Book Review Night Lizards: Field Memoirs and a Summary of the

265

Amphib. Reptile Conserv. December 2019 | Volume 13 | Number 2 | e211

Amphibian & Reptile Conservation

13(2) [General Section]: 265–266 (e211).

Book Review

Night Lizards: Field Memoirs and a

Summary of the Xantusiidae

Howard O. Clark, Jr.

Colibri Ecological Consulting, LLC, 9493 North Fort Washington Road, Suite 108, Fresno, California 93730, USA

Keywords. Behavior, biogeography, ecology, reproduction, reptiles, Scincomorpha, Squamata

Citation: Clark HO Jr. 2019. Book review—Night Lizards: Field Memoirs and a Summary of the Xantusiidae. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13(2)

[General Section]: 265–266 (e211).

ternational (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/], which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

provided the original author and source are credited. The ofcial and authorized publication credit sources, which will be duly enforced, are as follows:

ofcial journal title Amphibian & Reptile Conservation; ofcial journal website: amphibian-reptile-conservation.org.

Received: 11 December 2019; Accepted: 11 December 2019; Published: 12 December 2019

Ofcial journal website:

amphibian-reptile-conservation.org

Herpetologist Robert L. Bezy has produced a fascinating

memoir of his life and the lives of night lizards. When

reading about or researching night lizards, Bezy’s name

comes up often. When Bezy began his career there were

only a few night lizards known to science; now there are

35 living species in the family Xantusiidae. The book

begins with a brief autobiography, detailing what mo-

tivated Bezy to pursue herpetology and what became a

long and winding road full of exciting discoveries and

working with some of the best herpetologists in the eld.

Some of my favorite sections are where Bezy divides his

narrative into “locational highlights” and tells stories of

some experiences that had signicant impacts on his life.

These stories are rich in landscape descriptions, wildlife

encounters, and how the adventure—planned or not—in-

uenced the way he views life. These sorts of reections

are priceless and allow the reader to reect on his or her

own life. As I read through these stories I found myself

frequently reminiscing about my various encounters with

night lizards and other wildlife.

Following the autobiography and locational high-

lights, Bezy delves into the historical perspectives re-

garding night lizards. A “must read” is the account of

János Xántus and Spencer Fullerton Baird. Baird named

the night lizard genus (Xantusia) and family (Xantusi-

idae) after Xántus and interesting enough Xántus later

wrote to Baird that he didn’t even remember collecting

the small lizard. Other important perspectives include

those of John Van Denburgh, Edward H. Taylor, Hobart

M. Smith, Jay M. Savage, Robert G. Webb, Richard G.

Zweifel, and Charles H. Lowe. All of these men contrib-

uted to the natural history of the night lizards and Bezy

does a splendid job recapping their contributions.

Correspondence. howar[email protected]

Title: Night Lizards: Field Memoirs and a Summary of the

Xantusiidae

Authors: Tell Hicks (Artist), Robert Bezy (Author)

ISBN-10: 1938850599; ISBN-13: 978-1938850592

Publisher: ECO Herpetological Publishing

Pages: ii + 220; Price: USD $24.95

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Amphib. Reptile Conserv. December 2019 | Volume 13 | Number 2 | e211

Night Lizards: Field Memoirs and a Summary of the Xantusiidae

The last half of the book provides a detailed discussion

about the night lizard family, Xantusiidae, followed by

the night lizard species accounts. Originally, the family

only had one species, Xantusia vigilis (Fig. 1), the small

lizard János Xántus collected at Fort Tejon, California.

But, eventually two other genera were added, Cricosaura

(Cuban night lizards), and Lepidophyma (tropical night

lizards). Bezy provides a detailed map that shows the dis-

tribution of the three genera and a diagram showing the

phylogenetic relationships. From there, each species has

its own detailed account, which generally includes these

sections: identication; chromosomes; size; distribution

and habitat; life history; sex ratio; etymology; conserva-

tion status; and discussion. Each account has a color pho-

to of the lizard, a colored distribution map, and photos

of representative habitat. With nearly 250 total gures

and photos throughout the book, the reader is treated to

a photo library that is unbeatable. Following the species

accounts is a night lizard species key—complete with

diagrams and photos. Also included are scale features for

differentiating night lizard species. The book ends with a

literature cited section which likely includes all the key

papers ever written on night lizards.

Overall, Bezy’s book is a must read for anyone inter-

ested in the story behind the night lizard, or in tales of

herpetological discovery and adventure in general. The

storytelling alone is reason enough to buy the book; the

photos, species accounts, range maps, etc., are a super

bonus and make the book the best resource currently on

this topic.

Another highlight of the book is the “questions” sec-

tion. Here, Bezy addresses a variety of natural history

aspects of the night lizard— undoubtedly questions that

he had over the years and now the reader has the oppor-

tunity to read the answers with Bezy as the messenger.

Topics include rock crevice ecology of the Xantusia and

Lepidophyma; night lizards in caves; island gigantism;

the species concept; the idea of unisexuals; night lizard

ecology; are night lizards nocturnal?; reproduction; so-

ciobiology; diet and predators; helminth parasites; ther-

mal and water ecology; movement, home range, and

population density; and conservation status.

Howard O. Clark, Jr. has more than 20 years of professional wildlife and research experience. Howard

is certied by the Ecological Society of America as an ecologist and by The Wildlife Society (TWS) as a

Certied Wildlife Biologist®. His work as an ecological consultant has focused on the fauna and ecosystems

of California and has included extensive baseline inventories, surveys for rare animals, and habitat

assessments. He has conducted dozens of inventories, surveys, and assessments for Blunt-nosed Leopard

Lizard, Western Burrowing Owl, San Joaquin Kit Fox, Giant Kangaroo Rat, and Mohave Ground Squirrel

among many others. Howard developed his consulting skills while working for H. T. Harvey & Associates

(Los Gatos, California) for 10 years and Garcia and Associates (Auburn, California) for three years. He

currently works for Colibri Ecological Consulting, LLC, as a Senior Scientist in Fresno, California. Prior

to working as a consultant, Howard spent seven years as a wildlife biologist with the Endangered Species

Recovery Program (California State University, Stanislaus Foundation, Turlock, California). He completed

his Master’s degree at CSU, Fresno in 2001. His thesis addressed the interactions between the endangered

San Joaquin Kit Fox and the non-native Red Fox in Kern County, California. Howard is an instructor for

TWS kit fox and small mammal workshops, and the Western Section of TWS awarded him the Raymond

F. Dasmann Award for Professional of the Year in 2015. He is the Layout Editor for the Western Section’s

journal, Western Wildlife, as well as three herpetological journals: Amphibian & Reptile Conservation,

Sonoran Herpetologist, and Herpetological Conservation and Biology. During leisure time, Howard enjoys

hiking, geocaching, and visiting places of historical interest with his daughter.

Fig. 1. Xantusia vigilis from the Mojave Desert, Los Angeles

County, California. Photo by Howard O. Clark, Jr.