A Reference Database of Reptile Images
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Abstract While there are millions of reptile images available online, they are not well organized and not easily findable, accessible, interoperable, or reproducible (FAIR). More importantly, they are not standardized and thus hardly comparable. Here we present a reference database of more than 14,000 standardized images of 1,045 reptile species (969 lizard and 76 snake species), that are based on preserved specimens in 20 different collections, including 533 type species of genera and type specimens of 72 species. All images were taken with standardized views, including dorsal and ventral body shots as well as dorsal, ventral, and lateral views of the heads and other body parts. Although only 11 out of the 20 collections are cross-referenced in Vertnet, some others are indexed in GBIF, and this fraction will certainly grow in the near future. The utility of this and similar image collections will further grow with additional material and further cross-referencing, e.g., to DNA sequence databases or citizen science projects. The images are searchable and freely available on Morphobank.org (Project 5121) and on Figshare.com.
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The recent and rapid net increase in recognized mammal species is comparable to activity in other major clades of life, for example, reptiles: +49% from 1995 to 2024; amphibians: +60% from 1985 to 2024; foraminifera: +21% from 1987 to 2020.
“The recent and rapid net increase in recognized mammal species is comparable to activity in other major clades of life, for example, reptiles: +49% from 1995 to 2024 (Uetz 2016; Uetz et al. 2024); amphibians: +60% from 1985 to 2024 (AmphibiaWeb 2024); foraminifera: +21% from 1987 to 2020 (Hayward et al. 2020).”
From How many mammal species are there now? Updates and trends in taxonomic, nomenclatural, and geographic knowledge (2025) · cites this paper as Uetz et al. 2024
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References 12 · Cited by 13
Research works printed but not linked: 9
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- Guralnick, R. P., et al. (2016) 'The Importance of Digitized Biocollections as a Source of Trait Data and a New VertNet Resource.' Database 2016: baw158. https://doi.org/10.1093/database/baw158. · DOI
- Marshall, B.M., et al. (2020) 'An Inventory of Online Reptile Images.' Zootaxa 4896 (2): 251-64. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4896.2.6. · DOI
- Matthews P. C. (2017) FAIRness in Scientific Publishing. F1000Research 5:2816 https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.10318.2 · DOI
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- Ruthsatz, K., Scherz, M. D., & Vences, M. (2021) Dissecting the tree of life: the prospect of open-access digital resources in morphology, anatomy and taxonomy in training the next generation of zoologists. Zootaxa, 5016 (3): 448-450, https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5016.3.10 · DOI
- Uetz, P., Darko, Y.A. & Voss, O. (2023) Towards digital descriptions of all extant reptile species. Megataxa 10 (1): 027-042; https://doi.org/10.11646/megataxa.10.1.6 · DOI
- Uetz, P. et al. (eds.) (2024) The Reptile Database, http://www.reptile-database.org , accessed 8 March 2024.
- Wüster, W., Thomson, S. A., O'shea, M., & Kaiser, H. (2021) Confronting taxonomic vandalism in biology: conscientious community self-organization can preserve nomenclatural stability. Biol. J. of the Linnean Society 133 (3): 645-670, https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blab009 · DOI
- Authors
- Uetz, P. H., Patel, M., Gbadamosi, Z., Nguyen, A., & Shoope, S.
- Affiliations
- Virginia Commonwealth University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Uetz, Peter H.
- Venue
- Taxonomy
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2024-10-11
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 723-732
- ISSN
- 2673-6500 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4403335282
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 2
- FWCI
- 2.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Taxonomy (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- Preprints.org (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Amphibian and Reptile Biology
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Research Data Management Practices
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Invertebrate Taxonomy and Ecology
- Keywords
- snakes, type specimens, preserved specimens, image database, FAIR data, GBIF, sample collection
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