From lineages to webs: a history of the Australian Society of Herpetologists

The foundation of the Australian Society of Herpetologists in 1964 occurred at a time of change in Australian herpetology, as university-based herpetological studies began to spread, both within and between institutions, and a new generation of museum researchers was employed. The Society’s foundation can be traced to a single lineage of anuran research at the University of Western Australia, which flowered in the 1950s with the stimulus of new techniques and technology introduced to Australia by John Alexander Moore and then spread to the University of Melbourne and Monash University as former students established new research groups. This stimulus coincided with new zoology staff appointments, particularly of New Zealand herpetologists, at the University of Sydney and the Australian National University, all of whom began to support students working on herpetological topics. The spreading of herpetology across institutions and scientific disciplines necessitated increasing communication, provided by the Society through its newsletters and meetings, and the Society has continued to expand over the half a century of its existence, and in turn encouraged the diversification of Australian herpetological research and the training of new generations of herpetological students.