March 2006

Greetings SARCAlites!

This newsletter marks an auspicious occasion: the SARCA Virtual Museum (VM) has reached the 1000-records milestone!

Let me put this into context. We estimate that the accumulated records in museums, for reptiles in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland, amounts to roughly 49 000 records. An addition of 1000 records therefore represents an increase of about 2%. Bearing in mind that all other records were accumulated over a period of approximately 100 years, and the first record was submitted to the VM only 10 months ago, I think you can see that SARCA is making a real difference!

This is all thanks to YOU, a small but enthusiastic band of 180 amateur herpetologists and members of the public, to whom I wish to say CONGRATULATIONS!! You are:
Alberts A.J. (9), Anderson M.D. (9), Anderson T.A., Archer T. (5), Armstrong Q. (25), Aucamp J. (3), Badenhorst W. (10), Becker R. (4), Bösenberg M., Botha M. (3), Botha P., Botha W. & Jordaan Z. (18), Botha W. (15), Bowker M.B. (29), Braat P. (17), Brodman R. (7), Brown R., Bruinzeel L.W. (2), Budworth C. (2), Burger F., Butler B., Carstens M. (5), Coetzee F. (2), Conrad R., Coverdale B., De Beer C. (2), De Coriolis B.L. (4), Deacon A.R., Deal J., Diedericks G. (41), Dobson R. (4), Dobson R.A. (2), Dorse C. (10), Du Plessis R., Du Toit D.A., During J., Durrheim G. (3), Els J.C. & Jordaan L. (13), Els J.C. & Phelps T. (3), Els J.C. (57), Engelbrecht M. (3), Erni B. & Altwegg R. (7), Erni B., Pettersen J. & Altwegg R. (6), Esterhuizen W., Evans S.W. (10), Ewart-Smith J., Felmore T. (11), Forest F. Gelderblom R., Gibbons B., Griffiths R.M.H., Groenewald G., Grove F., Grundlingh F. (54), Haacke W.D. (2), Haas F. (12), Harebottle D. (7), Harvey J. (2), Havemann P. (2), Hawkins R. (7), Helme N. (8), Heymans J.A. (4), Hibbitts T. (5), Hill S., Holder D. (2), Hugo D.P., Huisamen J., Hull K. & Raess J. (13), Hurter J. (7), Incledon P., James J.D. (2), James P., James W.J. (2), Janse van Vuuren H., Jansen S. (2), Jessnitz R. (3), Kipling M., Kirkman S.P., Kok A., Kotze W. & Kotze S., Kruger A. (11), Labuschagne L. (2), Laminie P. (3), Landsdiens (3), le Roux E.R. & Lottering, A.D.J., le Roux E.R. & Wagenaar W., le Roux E.R. and Goemas W., Le Roux E.R. (42), Leslie R.W. (8), Linström A. (2), Logie C. (4), Lottering A.D.J., Loubser J. (2), Louw A., Louw J. (3), Lyons C-L. (2), Manning J. (4), Manson A. (23), Manson A.D. (9), Manson L. (3), Marais J. (10), Marais L., Maree D., Maree M., Maritz B. (12), Masterson G. (2), Maya K. (5), McCleland W. (11), Mecenero S. &, Kirkman S.P. (8), Mecenero S. (5), Mol T., Moyen J.-F., Mtshitshi M. (2), Murdock R., Murdough R., Nel J., Niehaus R.W., Nienaber J.H., Norman J. (4), Oliver G. (2), Oliver T.A., Opperman G.J. (12), Oransie J. (3), Palmer P.A. (5), Peacock F. (8), Pereira S.J., Phelps T. (2), Phelps T., Els J.C. & Bezuidenhout R. (24), Pietersen E., Pollhammer A., Potgieter M. (3), Pretorius B., Purves A., Rautenbach I.L. & Haacke W.D. (3), RBPS Landsdiens, Rebelo A. (2), Redman A.D. (2), Roberts V.G. (2), Roderigues Evert P.S. (7), Rowley J.J.L. (5), SAHRR (2), Scammell I. & Gaynor D. (2), Scammell I. & Thomas S., Scammell I. (49), Schroeder I. (7), Simmons R., Slabbert M., Snyman C., Snyman T.M. (2), Solomon W. (3), Stander M.J., Steiner S. (5), Theron J. & Diedericks G. (8), Theron J. & du Plessis J., Theron J. (9), Theron S. (5), Thomas S.G. (4), Trichardt J., Van As J., Van Aswegen D. (2), Van der Meijden A. (4), Van der Spuy A. (4), Van der Westhuizen C., Van Jaarsveld E., Van Niekerk E. (8), Van Rooyen J.P., van Rooyen S., Van Wyk A. (3), Van Wyk A.J. (8), Van Zyl A.J. (2), Venter P. (2), Vermeulen I. (3), Vos P. (8), Wagenaar W., Ward V. (8), Webster K. (15), Welz A. (6), Willis C.K. (11), Witberg M. (2), Wolfaardt A.

(The numbers in brackets are the numbers of records submitted. Where there are no brackets, the number is one. In bold are those who have submitted 10 or more records.)

J.C. Els takes honours as the most prolific recorder to date. Who will challenge him?

SPREAD THE WORD!! Tell your friends, clubs, schools, etc, about SARCA and the VM. Distribute this newsletter far and wide. We would like to get many more people involved in this scientific-but-fun activity.

Correct format please!

Unfortunately, I have a winge. Some of you are still getting the format of the data wrong. The following is an example of the correct format:

Please note:

1. It is necessary to have BOTH the stuff INSIDE AND OUTSIDE the brackets. The stuff inside the brackets is to tell the computer what is what.
2. The stuff INSIDE the brackets must be EXACTLY as shown, otherwise the computer gets confused. (Ag, shame…)
3. The stuff OUTSIDE the brackets must be formatted as shown. Note especially the reverse order of the date. Variations in format will upset the computer. (Ag, siestog…)
4. Note that a new field for "PROVINCE" has been added.
5. The preferred format for coordinates is DEGREES, MINUTES AND SECONDS (with or without decimal places for seconds). We can deal with decimal degrees and decimal minutes, but it's more hassle.
6. The "SARCA" field should be left blank - I fill in the relevant SARCA number when I capture the record.

I look forward to lots more submissions - with correctly formatted data!

Some of my favourite pics

These are a dozen of my favourite pics from the VM. No special reason - I just like them.

227 Large-scaled Grass Lizard Chamaesaura macrolepis by B. Maritz.		239 Western Sandveld Lizard Nucras tessellata by J. Oransie.
228 Beetz's Tiger Snake Telescopus beetzii (and friend) by R. du Plessis.		299 Western Natal Green Snake Philothamnus natalensis occidentalis by A. Manson.
331 Rough-scaled Plated Lizard Gerrhosaurus major by W. Botha W. & Z. Jordaan.		360 Common Brown Water Snake Lycodonomorphus rufulus by K. Maya.
411 Common Slug-eater Duberria lutrix by E.R. le Roux.		480 Cape Coral Snake Aspidelaps lubricus lubricus by J.C. Els.
519 Nile or Water Monitor Varanus niloticus hunting in koi pond, by P. Vos.		531 Parrot-beaked Tortoise or Common Padloper Homopus areolatus by F. Grundlingh.
558 Southern Spiny Agama Agama hispida (male) by T. Phelps; J.C.Els & R. Bezuidenhout.		707 Cape Dwarf Chameleon Bradypodion pumilum by M. Engelbrecht.

WELL DONE AND THANKSHALLOT!

James Harrison   
SARCA Project Coordinator