INTRODUCTION This paper provide a checklist, illustrated keys, range maps and summarized information on the biology and ecology of the amphibians of northwest Africa. The geographic area covered includes Morocco (including Western Sahara), Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. The regions of Mauritania, Mali, Niger, and Tchad located north of 20° longitude are included. Saharan mountains, specially the Tibesti, are probably the least known regions in the area. Pellegrin (1936) and Scortecci (1940) mention the presence of Bufo sp. and Rana sp. in the Tibesti massif. I could not locate specimens of amphibians from these mountains in museum collections. Major works of the amphibians of the region are those of Pasteur and Bons (1959) on Morocco, Doumergue (1901) on Algeria and Scortecci (1936) on Tripolitania (Libya) . Information on newts is found in Thorn (1968) . For a more comprehensive bibliography of the area see Busack (1976) . Information on the amphibians of Egypt is found in Marx (1968) . To prepare distribution maps I examined specimens of the following institutions: American Museum of Natural History, New York (AMNH) ; British Museum (Natural History) , London (BMNH) ; California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco (CAS); Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh (CM) ; Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (FMNH); Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Los Angeles (LACM); Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa (MSNG) ; Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, Geneve (MHNG) ; Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard (MCZ); Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley (MVZ); Museo Zoologico della Specola, Firenze (MZUF) ; National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC (USNM) ; Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel (NHMB) ; Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien (NMW) ; Naturhistoriska Museet, Goteborg (NHMG) ; Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden (RMNH); Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt (SMF) ; Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm (NHRM) ; University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Ann Arbor (UMMZ); Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn (ZFMK); Zoologisches Staatsammlung, Munchen (ZSM).
BioStor
