Recensión: Venezuela and its turtles
81
ANARTIA
Publicación del Museo de Biología de la Universidad del Zulia
ISSN 1315-642X (impresa) / ISSN 2665-0347 (digital)
Anartia, 32 (junio 2021): 81-83
Venezuela and its turtles
Trebbau, Pedro & Peter C. H. Pritchard
2018. [Second Reissue]. Madrid: Ediciones La Fauna
KPT, 227 pp. + [v].
ISBN: 978-84-09-03544-1. (hardback, 23 × 24.5 cm).
EUR 30.00. Distributed by http://lafauna.org/ and
https://www.amazon.es/
I should say that this, so-called second reissue of e
turtles of Venezuela (Pritchard & Trebbau 1984), is actu-
ally a true third edition of one of the most outstanding
monographs of the chelonians of any region of the Ameri-
can continent. It is essential for institutional, private ama-
teur and professional libraries devoted to the vertebrate
fauna of Venezuela and South America. It does not only
contain the most relevant, complete and updated informa-
tion on the chelonian reptile taxa so far recorded in the
Venezuelan territory (including its adjacent sea portion
of the Caribbean and all rivers, lakes and ponds), but also
makes a commendable contribution to the art of book
printing in relation to the second edition previously pub-
lished in Spanish in Caracas (Trebbau & Pritchard 2016).
is third edition contains more illustrations, changes the
layout and the landscape graphic format of the second
one, which nevertheless was very beautiful, but physically
awkward to handle. Clearly, this time Ediciones La Fauna
KPT aimed to oer its editorial product to the interna-
tional community market, returning to the original text in
English, currently the most read language in science*.
It cannot go unnoticed that from the second edition
on, this work appears with the authors in reverse order.
e explanation lies in the fact that the German-Venezu-
elan zoologist, Pedro Trebbau (1929-2021) had already
foreseen in 1984 the production of a version of this book
with more illustrations and adapted to popular readers.
Contents: In memoriam Saúl Gutiérrez Eljuri (1960-
2012); Acknowledgements; Presentation (by Carlos Rivero
Blanco); Foreword (by Vivian P. Páez); Introduction; List
of Venezuelan native turtles; Turtle shell nomenclature;
Key species of Venezuelan turtles; Species catalogue: Family
Podocnemidae, Family Chelidae, Family Emydidae, Family
Testudinidae, Family Geoemydidae, Family Kinosternidae,
Family Dermochelydae, Family Cheloniidae; Species pos-
sibly present in Venezuela; Species mistakenly attributed to
Venezuela; Bibliography – References; Turtles of the past: a
look at the Venezuelan fossil records (by Jorge D. Carrillo-
Briceño & Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra); Bibliography –
References; Glossary; List of abbreviations and acronyms;
About the authors.
*Venezuela and its turtles has also been published simultaneously by La Fauna KPT in Spanish, with the same size and format (Venezuela y sus tor-
tugas. 2018. [2a ed.]. Madrid: Ediciones la Fauna KPT, 227 pp. + [v], ISBN: 978-84-69-79467-8).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5571393
Á. L. Viloria
82
It was Trebbau’s well known inclination to make zoology
available to ordinary people. Accordingly, he took the ini-
tiative to deeply update the scientic content of the book,
incorporating an appreciable amount of novel informa-
tion, recent or previously omitted, that has been revealed
through eld experiences and scientic studies published
during the last forty years. For this task, he requested the
collaboration of four Venezuelan herpetologists, Tito R.
Barros, Omar E. Hernández, Hedelvy J. Guada and Gil-
son A. Rivas, who with their recognized experience in
nature surveying and their good knowledge of turtles,
were kind enough to help worthily to one of the masters
of eld vertebrate zoology of Venezuela. Trebbau also
thought of adding an original appendix that consists of a
review on turtles in the fossil record of Venezuela, written
by paleontologists Jorge D. Carrillo Briceño and Marcelo
R. Sánchez Villagra. All chapters, in addition to being il-
lustrated with the beautiful paintings made by Giorgio
Voltolina for the plates of the rst edition, include a num-
ber of good photographic images provided by more than
30 contributors. Standing out for their imaginative style,
there are two precious pictorial reconstructions of fossil
taxa in their palaeoenvironments, illustrating the paleon-
tological appendix. ese were produced by the biologi-
cal artist Jorge A. González (pp. 215, 216)
e main involvement of Peter Pritchard (1943-2020)
in this editorial project dates back to the 1970s. His career
as a world expert on turtles and his friendly initiative pro-
vided much more enthusiasm for Trebbau to advance and
complete this work. I personally remember the anecdote in
which both authors discovered the peculiar western Ven-
ezuelan endemic species, Mesoclemmys zuliae, while car-
rying out a routine to take morphometric measurements
of captive chelonians in the main pond of the Zoológico
Parque Sur de Maracaibo (the zoo of the second largest
city in Venezuela). Before his astonished eyes a specimen
of this unknown toad-headed turtle appeared. ey im-
mediately initiated a guided search, which led them to the
discovery of its natural habitat in the swamps and streams
of the neighborhood of El Guayabo, in the south of Lake
Maracaibo region. Listening to their story produced the
greatest possible enthusiasm in younger zoology amateurs
because of the evident possibilities for discovery still of-
fered by some underexplored tropical regions.
is book begins with a heartfelt dedication to the
memory of Saúl Gutiérrez (1960-2012), a respected col-
league dedicated to the science of zoological parks, and
a disciple of the rst author. A presentation written by
Carlos Rivero Blanco brings historical memories with an
inevitable tone of admiration to the authors, of whom he
was a close collaborator for several years. Vivian P. Páez
(University of Antioquia, Colombia) makes a precise
summary of the qualities of the work in a foreword that
covers virtually all what is needed to say. It is in fact a con-
cise book review.
Expanding on Páez’s opinion in relation to the content
of the book, I consider that it introduces the reader very
well to the general knowledge of turtles as living beings
and to their biology. Later on, it focuses on the physical
characteristics of their morphology and anatomy, empha-
sizing graphically the anatomical nomenclature to describe
the carapace plates, which forms the basis of the descrip-
tive terminology used throughout the work. A complete
count of the 22 living species of turtles (terrestrial, fresh-
water and marine) known in the territory of Venezuela is
presented, they are included in een genera and eight
families. Each taxon is described and illustrated individu-
ally, with input of data on its geographical distribution
- including a map for each taxon in what corresponds to
Venezuela -, its habitat, its diet and its reproductive biol-
ogy. It is also widely discussed what is known about the
exploitation of each species by human populations, for
consumption as a source of protein or as a supplier of raw
materials for ornaments such as hawksbill, nowadays fallen
into disuse due to the supervening threats because of the
slaughter for these purposes. is section leads directly to
long considerations on the conservation status of each tax-
on, a subject that the authors handle with great erudition,
since they were pioneers on this eld.
Towards the end of the book there are a couple of brief
but important sections: the rst mentions the species of
turtles not yet detected, but whose presence is predictable
in some part of the territory of Venezuela, as could be in-
ferred from their general distribution; and in the second,
explanations are presented on the erroneously cited spe-
cies for the country.
As expected from a revised and updated edition, the
list of bibliographic references at the end is complete and
exhaustive. It takes time to build up such a collection of
sources. e reader is advised to pay attention to the many
little-known papers and monographs in this section.
Finally, a small but very pleasant additional detail refers
to an unexpected cultural element. It is the representation
of native turtles in philately and notaphily in Venezuela.
e book contains reproductions of images of Venezuelan
postal stamps and banknotes, whose main motifs are the
national emblematic turtles. ese are past eorts that
have been made to spread popular knowledge of the au-
tochthonous cheloniofauna of Venezuela and to promote
its conservation worldwide.
Recensión: Venezuela and its turtles
83
REFERENCES
Pritchard, P. C. H. & P. Trebbau. 1984. e Turtles of Venezuela.
Oxford / Ohio: Society for the Study of Amphibians and
Reptiles, Contributions in Herpetology No. 2, viii + 403 pp.,
47 pls., 16 maps.
** Centro de Ecología, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientícas (IVIC), km 11 carretera Panamericana, Altos de Pipe, estado Miranda,
Venezuela.
Trebbau, P. & P. C. H. Pritchard. 2016. Venezuela y sus tortugas.
[1st ed., thus]. Caracas: Oscar Todtmann Editores, 184 pp.
Ángel L. Viloria**
