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The present book by Dr. André Koch is based on an intense and thorough literature study, examination of museum specimens and his own experiences from field expeditions to the Wallacean region between the Oriental and Australian faunal realms, certainly one of the most intriguing biogeographic areas in the world.
Starting his herpetological career with a taxonomic revision of the impressive giant water monitor lizards of the Varanus salvator complex, André Koch soon extended his interest to the Wallacean herpetofauna as a whole and made important discoveries also in other groups. As a result, he was able to compile a critically evaluated and annotated checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Sulawesi and its satellite islands which contains synonyms, etymologies, documentation of type material, distributional data and taxonomic comments. A very valuable chapter about the history of the herpetological exploration of Sulawesi completes Discovery, Diversity, and Distribution of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Sulawesi and its Offshore Islands.
The fact that many species names had to be equipped with a "cf", which means that the respective name is taxonomically still unclear, mirrors the still very insufficient state of knowledge even in the most basal respect of any species which is its identity. Here, André Koch's book will provide an indispensable source of information about Indo-Australian amphibians and reptiles for future research.
