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hmath729 wrote:Asking for a teammate, not in this event myself...

Does the event cover both Western/Northeastern species (if it does/doesn't, is that in writing anywhere? can't find in rules)? What field guide would you guys suggest?

It covers both, and your teammate should study both anyway. Usually he/she can just use the list and the genera on there, species aren't really that important unless it's an extremely broad genus (in which you may want to touch on some key species).

Peterson's is great, but there are two books (East/West), and Audubon's is also quite good. Peterson's is very good for ID, and lists all the genera of an order together with pictures and some ID tips, though it's a little low on binder-making. Audubon's has all the pictures in the front (not much ID material), but has pretty good descriptions, I believe. There is only one book for Audubon's.

So this means that if one were to bring a field guide, he/she wouldn't be able to bring both of Peterson's? If not, which guide would be the best to bring? Thanks.

hmath729 wrote:So this means that if one were to bring a field guide, he/she wouldn't be able to bring both of Peterson's? If not, which guide would be the best to bring? Thanks.

I briefly looked at Audobon and it should work reasonably well. Biggest issue with the field guides is that they don't typically include much broad info on genuses and families but mainly focus more on the ID of actual species.

For Sirenidae (sirens), there are two genera, Pseudobranchus and Siren. Should both be used for a fact sheet? How different are they?

matematika wrote:For Sirenidae (sirens), there are two genera, Pseudobranchus and Siren. Should both be used for a fact sheet? How different are they?

Include both as it covers the whole family. And I dont remember the specific differences but you dont have to tell them apart.

Thank you!

When you have a family like Sirenidae, with multiple genera, should I just include one fact sheet, or separate ones for the genera? I know that we won't have to distinguish between genera, but there usually aren't any general pages for families with multiple genera.

Also, for salamanders, what do they mean by "kin"? I see that the genus Desmognathus has dusky, pygmy, shovel-nosed, blackbelly, etc. salamanders. When they say "kin", do they mean these other (pygmy, blackbelly, for example) salamanders in the family?

Also, for salamanders, what do they mean by "kin"? I see that the genus Desmognathus has dusky, pygmy, shovel-nosed, blackbelly, etc. salamanders. When they say "kin", do they mean these other (pygmy, blackbelly, for example) salamanders in the family?

I think it's because the common name is used to describe the genus, so, yes they are the named species "kin"...

matematika wrote:Thank you!

When you have a family like Sirenidae, with multiple genera, should I just include one fact sheet, or separate ones for the genera? I know that we won't have to distinguish between genera, but there usually aren't any general pages for families with multiple genera.

Also, for salamanders, what do they mean by "kin"? I see that the genus Desmognathus has dusky, pygmy, shovel-nosed, blackbelly, etc. salamanders. When they say "kin", do they mean these other (pygmy, blackbelly, for example) salamanders in the family?

I made a single fact sheet for the entire family and I havent had any issues with IDS.

I mean, I guess they aren't going to ask for the genera or species specifically, so it doesn't really matter.

Plethodon (woodland salamanders and kin) have way too many species, and apparently Plethodon cinereus is the most popular species of them all. Is it okay if I just used that one species for the whole thing?

I am a first time Division B participant in Herpetology event. We had an invitational recently where the entire question papers and station pictures were copied from a Division C invitational that has been available on the wiki test exchange. It was entirely copied, even the tie breaker questions were lifted off. I'm wondering if this is usually done - do supervisors for invitationals copy questions entirely. Unfortunately, this was one wiki paper that I did not get a chance to go through, so we didn't do too well . But looks like supervisors/coaches also need to be a bit more professional, original and put in some work when setting up papers.