Razzetti, Edoardo

Firenze University Press: E-Journals

ISSN 1827-9635 (print) © Firenze University Press 
ISSN 1827-9643 (online) www.fupress.com/ah
Acta Herpetologica 8(2): 177-178, 2013
Book Review: 
Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson. The Eponym 
Dictionary of Amphibians
Edoardo Razzetti
Museo di Storia Naturale, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Piazza Botta 9/10, I-27100 Pavia. E-mail: razzetti@unipv.it
Carolus Linnaeus, the scientist who laid the founda-
tions for the modern biological naming scheme passed 
away over 200 years ago but still new species are discov-
ered every day and even amphibians, a rather small group 
of animals, had over 160 new species described last year 
(2012). Describing new species is funny because it is one of 
the few instances in science where you can leave a perma-
nent record and, at the same time, express yourself without 
too many constraints. Zoologists, explorers, collectors and 
sometimes relatives, lovers, and friends of the taxonomist 
often had the honour to have their name Latinised and 
used to name a previously unknown species. This is consid-
ered a great privilege as the scientific names can perpetuate 
the memory of a person for hundreds of years.
The book “The Eponym Dictionary of Amphib-
ians” deals exactly with this subject: it provides informa-
tion about scientific and common names that contain a 
person’s name. So if you consider an amphibian species 
as Hydromantes strinatii (Aellen, 1958) you will find a 
biography of the Swiss biospeleologist Pierre Strinati to 
whom the species is dedicated (but not of Villy Aellen 
who described it because the describer is not considered 
an eponym).
For each entry there is a list of amphibians named 
after the person, a short biography that ranges from a 
few words for persons that contributed only marginally 
(or not at all!) to science and culture in general, to over 
25 lines for famous zoologists. Since this book is organ-
ized as a dictionary it is not illustrated except for the nice 
front cover; the references are limited to a general list of 
books and journals, this latter could not be a problem 
in the internet age as a quick web search with carefully 
selected word usually delivers a wealth of information.
Names are arranged alphabetically and so, when 
needed, it is easy to check for a surname and obtain the 
information you are looking for. I tried to look for the 
Societas Herpetologica Italica members and I found few 
people listed: Franco Andreone, Emilio Balletto, Bened-
etto Lanza for whom there are complete and correct data. 
I then tried to check if all the eponyms of Italian 
amphibians were included and again I was amazed by 
completeness and the accuracy of the biography pre-
sented. I was a little surprised by the absence of Paolo 
Savi that is related to the Italian common name of Sala-
mandrina perspicillata but then I realized that the most 
used English common name for this species is Northern 
spectacled salamander, thus it does not include the word 
“Savi”. This poses some questions about the choice of 
common names that, especially for amphibians and rep-
tiles, are often controversial so that for some species a 
plethora of names is available.
Is this book really complete and up to date? I had the 
opportunity to keep it at hand on my desk for nearly three 
months, I checked it often and I am quite sure that the 
book is the result of a long and careful work; with 2668 
eponyms listed to honour 1609 names I am fairly sure 
that is almost complete. Even species recently described as 
Lyciasalamandra yehudahi 2012 dedicated to the father of 
middle east herpetology Yehudah Werner were included.
This book will unfortunately not going to be a best-
seller as there are not so many people that are eager to 
know that Uraeotyphlus oommeni is dedicated to the 
Indian zoologist Oommen V. Oommen, but anyway I 
found it a very useful tool, especially when the eponym 
you are looking for is not so famous or when the name 
honoured is a living zoologist. 
178 Book Review
As a final note, I would like to add that the tireless 
authors of this book already published few other epo-
nym dictionaries dedicated to Reptiles and Mammals that 
you’ll find listed among the references (while the ones 
dedicated to Shark and Rays, and to Birds are in press). 
There are still many species on the Planet that are wait-
ing to be described and named, this is the reason why I 
sincerely hope that all these books will be updated on a 
regular basis, maybe taking in account also fossil species 
so that Eobarbourula delfinoi the eponym of the president 
of our Societas Herpetologica Italica could be listed.  
The book can be purchased at the cost of €43.99 
from the publisher’s website (http://www.pelagicpublish-
ing.com, ISBN 978-1-907807-41-1). 
REFERENCES
Beolens, B., Watkins, M., Grayson, M. (2009): The epo-
nym dictionary of Mammals. Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity Press, Baltimore. 
Beolens, B., Watkins, M., Grayson, M. (2011): The epo-
nym dictionary of reptiles. Johns Hopkins University 
Press, Baltimore.
Beolens, B., Watkins, M., Grayson, M. (2013): The epo-
nym dictionary of amphibians. Pelagic Publishing, 
Exeter. 


Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson. The Eponym Dictionary of Amphibians.

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Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson. The Eponym Dictionary of Amphibians.

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