A new illustrated field guide, available on the Web, and developed by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey and University of California, San Diego, can help users identify 64 native reptile and amphibian species and seven introduced species found in the counties of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside and San Diego. The field guide's species inventory has color photos, scientific and common names, size and distinguishing characters, information on juveniles and differences in sexes, and additional notes.
Visitors can click on hyperlinks to compare species that are similar in appearance.
The field guide also contains hyperlinks for lists of the species, a quick index with pull-down menus, and illustrations of tadpoles and technical terminology. Introduced species are included in the field guide if they are relatively widespread and have self-sustaining natural populations. With funding from state and federal agencies, and non-government organizations, Fisher and Case have documented more than 50,000 individual reptiles and amphibians from coastal southern California study sites. Data collected from their study will be analyzed and combined with global positioning system data to map the biological resources of the coastal southern California region to aid habitat conservation planning efforts in the region. As the nation's largest water, earth and biological science and civilian mapping agency, the USGS works in cooperation with more than 2,000 organizations across the country to provide reliable, impartial, scientific information to resource managers, planners, and other customers.