"Phelsuma legend" Eddie Postma missing in Ecuador

The Dutch and Ecuadorian police is searching for the 44 year old Eddie Postma. He has been missing for a month and disappeared from his hotel on the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Postma, according to his wife, was in that country for a photo session of the Ecuadorian herpetofauna. He is the owner of “Sauria” a shop with annex breeding facility of mainly the genus Phelsuma.  Postma just arrived in Ecuador and left his Hotel by taxi, leaving all his belongings. Nothing was heard from him afterwards but according to the authorities the Dutchman stayed in a part which is considered safe and they exclude crime. Search dogs were sent from the Netherlands to facilitate the search.

Remarks on the Phelsuma barbouri— and Phelsuma klemmeri— phenetic groups, Phelsuma Gray, 1825

Loveridge (1942) made the first attempt to sort out relationships within the genus Phelsuma, neither groups were named nor was a phenetic key provided. In Mertens’s (1962) revision he slightly modified Loveridge’s (1942) characteristics and used them to designate species groups. Glaw & Vences (1994) added and modified groups relevant to that date. For Phelsuma klemmeri and Phelsuma barbouri however, neither a group was named, nor were they assigned to any of the existing groups. In the latest revision, by Glaw et. al (1999), Phelsuma klemmeri was placed as a single taxon within the P. klemmeri-group and the in the mean time described Phelsuma pronki (Seipp, 1994) was placed together with Phelsuma barbouri in the new P. barbouri-group. Read More...

The genus Phelsuma on the Ampasindava peninsula, Madagascar

Van Heygen, E. 2004. The genus Phelsuma Gray, 1825 on the Ampasindava peninsula, Madagascar. Phelsuma 12: 99—117

Abstract.— Several key locations were researched on the Ampasindava peninsula, north-western Madagascar in June 2004. These locations were chosen for their probability of having remaining patches of primary vegetation. Next to the unexpected records of Phelsuma quadriocellata, a species normally occurring on Madagascar’s eastern coast, a new species, P. vanheygeni (Lerner 2004) was discovered. Known distribution ranges for other species were extended, however there presence on the peninsula was expected. These species are; P. abbotti, P. dubia, P. laticauda, P. madagascariensis, P. klemmeri and P. seippi. The first detailed report on the habitat of P. klemmeri is made since the description of the species by Seipp in 1991.

Keywords.— Phelsuma, Ampasindava peninsula, Madagascar

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