More than 14,000 species and subspecies of reptiles have been described. The Reptile Database now provides descriptions for about 10,000 species from the primary and secondary literature. These morphological descriptions are currently supplemented by live photographs of more than 6,000 species and a pilot project for a reference library of 16,000 high-resolution images representing more than 1,200 species (preserved specimens). Online links to GenBank for ~8,700 species and to IUCN for ~10,000 species provide DNA sequences and range maps for genetic and geographic details, respectively.

Since full-text descriptions have limited practical value, we are working to convert textual descriptions of species into a structured database of traits so that characters can also be compared and analyzed more systematically. When integrated with geographic range maps, species identifications can be substantially simplified and also made available for non-experts. We will show examples of how these trait tables, images, extracted color patterns, etc., can be used to identify and describe reptiles on a large scale.

In combination with phylogenetic trees, our dataset will allow detailed macro-ecological studies and other biological studies.

Recent references:
Uetz, P.; Darko, Y.A.; Voss, O. (2023) Towards digital descriptions of all extant reptile species. Megataxa 010 (1): 027–042, https://doi.org/10.11646/megataxa.10.1.6
Uetz P, Patel M., Gbadamosi Z., ShoopeS., Nguyen A. (2024) A reference database of reptile images. BioRxiv preprint, https://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2024.03.08.584020v1