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Distributed for Association Vahatra in Antananarivo

Atlas of Selected Land Vertebrates of Madagascar

One of the largest islands in the world, Madagascar is home to an astonishing array of endemic vertebrate biodiversity. While recent decades have seen numerous publications on the subject—ranging from technical papers to species descriptions and field guides—no detailed atlas exists. This bilingual French–English volume, Atlas of Selected Land Vertebrates of Madagascar, fills that niche.

With more than four hundred color illustrations and maps, the Atlas brings together information from numerous sources—including data gathered during extensive biological inventories in some of the most remote forests of the island, from specimens in natural history museums around the world, and from the relevant literature—to present distributional maps on a range of taxa as well as descriptive text that interprets associated patterns and, for most taxa, provides potential habitat models. Featuring reptiles from plated to iguanid lizards; birds from paradise flycatchers to serpent eagles; and mammals from flying foxes—fruit-eating bats with meter-wide wingspans—to the enigmatic tenrecs and puma-like fossa, a member of an endemic family of Carnivora; this volume represents the culmination of decades of research. The Atlas will be an important reference for all students, researchers, naturalists, and conservationists interested in the land vertebrates of Madagascar, one of the most extraordinary and threatened biodiversity hotspots on Earth.

308 pages | 446 color plates and maps | 11 1/2 x 15 3/4 | © 2014

Biological Sciences: Biology--Systematics


Reviews

“The most obvious characteristic of this book is the abundance of maps—original and current vegetation, geology, precipitation measures, and distribution maps of more than 200 vertebrates (reptiles, birds, and mammals). The maps are supported by technical descriptions of the methods and some comments on each of the included species.”

Ecology

“Goodman and Raherilalao have thoroughly compiled 25 years of biodiversity surveys accomplished by Association Vahatra and World Wildlife Fund. . . . Extremely useful to both biologists and policy makers to have these two volumes [Extinct Madagascar and the Atlas of Selected Land Vertebrates of Madagascar] published and easily accessible. Not only are sighting, trapping, and paleontological sites labeled and mapped, but the type of forest and ecosystem is also clear. Current threats to the fauna are also outlined. Recent renaming of taxonomic groups based on molecular evidence is also clarified, making this information very useful to young scientists. The authors, well-known, seasoned scientists, are praised for excellent fieldwork and thorough scholarship in presenting these data of Malagasy fauna past and present.”

Patricia Chapple Wright, Stony Brook University | Quarterly Review of Biology

“It is the culmination of a monumental body of work collated over more than two decades and involving data not only from research groups within Madagascar but also from sources worldwide. The production of this atlas highlights the value of long term research and inventory work and will provide critical information for future researchers, conservation practitioners, and policy makers alike–information that is vital to the future protection of Madagascar’s biological diversity. The distribution maps are clear, the text concise, and the relevant detail more easily apparent and properly documented than ever before. . . . An invaluable text.”

Clive Nuttman, University of Cambridge | Conservation Biology

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