAe-QgryZyF0jLJYRg_rPT_zE_c-meuuM/edit?usp=sharing

For additional resources on grad school applications, visit: https://ssarherps.org/herp-lab-recruiting/

Questions? Please contact the Website Coordinator (ssarherps@gmail.com).

The Founders Fellowship for Pre-College Scholars, offered by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR), provides pre-college students with a unique opportunity to connect with peers and professional herpetologists. To learn more and get involved, visit the Founders Fellowship webpage.

Please consider donating to the GoFundMe campaign to help grow the endowment. Your contribution will aid in offering more and larger scholarships to offset the rising costs of participating in this program. It is a primary goal of this program to maximize financial accessibility to the program to any deserving student and their family.

To showcase the profound impact of this program, past fellows describe their experiences in this special video linked below. Watch them share their stories and see how your support can ignite a lifelong passion for herpetology!

Donate now: https://gofund.me/e101a5d4