The Calusa Herpetological Society
Of Southwest Florida
  

Thursday, November 2, 2006  - 7:00 pm

SPEAKER & TOPIC :  This evening professor Mike Knight will present “ In Search of the Luminous Lizard of Trinidad, Proctoporus shrevei. 

 In the mid-1930s, naturalist Ivan Sanderson, collecting specimens for the British Museum in London, stumbled upon a cave entrance in the mountainous jungles of Trinidad.  He found a small lizard there with peculiar spots running along its flanks.  Sanderson reported that upon capturing the lizard, he held it up and "both sides lit up... like the portholes on a ship."  Despite such a seemingly significant discovery, the legendary luminous lizard escaped scientific study until the year 2000 when Mike Knight and Bill Gutzke embarked upon a scientific expedition to document the species.  Overcoming treacherous terrain, vampire bats, fer-de-lance vipers, and an undiagnosed jungle fever, Knight and Gutzke completed the very first scientific study of the lizard since its discovery. 

  Mike Knight currently works as a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University and as an Audubon Society wildlife warden at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.  With over 10 years experience as a college professor, Knight has conducted scientific research on geckos from Afghanistan, salamanders from Virginia, and the exotic reptiles & amphibians of south Florida.  He has led extended field ecology & herpetology courses throughout the Everglades / Big Cypress region, the Appalachians, Caribbean, and the Neotropics.  While he currently focuses his research on understanding the dynamics between exotic and native herpetofauna in Florida, he also pursues exploratory research on tropical herps.

MEETING SITE : In Ft. Myers, Florida at the Calusa Nature Center , near Colonial Blvd. (S. R. 884) and Interstate 75. Get off I-75 at exit #136 (old exit #22) and go west (towards the coast) on 884 (Colonial Blvd.) for one-half mile, then turn right at the first traffic light onto Ortiz Ave., and then left into the Nature Center after only one-quarter mile. The Iona House meeting site is an older dark green house located to the left (as you enter the grounds) at the rear of the complex, back near where the school busses are parked.  The meeting opens at 7:00 pm, and the speaker usually starts no later than 7:15 pm.  Non-members must pay $3.00 at the door to attend the meeting. Click HERE for a map to the meeting site.  After each meeting, all attendees are invited to join "the core" for an informal nightcap at RJ Gator's Restaurant / Sports Bar on Colonial Blvd. where we usually gather following meetings which end at 8:30 pm.

WHO'S INVITED ? You are! Anyone with an interest in any aspect of herpetology or herpetoculture is welcome to attend, learn, and exchange their experiences with our friendly membership. Come out to meet others who keep, breed or study reptiles and amphibians, and let them share their fascination with you. We average 35 – 70 people attending every meeting.

Cookies and cold soda, a nightly raffle of live herps, herp products, and books follow each speaker's talk, and lots of herp camaraderie, gossip, and fun can be counted upon at all meetings !

For more info , call (239) 728-2390 or (239) 481-3525 or  EMAIL: info@calusaherp.org   

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