The Pacific is not only the world s largest body of water; its vast expanse also includes an extraordinary number and diversity of oceanic islands, from Palau and the Marianas east of the Philippines to Cocos Island and the Galapagos west of the Americas. The isolation of these islands and the extreme distances between them long prevented scientists from studying their floras and faunas in a comparative context.
But now George R. Zug, one of the world's foremost experts on the diverse reptiles and amphibians of the Pacific Basin, offers the first such systematic overview in more than half...