The March 2010 issue of Reptiles & Amphibians will be devoted to the memory of Henry Fitch, arguably the world’s foremost herpetological natural historian. Dr. Fitch also became concerned and addressed issues related to conservation long before most herpetologists recognized the need to do so. To honor his many contributions, the editors of Reptiles & Amphibians are issuing a call for papers to be featured in the commemorative issue.

We are looking for short manuscripts featuring natural history and/or conservation. The ultimate criterion guiding the editors in the selection of papers will be the assumption that Dr. Fitch presumably would have enjoyed reading them. Because Reptiles & Amphibians employs color throughout, we also ask that contributors supplement their manuscripts with high-quality photographs of their subjects, their habitats, and even people conducting fieldwork related to the project in hand.

We are NOT looking for monographs nor are we looking for manuscripts that are more appropriately published in conventional scientific journals. Instead, we want to publish short papers that emphasize descriptive natural history. Dr. Fitch enjoyed and, on numerous occasions, commented on the value of such notes — and that is the tradition we seek to acknowledge and promote. Because mainstream journals rarely publish such observations or descriptive studies (Herpetological Review and a few regional journals are obvious exceptions), many field biologists accumulate in their field notes a plethora of data that will never see the light of day. Those are the gems we seek in honoring Dr. Fitch.

We impose no taxonomic or geographic restrictions, and will consider publications addressing any herpetofaunal species or community.

Manuscripts and accompanying photographs should be submitted electronically as e-mail attachments to Robert Powell If image files are too large to send via e-mail, they may be uploaded to the IRCF website but be sure to label the upload but be sure to label the upload as indicated in the instructions provided. Authors should use the style employed in recent issues of Reptiles & Amphibians. If contributors are not familiar with the journal, Click Here for a Sample Article. Please direct any inquiries to Dr. Powell at the e-mail address listed above.

Call for Photographs

We wish to illustrate many of the species with which Dr. Fitch worked during his long career. A list of his publications through the mid-1980s is available in Vertebrate Ecology and Systematics: A Tribute to Henry S. Fitch (1984. Richard A. Seigel, Lawrence E. Hunt, James L. Knight, Luis Malaret, and Nancy L. Zuschlag, eds. University of Kansas Museum of Natural History Special Publication No. 10). Although we are eager to receive any high-quality images, we are particularly interested in vertically oriented photographs of sufficient quality and resolution that they could be printed as full-page inserts (click here for criteria for photographs) . As above, if image files are too large to send via e-mail, they may be uploaded to the IRCF website here.

Note:

Because space in the special issue is limited, if the number of acceptable submissions exceeds our capacity to include them all in the March issue, consideration will be given to publishing additional papers in subsequent issues, in effect extending the tribute to Dr. Fitch through those additional issues.