Abstract
By September 2009 an estimated 9084 species of extant reptiles have been described by a total of 4579 papers and books which are listed in a supplementary file. In this review I summarize the history of these species beginning with Linnaeus in 1758. While it took 80 years to reach the first 1000 species in 1838, species descriptions since then have been added roughly at the rate of 1000 new species every 20 years, with a significant acceleration only during the past two decades. The top 40 most productive herpetologists (in terms of “species output”) have described 4780 species, amounting to over half of all species. George Albert Boulenger leads this elite list with 573 species that are still recognized today. Historically, 18 classic works of the 18th and 19th century can be singled out, describing almost 1000 species still recognized, including the Erpétologie Générale, published between 1834 and 1854 in nine volumes. The top 25 journals have published more than 3600 species descriptions in the past 250 years (including 169 in Zootaxa, ranked sixth), corresponding to about 40% of all species.
References
Adler, K. (1989) Contributions to the history of herpetology. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Ithaca, NY, 202 pp.
Adler, K. (2007) Contributions to the history of herpetology, Volume 2. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, St. Louis, MO, 389 pp.
Baird, S.F. & Girard, C. (1853) Catalogue of North American reptiles in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part 1.-Serpents. Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, xvi + 172 pp.
Bauer, A.M., Günther, R. & Klipfel, M. (1995) The herpetological contributions of Wilhelm C.H. Peters (1815–1883). Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Oxford, OH, 714 pp.
Boie, F. (1827) Bemerkungen über Merrem's Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien, 1. Lieferung: Ophidier. Isis von Oken, 20, 508–566.
Boulenger, G.A. (1885) Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I.Trustees of the British Museum , London, xiv + 436 pp., 32 plates.
Boulenger, G.A. (1885) Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II. Trustees of the British Museum, London, 497 pp., 24 plates.
Boulenger, G.A. (1887) Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III. Trustees of the British Museum, London, 575 pp., 40 plates.
Boulenger, G.A. (1893) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I. Trustees of the British Museum, London, xiii + 448 pp., 28 plates
Boulenger, G.A. (1894) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II. Trustees of the British Museum, London, xi + 382 pp., 20 plates.
Boulenger, G.A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III. Trustees of the British Museum, London, xiv + 727 pp., 15 plates.
Cope, E.D. (1864) Contributions to the herpetology of tropical America. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 16, 166-–--181.
Cope, E.D. (1868) An examination of the Reptilia and Batrachia obtained by the Orton Expedition to Equador and the Upper Amazon, with notes on other species. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 20, 96–140.
De Queiroz, K. (2007) Species concepts and species delimitation. Systematic Biology, 56, 879–86.
Duméril, A.M.C. & Bibron, G. (1835) Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Tome second. Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Paris, iv + 680 pp.
Duméril, A.M.C. & Bibron, G. (1836) Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Tome troisième. Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Paris, iv + 518 pp.
Duméril, A.M.C. & Bibron, G. (1837) Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Tome quatrième. Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Paris, ii + 572 pp.
Duméril, A.M.C. & Bibron, G. (1839) Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Tome cinqième. Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Paris, viii + 855 pp.
Duméril, A.M.C. & Bibron, G. (1844) Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Tome sixième. Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Paris, xii + 610 pp.
Duméril, A.M.C., Bibron, G. & Duméril, A.H.A. (1854) Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Tome septième. Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Paris, xi + xvi + 780 pp. (première partie), xii + 756 pp. (numbered 781–1536) (deuxième partie).
Duméril, A.M.C., Bibron, G. & Duméril, A.H.A. (1854) Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Tome neuvième. Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Paris, xx + 440 pp.
Duméril, A.M.C., Bibron, G. & Duméril, A.H.A. (1854) Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Atlas. Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Paris, 24 pp. + 108 plates.
Duméril, A.M.C. & Duméril, A.H.A. (1851) Catalogue méthodique de la collection des reptiles du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris. Gide et Baudry/Roret, Paris, iv + 224 pp.
Gmelin, J.F. (1789) Caroli a Linné Systema Naturae. Volume 1, part 3. G.E. Beer, Leipzig, 484 pp. (numbered 1033–1516)
González-Forero, M. (2009) Removing ambiguity from the biological species concept. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 256, 76–80.
Gray, J.E. (1831) A synopsis of the species of Class Reptilia. In: Griffith, E. & Pidgeon, E. (Eds.) The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organisation by the Baron Cuvier with additional descriptions of all the species hither named, and of many before noticed [Vol. 9]. Whittaker, Treacher and Co., London, 481 + 110 pp.
Gray, J.E. (1845) Catalogue of the specimens of lizards in the collection of the British Museum. Trustees of the British Museum, London, xxvii + 289 pp.
Günther, A. (1858) Catalogue of Colubrine snakes of the British Museum. Trustees of the British Museum, London, xvi + 281 pp.
Günther, A. (1864) The Reptiles of British India. Taylor & Francis, London, xxvii + 452 pp.
Knapp, S., Lughadha, E.N. & Paton, A. (2005) Taxonomic inflation, species concepts and global species lists. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 20, 7–8.
Laurenti, J.N. (1768) Specimen medicum, exhibens synopsin reptilium emendatam cum experimentis circa venena et antidota reptilium austracorum, quod authoritate et consensu. Joan. Thomae, Vindobonae [Vienna], 217 pp., 5 plates.
Linnaeus, C. (1758) Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. [10th ed.]. Laurentii Salvii, Holmiae [Stockholm], iii + 824 pp.
Linnaeus, C. (1766) Systema naturæ [12th ed.]. Laurentii Salvii, Holmiae [Stockholm], 11–532 pp.
Peters, W.C.H. (1854) Diagnosen neuer Batrachier, welche zusammen mit der früher (24. Juli und 17. August) gegebenen Übersicht der Schlangen und Eidechsen mitgetheilt werden. Berichte über die zur Bekanntmachung geeigneten Verhandlungen der Königlich-Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Berlin, 1854, 614–628.
Schlegel, H. (1837) Essai sur la physionomie des serpens. Partie Générale. J. Kips, J.H.Z. & W.P. van Stockum, La Haye, xxviii + 251 pp.
Schlegel, H. (1837) Essai sur la physionomie des serpens. Partie Descriptive. J. Kips, J.H.Z. & W.P. van Stockum, La Haye, xvi + 606 pp.
Shaw, G. (1802) General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History. Vol.3. G. Kearsley, Thomas Davison, London, vii + 312 pp. [part 1], vii + 303 pp. (numbered 313–615) [part 2].
Smith, A. (1838–1849) Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa. 3 (Reptiles). [published in 28 parts of which 22 illustrate reptiles]. Smith, Elder, and Co., London, [no page numbers].
Uetz, P. (2002) Alte Bücher - neue Technik: Das Projekt "Historische Literatur" bei der EMBL-Reptiliendatenbank. Beiträge zur Literatur und Geschichte der Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde, 2, 41–46.
Uetz, P., Goll, J. & Hallermann, J. (2007) Die TIGR-Reptiliendatenbank. Elaphe, 15, 16–19.
Wiegmann, A.F.A. (1834) Herpetologia Mexicana, seu descriptio amphibiorum novae hispaniae , quae itineribus comitis de Sack, Ferdinandi Deppe et Chr. Guil. Schiede im Museum Zoologicum Berolinense Pervenerunt. Pars prima, saurorum species. Lüderitz, Berlin, iv + 54 pp.
Winston, J. (1999) Describing Species. Columbia University Press, New York, 512 pp.
Zug, G.R., Brown, H.H.K., Schulte II, J.A. & Vindum, J.V. (2006) Systematics of the garden lizards, Calotes versicolor group (Reptilia, Squamata, Agamidae), in Myanmar: Central dry zone populations. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 57, 35–68.