Rare and Unique Herps of Sonora – Thomas R. Van Devender

Rare Amphibians and Reptiles of Soora

– Thomas R. Van Devender –

With contributions from
Erik F. Enderson, and James C. Rorabaugh

Monday 29th May | 7pm MST

Location information below

Crotaphytus dickersonae, photo by Erik F. Enderson

The animals and plants of Sonora, Mexico are rich and diverse, reflecting different biotas and environments in the New World tropics in the south, temperate forests in the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sky Island mountains in the east and northeast, grasslands and Chihuahuan desertscrub in the northern borderlands, and Sonoran desertscrub to the west. In each area, rare species augment the biodiversity.

Here, we present the endemic, rare, and peripheral species of amphibians and reptiles in the different biotic communities of Sonora.

Thomas R. Van Devender’s 1973 PhD in Geosciences at the University of Arizona used macrofossils in packrat (Neotoma) middens to reconstruct paleoclimates, plant distributions, and vegetation in the Sonoran Desert for the last 40,000 years. He was Senior Research Scientist at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona for 25 years. From 2009 to 2024, he managed the Madrean Archipelago Biodiversity Assessment (MABA) project at Sky Island Alliance, the Madrean Discovery Expeditions program (MDE) at Greater Good Charities, and the MDE database (madreandiscovery.org) to document the diversity of plants and animals in Sonoran Sky Island mountain ranges. He has publications on Sonoran vegetation and flora, ethnobotany, insects (monarch butterflies), and mammals (armadillos, jaguars, ocelots and wildlife camera faunas). His amphibians and reptiles publications include editing the The Sonoran Desert Tortoise book (2002); Sonoran overviews of box turtles, Heloderma, horned lizards, boas, and vinesnakes; local herpetofaunas in the Sierras Bacadéhuachi (2013), La Madera (2013), and El Tigre (2025), Municipalities of Bacanora (2023), Moctezuma (2023), and Yécora (2014), Mesa Tres Ríos (2019), Northern Jaguar Reserve (2011), and Rancho Las Playitas (2022).

Meetings are free public events in person or virtually:

Environment and Natural Resources 2 (ENR2)

1064 E Lowell St, Tucson AZ 85719

Room S215 – 2nd Floor

Enter ENR2 from Lowell St (north side)

Room opposite side of entrance via elevators (right) or stairs (left)

Parking is FREE in lot south of ENR2 OR $1/hr (card or digital payment only) in garage adjacent (east) ENR2

To attend via Zoom:
https://arizona.zoom.us/j/87602009238