Proceedings of 

 the United States 

 National Museum 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION • WASHINGTON, B.C. 



Volume 116 1965 Number 3505 



HERPETOLOGY 



OF THE ZUNI MOUNTAINS REGION, 



NORTHWESTERN NEW MEXICO^ 



By Frederick R. Gehlbach^ 



Introduction 



In decided contrast to the amount of herpetological information 

 available for other southwestern states, relatively little is known 

 about amphibians and reptiles in New Mexico. Several taxonomic 

 papers have dealt with members of the state herpetofauna, but none 

 have treated local distribution and differentiation in detail. It 

 is the intent of this study, and of others in progress, to describe the 

 amphibians and reptiles of New Mexico by natural regions, with the 

 aim of understanding local variation in morphology, distribution, 

 and life history. 



Field observations and specimens obtained during portions of the 

 summers of 1951, 1954, and 1955 constituted a prelimiuar}'^ survey of 

 amphibian and reptilian species in northwestern New Mexico. 

 Thereafter, emphasis was placed on the Zuni region as a biogeographic 

 unit. Local studies of ecology and assumed gene flow were made 



1 Modified from a master's thesis submitted to Cornell University, 1959. 



2 Department of Biology, Baylor University, Waco, Texas. 



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