Mike Dorcas (Author) MIKE DORCAS is a herpetologist and author of numerous books, including
Invasive Pythons in the United States (coauthored with John D. Willson), and
Snakes of the Southeast and
Frogs and Toads of the Southeast (coauthored with Whit Gibbons).
Whit Gibbons (Author) WHIT GIBBONS is a professor emeritus of ecology at the University of Georgia and author or coauthor of several books on herpetology and ecology, including
Keeping All the Pieces,
Snakes of the Southeast, Revised Edition,
Frogs and Toads of the Southeast, Lizards and Crocodiles of the Southeast, Turtles of the Southeast, and
Salamanders of the Southeast (all Georgia).
With more than forty native and introduced species of frogs and toads occurring in the southeastern United States, the region represents the heart of frog and toad diversity in the country. Renowned herpetologists Mike Dorcas and Whit Gibbons provide us with the most comprehensive and authoritative, yet accessible and fun-to-read, guide to these sometimes wet, sometimes warty wonders of nature.
Dorcas and Gibbons enumerate the distinguishing characteristics of frogs and toads, including how they are different from other amphibians and the differences between a frog and a toad. Also discussed are the morphology of frogs and toads, the main groups to be found in the Southeast, and their habitats. Individual species accounts contain a physical description of the species plus information about distribution and habitat, behavior and activity, food and feeding, predators and defense, calls and vocalizations, reproduction and description of eggs and tadpoles, and conservation. Accompanying each account are photographs illustrating typical adults and variations and distribution ml3: