ERIC R. PIANKA, a world-renowned ecologist, has spent his life studying the evolutionary ecology of the second-largest group of terrestrial vertebrates, lizards. Pianka is the Denton A. Cooley Centennial Professor of Zoology at the University of Texas at Austin. His past and present research covers a broad range of topics pertaining to the ecology, biology, and evolution of reptiles. His text Evolutionary Ecology, first published in 1974, went through six editions and has been translated into many languages.
DENNIS R. KING (1942-2002) was one of the world's leading experts on lizards. For many years before his death, he was employed as Research Officer, Agriculture Protection Board of Western Australia. King is author of more than 100 papers on Australian varanids, mammals, and conservation, among other topics.