Expeditions
Expeditions to the Guayana Highlands and Ascents of Tepuis
Professional Experience with Tepuis of South America
1987-88 VENEZUELA. Investigate biotic diversity, fire ecology, pitcher plant bogs of La Gran Sabana; ascend Mt. Roraima on foot, 29 December-8 January.
1988 VENEZUELA. Expedition on foot to EL Libertador on the summit of Auyantepui, 16 December-2 January. Article published 1990. Where Angel trod: Ascent of Auyantepui. South American Explorer #25:17-23. Text plus two photographs.
1989 VENEZUELA. Expedition via boat up the Orinoco River, down the Rio Casiquiare to San Carlos de Rio Negro; visit Estación Biología IVIC; 3-24 January. Article published 1989. The Casiquiare mystery. South American Explorer #23:14-19. Text plus four photographs.
1990 VENEZUELA. Guiana Shield investigating fire ecology of La Gran Sabana and wetlands ecology; visited Angel Falls on Auyantepui; 25 August-7 September.
1991 VENEZUELA. Organized and led twelve people on a 12-day natural history adventure tour to the summit of Mt. Roraima, Estado Bolivar, 12-24 January.
1991 VENEZUELA. Climbed north slope of Cerro Duida, Territorio Federal Amazonas, from base camp at Y’ekuana Indian village, Culebra, 25 January-4 February.
1991 VENEZUELA. Kayaked the upper Rio Ventuari, tributary to Rio Orinoco, Territorio Federal Amazonas, from el Salto Oso downriver to San Juan de Manapiare, 5-14 February.
1991 VENEZUELA. Organized and led a two-man expedition up the Orinoco River to La Esmeralda and 22 days on Cerro Duida tepui in Territorio Federal Amazonas, 4 November-18 December.
1992 VENEZUELA. Explored Caño Negro and north face of Cerro Duida tepui, Territorio Federal Amazonas, 15 January-3 February.
1992 VENEZUELA. First ascent of Cerro Cuao tepui, 8-16 February.
1992 VENEZUELA. 2nd ascent and scientific exploration of Auyantepui, Estado Bolivar, 18 February-2 March.
1992 VENEZUELA. Estado Bolivar. Photography expedition to summit of Cerro Kukenan for table-top book, ISLANDS IN THE SKY, with co-author, James Valentine. 28 November-22 December.
1992 VENEZUELA. First person to measure height of El Salto Kukenan, reputedly the World’s third highest waterfall. 15 December.
1993 VENEZUELA. Estado Amazonas. 30-day, 225-mile walk through lowland rainforest up the Cunucunuma River and then down the Yatiti and Ventuari river valleys. 13 February-20 March. Trek published as Across Amazonas article in South American Explorer Magazine 74:6-12.
1993 VENEZUELA. Estado Bolivar. One week field work on La Gran Sabana, 21-29 March and exploration of Rio Carrao and Rio Churun below Angel Falls on Auyantepui.
2003 GUYANA. National Geographic Explorer Expedition to the northern “Prow” of Mt. Roraima, on foot through 60 miles of virgin rainforest, cloud forest, and exploration of the summits of Mt. Roraima and Mt. Weiassipu. First botanical collections made on the latter. 14 March – 12 April.
2003 GUYANA. Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Society, and Wildlife Conservation International funded my one-man expedition to Wokomung massif to study biodiversity (principally amphibians and reptiles, but including other organismal groups) along an altitudinal transect up unexplored Wokomung massif. One month exploring 35 km X 17 km plateau alone. 7 July – 6 Aug.
2006 VENEZUELA. Photography expedition to the eastern tepuis, including a 16-day stay on the summits of Acopan and Chimanta tepuis with book co-author Jim Valentine. 14 January – 4 February.
2006 GUYANA. Photography expedition to Maringma Tepui, including six days on summit with co-author Jim Valentine. 5 – 14 February.
2006 GUYANA. Reconnaissance of the vicinity of Imbaimadai on the Mazaruni River, Mt. Roraima, Mt. Weiassipu, Mt. Maringma, and the Acawaio Amerindian villages of Pipillipi and Wayalayeng for a documentary film. 2 – 11 April.
2006 GUYANA. On-camera scientist in an hour-long documentary film by North Face and Rush High Definition TV about the eastern tepuis of Guyana. Documentary ends in a technical climb of the north Prow of Mt. Roraima. 30 October - 27 November.
2006 GUYANA. Expedition to conduct an altitudinal transect for amphibians and reptiles up the SW side of the Wokomung Massif to the summit called Mt. Kopinang, from the Patamono Amerindian village of Kopinang. 28 November – 16 December.
2007 VENEZUELA. A 6-week photography expedition by helicopter and fixed-wing plane to the summits of Kukenan, Ilu, Los Testigos, Auyantepui, Neblina, Duida, Autana, Paru, and others with book co-author James Valentine. 29 April – 16 June.
2007 GUYANA. A 3-week scientific expedition to collect chemicals from the skins of new species of frogs discovered by Means on Mt. Kopinang of the Wokomung Massif, funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. 5 – 24 July.
2008 VENEZUELA AND GUYANA. A 3-week expedition to the summit of Mt. Kukenan in Venezuela and to the vicinity of Double-Drop Falls on the northeast side of Mt. Roraima, Guyana, to film rare toadlets of the genus Oreophrynella for the BBC television documentary, LIFE. 23 March – 11 April.
2010 VENEZUELA. A 19-day expedition to the summits of Yuruani and Tramen tepuis with colleagues Philippe Kok of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and César Barrio-Amorós, Fundación Andígena, Venezuela, to advance knowledge of the biodiversity of the Guiana Shield. 12 November – 1 December.
2010 BRAZIL/VENEZUELA. A 12-day expedition to the summit of Uei Tepui (Cerrro El Sol) on the border between Brazil and Venezuela, alone searching for unique biota and obtaining photographs. 2 - 13 December.
2012 GUYANA. 22-day National Geographic Explorations Committee-funded expedition to the Wokomung Massif in Guyana for the purpose of filming Bruce Means’s herpetological researches there. 10 June – 1 July.
2012 VENEZUELA/GUYANA. 26-day National Geographic Explorations Committee-funded expedition to Weiassipu Tepui in Guyana and Ilu Tepui in Venezuela. 2 July - 27 July.
2013 VENEZUELA. 21-day field exploration of Chimanta Tepui and Auyantepui to obtain new data on tepui biota and photographs for book, “Islands in the Sky, Lost Worlds of El Dorado.” 12 November-2 December.
2014 GUYANA 21-day expedition to film two episodes of Discovery Channel’s Cave Men adventure/exploration program. Means was the wildlife consultant and collected vertebrate species on the Burro Burro River and at Utshi and Kamerang waterfalls. 1-21 April.
2014 VENEZUELA 31-day expedition to obtain photographs to finish book on tepuis, “Islands in the Sky.’ Investigate Guacamaya Cave and waterfalls on Auyantepui, and photograph Cueva Fantasma at the base of Aparaman Tepui, 18 June – 18 July.
2021 GUYANA 35-day National Geographic Explorer Expedition to document the biodiversity of tepuis of the Pacaraima Mountains and climb Weiassipu Tepui with Alex Honnold and Mark Synnott. I had my 80th birthday on this expedition. 4 February – 14 March.
Tepui & Guiana Shield Publications of D. Bruce Means
79. Means, D. Bruce. 1989. The Casiquiare Mystery. South American Explorer #23:14-19.
82. Means, D. Bruce. 1990. Where Angel Trod: Ascent of Auyantepui. South American Explorer #25:17-23.
109. Means, D. Bruce. 1993. Sez who? Of waterfalls and boundary markers. South American Explorer 34:16-22. Text plus seven photographs, including cover in color.
118. Means, D. Bruce. 1994. Venomous snakes of South America. South American Explorer 36:23-29. Text plus five photographs.
127. Means, D. Bruce. 1995. Fire ecology of the Guayana Region, northeastern South America. Pages 61-77 in Susan I. Cerulean and R. Todd Engstrom, eds. Fire in wetlands: a management perspective. Proceedings of the Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference, No. 19. Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, FL.
190. Means, D. Bruce. 2003. Kukenan. FAUNA 4(3):16-21.
201. Means, D. Bruce. 2004a. Walk across Amazonas. South American Explorer #74:6-12.
206. Means, D. Bruce. 2004b. Amphibians along Elevational Transects in West-central Guyana. Final Report to U. S. National Museum, Smithsonian Institute. 112 pp.
207. Means, D. Bruce. 2004c. Amphibians along Elevational Transects in West-central Guyana. Final Report to National Geographic Society for Grant #7498-03. 14 pp.
215. Means, D. Bruce. 2004d. Geographic distribution: Bothriopsis taeniata. Herpetological Review 35(4):410.
Grant, T., D. R. Frost, J. P. Caldwell, R. Gagliardo, C. F. B. Haddad, P. J. R. Kok, D. B. Means, B. P. Noonan, W. Schargel, and W. C. Wheeler. 2006. Phylogenetic systematics of dart-poison frogs and their relatives (Anura: Athesphatanura: Dendrobatidae). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 299:1-262.
Means, D. Bruce and Michelle Kalamandeen. 2007. Geographic distribution. Oxyrhopus melanogenys. Herpetological Review 38(1):105.
238. Means, D. Bruce and Jay M. Savage. 2007. Three new malodorous rainfrogs of the genus Pristimantis (Anura: Brachycephalidae) from the Wokomung Massif in west-central Guyana, South America. Zootaxa 1658:39-55.
Means, D. Bruce. 2007. Geographic distribution. Atractus zidoki. Herpetological Review 38(4):484-485
253. Means, D. Bruce, William E. Duellman, and Valerie C. Clark. 2008. Ovipositing behavior in the egg-brooding frog Stefania ayangannae (Anura, Hemiphractidae). Phyllomedusa 7(2):143-148.
254. Heinicke, Matthew P., William E. Duellman, Linda Trueb, D. Bruce Means, Ross D. MacCulloch, and S. Blair Hedges. 2009. A new frog family (Anura: Terrarana) from South America and an expanded direct-developing clade revealed by molecular phylogeny. Zootaxa 2211:1-35.
256. Magalhães, Célio, Michael Türkay, and D. Bruce Means. 2009. The status of Kunziana Pretzmann, 1971 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Pseudothelphusidae), with a redescription of the holotype of K. irengis Pretzmann, 1971. Zootaxa 2276:40-48.
259. Means, D. Bruce. 2009. Ophidism in the Green Palmsnake, Philodryas viridissimus. Wilderness and Environmental Medicine 21:46-49.
263. Kok, Philippe J. R., D. Bruce Means, and Franky Bossuyt. 2011. A new highland species of Pristimantis Jiménez de la Espada, 1871 (Anura: Strabomantidae) from the Pantepui Region, northern South America. Zootaxa 2934:1-19.
267. Kok, Philippe J. R., Ross D. MacCulloch, D. Bruce Means, K. Roelants, I. Van Bocxlaer, and Franky Bossuyt. 2012. Low genetic diversity in tepui summit vertebrates. Current Biology 22:589-590, with supplementary material at doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.06.034.
270. Kok, Philippe J. R., Bert Willaert, and D. Bruce Means. 2013. A new diagnosis and description of Anomaloglossus roraima (La Marca, 1998) (Anura: Aromobatidae: Anomaloglossinae), with description of its tadpole and call. South American Journal of Herpetology 8(1):1-17.
271. Jungfer, K., J. Faivovich, J. M. Padial, S. Castroviejo-Fisher, M. M. Lyra, B. V. M. Berneck, P. P. Iglesias, P. J. R. Kok, R. D. MacCulloch, M. T. Rodrigues, V. K. Verdade, C. P. Torres-Gastello, J. C. Chapparo, P. H. Valdujo, S. Riechle, J. Moravec, V. Gvozdík, G. Gagliardi-Urrutia, R. Ernst, I. de la Riva, D. B. Means, A. P. Lima, J. Celsa Senaris, W. C. Wjheelr, and C. F. B. Haddad. 2013. Systematics of an Amazonian puzzle: A phylogenetic analysis of spiny-backed treefrogs (Osteocephalus) reveals its paraphyly and a high number of cryptic species (Amphibia, Anura, Hylidae). Zoologica Scripta 1-30, 1-68 (Supplementary information.)
272. Kok, Philippe J. R. and D. Bruce Means. 2013. First record of the genus Anadia (Reptilia, Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae) from Guyana based on an enigmatic specimen from Mount Kopinang, Wokomung Massif. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi. Ciencias Naturais 8(1):27-39.
276. Kok, Philippe J. R., Sebastian Ratz, Marco Tegelaar, D. Bruce Means, Fabien Aubret, and Franky Bossuyt. 2015. Out of taxonomic limbo: A name for the species of Tepuihyla (Anura: Hylidae) from the Chimantá Massif, Pantepui region, northern South America. Salamandra, German Journal of Herpetology 51(4):283-314.
278. Kok, Philippe J. R, Valerio G. Russo, Sebastian Ratz, D. Bruce Means, Ross D. MacCulloch, Amy Lathrop, Fabien Aubret, and Franky Bossuyt. 2016. Evolution in the South American “Lost World”: Insights from multilocus phylogeography of Stefanias (Anura, Hemiphractidae, Stefania). Journal of Biogeography. doi: 10.1111/jbi.12860.
282. Kok, Philippe J. R., S. Ratz, R. D. MacCulloch, A. Lathrop, R. Desfoulian, F. Aubret, and D. Bruce Means. 2017. Historical biogeography of the paleoendemic toad genus Oreophrynella (Amphibia: Bufonidae) sheds a new light on the origin of the Pantepui endemic terrestrial biota. Journal of Biogeography 2017:1-11. HYPERLINK "https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13093" https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13093
283. Kok, Philippe J. R., R. Dezfoulian, D. Bruce Means, C. L. Barrio-Amoros, and A. Fouquet. 2018. Amended diagnosis and redescription of Pristimantis marmoratus (Boulenger, 1900) (Amphibia: Craugastoridae), with description of its advertisement call and notes on its breeding ecology and phylogenetic relationships. European Journal of Taxonomy 397:1-30.
284. Kok, Philippe J. R., M. A. Bittenbinder, J. K. van der Berg, S. Marques-Souza, P. M. Sales Nunes, A. Laking, M. Teixeira Jr., A. Fouquet, D. B. Means, R. D. MacColloch, and M. Trefaut Rodrigues. 2018. Integrative taxonomy of the gymnophthalmid lizard Neusticurus rudis Boulenger, 1900, identifies a new species in the eastern Pantepui region, north-eastern South America. Journal of Natural History, pp. 1-38.
286. Pinheiro, P. D. P., P. J. R. Kok, B. P. Noonan, D. B. Means, C. F. B. Haddad, J. Faivovich. 2018. A new genus of Cophomantini, with comments on the taxonomic status of Boana liliae (Anura, Hylidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society, 2018, XX, 1-20. With 6 figures.
296. Means, D. Bruce and César Barrio-Amorós. 2018. Islands in the Sky: Snakes on South American Tepuis. Pages 310-329 in H. B. Lillywhite and M. Martins, eds. Islands and Snakes. Oxford University Press, New York.
298. Kok, P. J. R., M. A. J. Van der Velden, D. B. Means, S. Ratz, and R. W. McDiarmid. 2020. Coping with the extremes: Comparative osteology of the tepui-associated toad Oreophrynella and its bearing on the evolution of osteological novelties in the genus. Zoological Journal of the Linnaean Society 2020, XX, 1-26 with 11 figures.
306 Means, D. Bruce, Matthew Heinicke, S. Blair Hedges, Ross MacCulloch, and Amy Lathrop. 2023. Exceptional diversity of Pristimantis landfrogs (Anura: Terraranae) on the Wokomung Massif, Guyana, with descriptions of three new species. Journal of Vertebrate Biology (Accepted for publication 3 May 2023).
307 Kok, Philippe J.R. and D. Bruce Means. 2023. Hidden in the Mists, Molecular phylogenetic position and description of a new genus and species of dipsadid snake (Serpentes, Dipsadidae, Xenodontinae) recently collected in the remote cloud forest of the Lost World. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (submitted 1-12-2023).
309. Means, D. Bruce, Ross MacCulloch, Amy Lathrop, and Philippe P. J. Kok. 2020. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Wokomung Massif, Guyana. (In preparation.)
310 Means, D. Bruce and Philippe P. J. Kok. 2023. Amphibians and reptiles of the Upper Paikwa River drainage basin, Guyana. In preparation.
Books
Means, D. Bruce. 2023. Basecamp in the Tropics, My Adventures Discovering Biodiversity in South America. ECO Press, Rodeo, New Mexico. In press.
Means, D. Bruce and James Valentine. 2023? ISLANDS IN THE SKY: LOST WORLDS OF EL DORDO. A coffee-table photography book about the natural history of one of the planet's premier wilderness areas as revealed through the authors’ explorations and photography of remote mesas in the rainforests of the upper Orinoco basin. Foreward by Edward O. Wilson. (Submitted to a publisher.)
Documentary Films
INTO THE LOST WORLD. Premiered 22 February 2004. A National Geographic Ultimate Explorer documentary film about a 30-day walking and climbing expedition through trackless rainforests of Guyana to the northern “Prow” of Mt. Roraima, the mysterious mountain that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Lost World” novel. D. B. Means is the on-camera ecologist for the film, explaining the geology and ecology of the region. Running time: 1 hour.
LEGENDS OF THE LOST WORLD. An hour-long documentary film along an elevational transect up the north end of Mt. Roraima, ending with a spectacular rock-climb up the ultimate cliff made for Rush HD Television Channel. D. B. Means is the on-camera ecologist for the film, explaining the geology and ecology of the region. Released September 2007. Running time: 1 hr, 17 min.
RETURN TO THE TEPUIS. A 9:24-minute documentary film about Bruce Means’s rappel 200 feet down into a chasm on Weiassipu Tepui in search of an extremely rare frog found only there. Documentary by Jenny Nichols of Pongo Media Productions. Screenings: HYPERLINK "http://www.mountainfilm.org/festival/archives/2013/overview" \t "_blank" MountainFilm in Telluride 2013
HYPERLINK "http://www.banffcentre.ca/mountainfestival/competitions/film/" \l "tab5" \t "_blank" Banff Mountain and Book Festival 2013 & World Tour
HYPERLINK "http://www.adventurefilm.org/film_festival/boulder/index.aspx" \t "_blank" Adventure Film 2013
HYPERLINK "http://shiftjh.org/" \t "_blank" Shift 2013
HYPERLINK "http://www.yosemitefilmfestival.com/" \t "_blank" 2013 Yosemite International Film Festival
HYPERLINK "http://www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org/category/films/2014-festival/" \t "_blank" Wild & Scenic Film Festival 2014
HYPERLINK "http://www.nywildfilmfestival.com/" \t "_blank" 2014 NY WILD Film Festival
2014 HYPERLINK "http://www.vimff.org/" \t "_blank" Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival
HYPERLINK "http://pongomediaproductions.com/projects/return-tepuis/" http://pongomediaproductions.com/projects/return-tepuis/
PRISTINE “ISLANDS IN THE SKY” ARE WINDOW ON EVOLUTION. A 3:33-minute documentary film embedded in an online National Geographic Daily News article by Brian Clark Howard. Published 28 September 2013. http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/media/tepui-roraima/?ar_a=1
THE LAST TEPUI. A National Geographic Explorer hour-long documentary about Bruce Means’s last expedition to chronicle the biodiversity of unexplored tepuis of Guyana, South America. Filmed in February and March 2021 and first streamed on Disney+ on Earth Day 2022.
Other Significant Tepui Research
Cumberlidge, Neil. 2007. A new species of freshwater crab of the genus Microthelphusa (Brachyura: Pseudothelphusidae) from the Wokomung Massif, a remote tepui in western Guyana, South America. Zootaxa 1447:57-62. A new species of freshwater/terrestrial crab, Microthelphusa meansi, named for its discoverer, D. B. Means.
James, Samuel W. 2008. Andiorrhinus meansi sp. n., a new giant earthworm from the Wokomung Massif, Guyana (Clitellata: Glossoscolecidae). Zootaxa 2116:53-58. A new species of giant earthworm named for its discoverer, D. B. Means.
Kok, Philippe J. R., Michael P. J. Nicolai, Amy Lathrop, and Ross D. MacCulloch. 2018. Anomaloglossus meansi sp. n., a new Pantepui species of the Anomaloglossus beebei group (Anuraa, Aromobatidae). ZooKeys 759:99-116.
Synnott, Mark. 2022. Up the Mountain, to a World Apart. National Geographic Magazine May 20-22 issue, 36-71 pp. An article about Bruce Means’s 35 years’ of fieldwork documenting the biodiversity of the unexplored tepuis of Guyana, South America.