Detailed accounts are given for each collected species containing morphometric and scalation data, information on natural history, comments regarding their distribution, the conservation status and key literature. Eleven new species were discovered and described during the survey period. At least five additional taxa might also represent new species but more field work and data collection are necessary to determine their status. For two snake species we provide the first country record and for 23 further species new departamental records are provided. Ongoing phylogenetic studies on the collected material aim to identify and describe further new and cryptic species.
Analyses of the stomach contents of the preserved specimens are used to study aspects of the biological diversity, ecology and behavior of animals. In fact, the diet is one of the major aspects of the ecology of a species. Diet composition can give information on trophic relationships between a species and its environment; it gives insights in feeding behavior and foraging strategies and uncovers sexual or ontogenetic differences within a species.
Published results of the project:
Koch, C., Venegas, P.J., Santa Cruz, R., Böhme, W. (2018): Annotated checklist and key to the species of amphibians and reptiles inhabiting the northern Peruvian dry forest along the Andean valley of the Marañon River and its tributaries. – Zootaxa 4385 (1): 001-101; https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4385.1.1
Koch, C. (2017): Phyllodactylus delsolari. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T48442737A48442740. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T48442737A48442740.en.
Koch, C., Flecks, M., Venegas, P.J., Bialke, P., Valverde, S., Rödder, D. (2016): Applying n-dimensional hypervolumes for species delimitation: unexpected molecular, morphological, and ecological diversity in the Leaf-Toed Gecko Phyllodactylus reissii Peters, 1862 (Squamata: Phyllodactylidae) from northern Peru. - Zootaxa 4161(1): 41-80; http://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4161.1.2
Koch, C., Venegas, P. J. (2016): A large and unusually colored new snake species of the genus Tantilla (Squamata; Colubridae) from the Peruvian Andes. - PeerJ 4:e2767; doi 10.7717/peerj.2767
Aurich, J., Koch, C., Böhme, W. (2015): Reproduction in a gecko assemblage (Squamata: Phyllodactylidae) in the Marañon Region (Peru) and comments on the largest gecko in the New World. - Phyllomedusa 14(1): 53–62.
Crespo, S., Koch, C. (2015): Notes on natural history and distribution of Callopistes flavipunctatus (Squamata: Teiidae) in northwestern Peru. - Salamandra 51(1): 57-60.
Koch, C., Venegas, P. J., Böhme, W. (2015): Three new endemic species of Epictia Gray, 1845 (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae) from the dry forest of northwestern Peru. - Zootaxa 3964 (2): 228–244; http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3964.2.4; http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E9350BA0-885F-4256-81E0-5D0B...
KOCH, C., VENEGAS, P.J., RÖDDER, D., FLECKS, M., BÖHME, W. (2013) Two new endemic species of Ameiva (Squamata: Teiidae) from the dry forest of northwestern Peru and additional information on Ameiva concolor Ruthven, 1924. Zootaxa 3745: 263-295.
AURICH , J., KOCH, C., BÖHME, W. (2011) Ecology of a unique gecko assemblage (Phyllodactylidae: Squamata) from northern Peru. North-Western Journal of Zoology 0,747 7: 310-317.
KOCH, C., BERAÚN, A.M. (2011) Notes on geographic distribution: Squamata, Phyllodactylidae, Phyllodactylus thompsoni Venegas, Townsend, Koch and Böhme, 2008 and Phyllodactylus delsolari Venegas, Townsend, Koch and Böhme, 2008: Latitudinal and altitudinal distribution extension and geographic distribution map. Check List 7: 272-275.
KOCH, C., VENEGAS, P.J., GARCIA-BRAVO, A., BÖHME, W. (2011) A new bush anole (Iguanidae, Polychrotinae, Polychrus) from the upper Marañon basin, Peru, with a redescription of Polychrus peruvianus (Noble, 1924) and additional information on P. gutturosus Berthold, 1845. ZooKeys 0,879, 141: 79-107.
VENEGAS, P., TOWNSEND, J.H., KOCH, C., BÖHME, W. (2008) Two New Sympatric Species of Leaf-Toed Geckos (Gekkonidae: Phyllodactylus) from the Balsas Region of the Upper Maranon, Valley, Peru. Journal of Herpetology 42 (2): 386–396
KOCH, C., VENEGAS, P., BÖHME, W. (2006) A remarkable discovery: description of a big-growing new gecko (Squamata: Gekkonidae: Phyllopezus) from northwestern Peru. Salamandra 42 (2/3): 145-150
