INTRODUCTION 



This paper provide a checklist, illustrated keys, range 

 maps and summarized information on the biology and ecology of 

 the amphibians of northwest Africa. The geographic area covered 

 includes Morocco (including Western Sahara), Algeria, Tunisia, 

 and Libya. The regions of Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and Tchad 

 located north of 20° longitude are included. Saharan mountains, 

 specially the Tibesti, are probably the least known regions in 

 the area. Pellegrin (1936) and Scortecci (1940) mention the 

 presence of Bufo sp. and Rana sp. in the Tibesti massif. I 

 could not locate specimens of amphibians from these mountains 

 in museum collections. Major works of the amphibians of the 

 region are those of Pasteur and Bons (1959) on Morocco, 

 Doumergue (1901) on Algeria and Scortecci (1936) on 

 Tripolitania (Libya) . Information on newts is found in Thorn 

 (1968) . For a more comprehensive bibliography of the area see 

 Busack (1976) . Information on the amphibians of Egypt is found 

 in Marx (1968) . 



To prepare distribution maps I examined specimens of the 

 following institutions: American Museum of Natural History, New 

 York (AMNH) ; British Museum (Natural History) , London (BMNH) ; 

 California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco (CAS); Carnegie 

 Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh (CM) ; Field Museum of 

 Natural History, Chicago (FMNH); Los Angeles County Museum of 

 Natural History, Los Angeles (LACM); Museo Civico di Storia 

 Naturale, Genoa (MSNG) ; Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Geneve 

 (MHNG) ; Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard (MCZ); Museum of 

 Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley (MVZ); Museo Zoologico della 

 Specola, Firenze (MZUF) ; National Museum of Natural History, 

 Washington DC (USNM) ; Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel (NHMB) ; 

 Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien (NMW) ; Naturhistoriska Museet, 

 Goteborg (NHMG) ; Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden 

 (RMNH); Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt (SMF) ; Swedish Museum of 

 Natural History, Stockholm (NHRM) ; University of Michigan Museum 

 of Zoology, Ann Arbor (UMMZ); Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut 

 und Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn (ZFMK); Zoologisches 

 Staatsammlung, Munchen (ZSM). 



