New Salamander and Newt Booklet by the Dutch Urodela Group

[john]

Well as some of you might have read elsewhere, I was expecting a copy of the new book from the Dutch Urodela Group, and I received it this morning.

I've been using my knowledge of German to struggle through the Dutch text and I must admit it's very impressive. Authoritative, new and interesting information from experienced keepers from the Netherlands and Belgium (most of them well known in European Salamander circles). The English summaries are nice additions.

This A4 size booklet has 54 pages of text with black and white photos, and then four pages of beautiful colour plates. The principle authors are Ad Bouwman and Sergé Bogaerts (they are also the editors). I will provide more information about it (a proper review) some time in the next few days, as well as how to get a copy for yourself. I know it costs €15, which equates to about US $15 or £10. I will post mailing and payment info this weekend as soon as I hear back from the editors. For the moment, here's a list of the articles and their authors:
<UL><LI>General intro to salamanders and newts, how to keep them, how to obtain them, food, diseases, breeding, etc. By the editors. <LI>An extensive literature overview of the genus Hynobius by Henk Wallays. <LI>An article on Hynobius dunni by Henk Wallays. <LI>A similar article about Hynobius retardatus by Henk Wallays. <LI>An account of experiences with Pachyhynobius shangchengensis by Frans Peter Weterings. <LI>A short paper on Ambystoma opacum by Eric Peters. <LI>A paper on Pleurodeles waltl by Ad Bouwman. <LI>Tylototriton shanjing, by Ad Bouwman and Frank Pasmans. <LI>Tylototriton verrucosus, by Frank Pasmans, Ad Bouwman and Frans Peter Weterings. <LI>Triturus dobrogicus, by Marc Stenssen. <LI>Triturus marmoratus and Triturus pygmaeus, by Sergé Bogaerts. <LI>Triturus vittatus, by Marc Stenssen. <LI>Cynops ensicauda, by Eric Peters. <LI>Paramesotriton fuzhongensis, by Guido Jansen. <LI>Neurergus crocatus, by Henk Wallays. <LI>Notophthalmus viridescens, by Ad Bouwman and Marc Stenssen. <LI>Pachytriton labiatus, by Frank Wennekers and Ellen Nauman. <LI>Siren intermedia, by Guy Haghebaert. <LI>Food for Salamanders, by Henk Wallays and Sergé Bogaerts. <LI>Medicines and Treatments for Salamanders, by Frank Pasmans (DVM). <LI>Skills and useful tips, by Sergé Bogaerts. <LI>Salamanders and the law, by Sergé Bogaerts. <LI>More references to literature and books.</LI>[/list]

 

[reinder]

hi all

i am reinder, some of you might know me!
i am also a member (ex editor)of the Dutch Urodela Group ,i just wanted to add something to the message from john above,if you don't understand any dutch text just mail me and i will tell you what it says , my english isn't perfect but i am dutch for sure.

and it's a great booklet with lots of information so don't hesitate to order one

Greetings and enjoy the hobby
(as we do)

Reinder

 

[yago]

What about translating those texts and publish them in an English version? I am sure that a lot of people will be interested in getting a copy (myself!!!

)
Or make them available in English in a website? Maybe caudata.org? We could do so with the publications of each country. If people are interested I don't bother to translate the relevant articles of the spanish society and catalan? I suppose that I have to ask for permission first.
It is just a suggestion which will bring together all the U.E. studies on caudata.

 

[john]

Yago - that would be a breach of copyright. Whether people are interested or not, it is against International law to reproduce published works without permission from the authors/publishers.

 

[jennewt]

Did the group print the book themselves, or did they use a publishing house?

 

[john]

I think they published it themselves but it has an ISBN.

 

[matt]

Sounds like an English translation would be very popular...?!
Could you mention it, Reinder?

 

[john]

I've just asked for the info again for buying it (I think someone forgot to email me).

An English version? I think it would sell pretty well, mainly because it's streets ahead of any English text of which I'm aware.

 

[sergé]

Well, it is good to see people are enthousiastic about the booklet and the work done by the authors as well as the editors (me and especially Ad Bouwman). It is written by people with knowledge about the species they are writing about, which makes it to my opinion better than the useall books written by people who mostly don't have a clue what they are writing about.It is published in honor of the 20th birthday of the dutch urodel society.

I will see if we can come to a translation but I don't think it will be soon. Perhaps at least some parts will be published elsewhere (HYnobius dunni si published in english in the new german AMPHIBIA magazine from the DGHT: www.dght.de).
We printed the book ourselves by the way, but had it registered with an ISBN number.
The costs for sending the booklet I will send through a.s.a.p. (we don't want to earn money with it, but don't want to loose neither).

 

[jennifer]

Serge, I would like to offer to help. I cannot do the translation, as I don't know the language. But I am a science editor and I can turn a rough translation into good English. (Maybe a rough translation could even be done using Internet translation sites, which are fast and free. For example, www.freetranslation.com)

 

[john]

Sergé has gotten back to me and here are the details:

Each copy of the booklet (available in Dutch currently) is € 15, including postage/shipping anywhere in the world. You need to send Euro cash though - he can't take non-Dutch cheques or any other currencies (no $ dollars), unfortunately.

Send the money and your postal address to:

S. Bogaerts
Honingbijenhof 3
NL-6533 RW Nijmegen
Netherlands

You can reach Sergé through email at s.bogaerts@hetnet.nl

 

[chris]

hi john. could you send me the gist of the info of paramesotriton fuzhongensis and pachytriton labiatus from the Dutch booklet. I am not asking for a copy of it, just the information it gives (in English!) email me at
chris@1-st.freeserve.co.uk

 

[john]

Chris,

That's no small undertaking - I don't know any Dutch and little German, so it takes me a looong time to figure out the gist myself . Maybe someone else can help more easily? If not, I'll see what I can do.