Herpetofauna

Amphibians and reptiles under observation in Austria

Importance and evaluability of databases increase with the extent, the precision and the currency of the data stored.

The Natural History Museum Vienna, one of the largest non-university research institutions in Austria, houses more than 30 million objects from the fields of biology, earth sciences and human sciences. For 35 years, the Amphibian and Reptile Collection has also been collecting data on the historical and recent distribution of amphibian and reptile species in Austria. All distribution data are documented in the Austrian Herpetofauna Database (current data status: about 110,000 findings). In collecting observations, the Herpetological Collection is also dependent on the help of numerous volunteers who make their discovery reports and observations available for inclusion in the database. On the homepage www.herpetofauna.at one can report online amphibian or reptile observations, which are to be included in the database. The homepage was created about 15 years ago by dedicated "Citizen Scientists" and has been maintained by volunteers since then. There is also the possibility to report sightings analogously by mail (data entry form). In addition to localities and taxon, accompanying data such as habitat characteristics, endangerment, stage of development etc. are recorded. Only data that are photographically documented are processed. So far, more than 20,000 records from "Citizen Scientists" have been included in the database and are available for research.

If you know autochthonous amphibian and reptile species, we ask you to report your sightings to us.

Report observations online

Herpetological reports of sightings can either be entered on the page www.herpetofauna.at or sent by e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Since both reporting options store the data in the same database, we ask you to enter your observations only once and only in one place.

Report sightings by mail

For this purpose, a data entry form is available, which we ask you to print out, fill in and send to the following address or bring it to the museum.

Silke Schweiger
Herpetologische Sammlung
Naturhistorisches Museum
Burgring 7
1010 Wien

A separate survey form must be used for each reference site and observation period.

• Notes and explanations for completion
• Data entry form

Thank you for your cooperation!

Podcast episode

If you would like to learn more, you can listen to the Wissen macht Leute podcast episode about the project (in German). More information can be found here.

Further reading

Die Amphibien und Reptilien des Neusiedler See-Gebietes
181 Seiten, 316 Abbildungen
Bestimmungsschlüssel für alle im Gebiet vorkommenden Amphibien- und Reptilienarten
QR-Codes mit Amphibienrufen
Medieninhaber und Herausgeber: © 2015, Verlag des Naturhistorischen
Museums Wien, Burgring 7, 1010 Wien, Österreich, www.nhm-wien.ac.at. Nationalpark
Neusiedler See – Seewinkel Informationszentrum, Hauswiese, 7142 Illmitz, Österreich, www.nationalpark-neusiedlersee-seewinkel.at
ISBN 978-3-902421-95-1