General data on reptiles
These are datasets we have published in GARD and GARD-related scientific papers. They are made publicly available here, and we hope they will prove useful.
As is invariably the case with such large compilations some of the data may prove partial, non up to date, or even wrong. If you find any errors we will be grateful if you could report them to Shai Meiri ([email protected]). Questions can also be addressed to Shai.
The most up-to-date reptile geographic distribution data is GARD version 1.7 that can be downloaded from Dryad here.
When using these data please cite:
Roll et. al. 2017 The global distribution of tetrapods reveals a need for targeted reptile conservation. Nature Ecology & Evolution 1:1677-1682
and
Caetano, et al. 2022. Automated assessment reveals that the extinction risk of reptiles is widely underestimated across space and phylogeny. PLoS Biology, 20(5): e3001544.
The first published version of the reptile ranges is GARD version 1.1 available via Dryad here. If you use these data please cite it as: Roll et. al. 2017 The global distribution of tetrapods reveals a need for targeted reptile conservation. Nature Ecology & Evolution 1:1677-1682
Data on multiple traits of 11,744 squamate species are available via Dryad here. From a paper titled "SquamBase – a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits" by Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812
Data on multiple traits of 12,060 reptile species are available via FigShare here. From a paper titled: ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5 (authored by Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. and Du, W. 2024). Note that this dataset mostly contains data from Meiri (2018, Traits of lizards of the world – variation around a successful evolutionary design)(see below), data from a few papers we published since (also listed below) and a little bit of new data collected specifically for this publication.
Data on the reproductive mode and elevation ranges of 9,061 squamate species are available via Dryad here. From a paper titled "A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates", by Anna Zimin, Sean V. Zimin, Richard Shine, Luciano Avila, Aaron Bauer, Monika Böhm, Rafe Brown, Goni Barki, Gabriel Henrique de Oliveira Caetano, Fernando Castro Herrera, David G. Chapple, Laurent Chirio, Guarino R. Colli, Tiffany M. Doan, Frank Glaw, L. Lee Grismer, Yuval Itescu, Fred Kraus, Matthew LeBreton, Marcio Martins, Mariana Morando, Gopal Murali, Zoltán T. Nagy, Maria Novosolov, Paul Oliver, Paulo Passos, Olivier S. G. Pauwels, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Marco Antonio Ribeiro-Junior, Glenn Shea, Reid Tingley, Omar Torres-Carvajal, Jean-François Trape, Peter Uetz, Philipp Wagner, Uri Roll & Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography, https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13598.
Data on body sizes (body masses) of 11240 reptile species (including 10900 squqmates: 6868 lizards, 3867 snakes and 195 amphisbaenians, as well as 315 turtles, 24 crocodyles and the Sphenodon), 5840 mammal species and 9534 bird species From a paper titled "Different solutions lead to similar life history traits across the great divides of the amniote tree of life." by Shai Meiri, Gopal Murali, Anna Zimin, Lior Shak, Yuval Itescu, Gabriel Caetano, and Uri Roll (Journal of Biological Research-Thessaloniki, 202128: 3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40709-021-00134-9.
Data on clutch sizes of (nearly) 4000 lizard species from a paper titled "The global diversity and distribution of lizard clutch sizes" by Shai Meiri, Luciano Avila, Aaron Bauer, David Chapple, Indraneil Das, Tiffany Doan, Paul Doughty, Ryan Ellis, Lee Grismer, Fred Kraus, Mariana Morando, Paul Oliver, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Marco Antonio Ribeiro-Junior, Glenn Shea, Omar Torres-Carvajal, Alex Slavenko and Uri Roll
Data on ecological, phylogenetic, morphological and physiological traits of lizards, from a paper titled "Traits of lizards of the world – variation around a successful evolutionary design." by Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography 27: 1168-1172.
Data on the clutch and litter sizes, offspring sizes (hatchling and neonate masses) and their product (the weight of neonates or hatchlings produced per brood) of 1,259 squamate species, from a paper titled "Viviparity does not affect the numbers and sizes of reptile offspring", by Shai Meiri, Anat Feldman, Rachel Schwarz and Rick Shine. Journal of Animal Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.131250
Data on the mass at birth/hatching and the adult mass of 2120 species of squamates (as well as similar data for bird hatchlings and adults and mammal neonates and adults), from a paper titled "Endothermy, offspring size and evolution of parental provisioning in vertebrates", by Shai Meiri. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2019, 128, 1052–1056.
Data on reptile longevity and associated - or supposedly associated traits, from a paper titled "Cold and isolated ectotherms: drivers of reptilian longevity". by Gavin Stark, Karin Tamar, Yuval Itescu, Anat Feldman, and Shai Meiri. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125: 730-740. 2018.
Data on lizard species known only from their type localities - traits, locations, and information on when species were last seen from a paper titled "Extinct, obscure or imaginary: The lizard species with the smallest ranges" Diversity & Distributions doi: 10.1111/ddi.12678. Metadata are HERE
Egg volumes, clutch sizes, female sizes and hatchling sizes, clutch frequency and insularity of lizards with fixed and variable clutch sizes from a paper titled "The fast-slow life-history continuum in insular lizards: A comparison between species with invariant and variable clutch sizes" by Rachel Schwarz and Shai Meiri. Journal of Biogeography doi: 10.1111/jbi.13067. 2017.
Population densities, area in which they were estimated, and geographic range sizes of lizards mammals and birds from a paper titled "Population density–range size relationship revisited." by Maria Novosolov, Gordon Rodda, Alexandra North, Stuart Butchart, Oliver Tallowin, Alison Gainsbury, and Shai Meiri, Global Ecology and Biogeography 26: 1088-1097. 2017.
Lizard dietary niche breadths from a paper titled "Latitudinal diversity gradient and interspecific competition: no global relationship between lizard dietary niche breadth and species richness" by Alison Gainsbury and Shai Meiri 2017. Global Ecology and Biogeography 26: 563-572.
Lizard Population density, and its predictors. from the paper titled "Power in numbers. The evolutionary drivers of high population density in insular lizards." by Maria Novosolov, Gordon H. Rodda, Anat Feldman, Amy E. Kadison, Roi Dor and Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography DOI: 10.1111/geb.12390. 2016.
Squamate maximum body masses and lengths. From the paper titled "Body-sizes and diversification rates of lizards, snakes, amphisbaenians and the tuatara." by Anat Feldman, Niv Sabath, Alex Pyron, Itay Mayrose, and Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography 25 doi: 10.1111/geb.12398. 2016.
Wikipedia page-views in 2014 per reptile species from "Using Wikipedia page views to explore the cultural importance of global reptiles" by Uri Roll, John C. Mittermeier, Gonzalo I. Diaz, Maria Novosolov, Anat Feldman, Yuval Itescu, Shai Meiri, and Richard Grenyer. Biological Conservation http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.03.037. 2016.
Body masses of all extant reptiles from "Late Quaternary reptile extinctions: size matters, insularity dominates." by Alex Slavenko, Oliver Tallowin, Yuval Itescu, Pasquale Raia and Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 25: 1308-1320. doi: 10.1111/geb.12491. 2016.
Body masses of all late-Quaternary extinct reptiles from "Late Quaternary reptile extinctions: size matters, insularity dominates." by Alex Slavenko, Oliver Tallowin, Yuval Itescu, Pasquale Raia and Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 25: 1308-1320. doi: 10.1111/geb.12491. 2016.
Traits and type localities of lizards described in the 21st century from "Small, rare and trendy: traits and biogeography of lizards described in the 21st century" by Shai Meiri. Journal of Zoology 299: 251-261. doi:10.1111/jzo.12356. 2016.
Lizard population densities from "Power in numbers. The evolutionary drivers of high population density in insular lizards" by Maria Novosolov, Gordon Rodda, Anat Feldman, Amy Kadison, Roi Dor, and Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2016, 25: 87-95. doi: 10.1111/geb.12390.
Snake Reproductive mode. From a paper titled "The geography of snake reproductive mode: a global analysis of the evolution of snake viviparity" by Anat Feldman, Aaron M. Bauer, Fernando Castro-Herrera, Laurent Chirio, Indraneil Das, Tiffany M. Doan, Erez Maza, Danny Meirte, Cristiano de Campos Nogueira, Zoltán Tamás Nagy, Omar Torres-Carvajal, Peter Uetz and Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography DOI: 10.1111/geb.12374. 2015.
Lepidosaur longevity and other life history traits, from the paper titled "Late bloomers and baby boomers: ecological drivers of longevity in squamates and the tuatara" by Scharf, I., Feldman, A., Novosolov, M., Pincheira-Donoso, D., Das, I., Bohm, M., Uetz, P., Torres-Carvajal, O., Bauer, A. M., Roll, U. and Meiri, S. Global Ecology and Biogeography DOI: 10.1111/geb.12244. 2015.
Squamate hatchling and neonate masses, and female masses from the paper titled "Squamate hatchling size and the evolutionary causes of negative offspring size allometry" by Meiri, S., Feldman, A. and Kratochvil, L., Journal of Evolutionary Biology DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12580. 2015.
Lizard body temperatures, natural history and life-history traits from the article titled "Are lizards feeling the heat? A tale of ecology and evolution under two temperatures", Meiri, S., Bauer, A. M., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Das, I., Doan, T. M., Feldman, A., Herrera, F-C., Novosolov, M., Pafilis, P., Pincheira-Donoso, D., Powney, G., Torres-Carvajal, O., Uetz, P. and Van Damme, R. Global Ecology and Biogeography 22: 834–845 2013
Lizard insularity, density and life history data from the article titled "The island syndrome in lizards", Novosolov, M., Raia, P. and Meiri, S. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 22: 184-191, 2013
Snake species Length and mass data from the paper titled "Length–mass allometry in snakes", Feldman, A. and Meiri S. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 108, 161:172 2013
Lizard trait dataset from the article titled "The ecology of lizard reproductive output", Meiri, S., brown, J.H. and Sibly, R.M. Global Ecology and Biogeography 21, 592:602 2012
Body size and insularity status for (a) lizards, (b) birds and (c) mammals from the paper entitled "Slaying dragons: limited evidence for unusual body size evolution on islands". Meiri, S., Raia, P. and Phillimore, A.B. Journal of Biogeography 38, 89:100 2011
Lizard species weight and SVL data from the paper titled "Length–weight allometries in lizards", Meiri, S. Journal of Zoology 281 218:226 2010
Literature sources for size and ecological data from the paper titled “Evolution and ecology of lizard body sizes”, Meiri, S. Global Ecology and Biogeography 17 724:734 2008
Lizard body sizes from the paper titled “Evolution and ecology of lizard body sizes”, Meiri, S. Global Ecology and Biogeography 17 724:734 2008
As is invariably the case with such large compilations some of the data may prove partial, non up to date, or even wrong. If you find any errors we will be grateful if you could report them to Shai Meiri ([email protected]). Questions can also be addressed to Shai.
The most up-to-date reptile geographic distribution data is GARD version 1.7 that can be downloaded from Dryad here.
When using these data please cite:
Roll et. al. 2017 The global distribution of tetrapods reveals a need for targeted reptile conservation. Nature Ecology & Evolution 1:1677-1682
and
Caetano, et al. 2022. Automated assessment reveals that the extinction risk of reptiles is widely underestimated across space and phylogeny. PLoS Biology, 20(5): e3001544.
The first published version of the reptile ranges is GARD version 1.1 available via Dryad here. If you use these data please cite it as: Roll et. al. 2017 The global distribution of tetrapods reveals a need for targeted reptile conservation. Nature Ecology & Evolution 1:1677-1682
Data on multiple traits of 11,744 squamate species are available via Dryad here. From a paper titled "SquamBase – a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits" by Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812
Data on multiple traits of 12,060 reptile species are available via FigShare here. From a paper titled: ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5 (authored by Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. and Du, W. 2024). Note that this dataset mostly contains data from Meiri (2018, Traits of lizards of the world – variation around a successful evolutionary design)(see below), data from a few papers we published since (also listed below) and a little bit of new data collected specifically for this publication.
Data on the reproductive mode and elevation ranges of 9,061 squamate species are available via Dryad here. From a paper titled "A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates", by Anna Zimin, Sean V. Zimin, Richard Shine, Luciano Avila, Aaron Bauer, Monika Böhm, Rafe Brown, Goni Barki, Gabriel Henrique de Oliveira Caetano, Fernando Castro Herrera, David G. Chapple, Laurent Chirio, Guarino R. Colli, Tiffany M. Doan, Frank Glaw, L. Lee Grismer, Yuval Itescu, Fred Kraus, Matthew LeBreton, Marcio Martins, Mariana Morando, Gopal Murali, Zoltán T. Nagy, Maria Novosolov, Paul Oliver, Paulo Passos, Olivier S. G. Pauwels, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Marco Antonio Ribeiro-Junior, Glenn Shea, Reid Tingley, Omar Torres-Carvajal, Jean-François Trape, Peter Uetz, Philipp Wagner, Uri Roll & Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography, https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13598.
Data on body sizes (body masses) of 11240 reptile species (including 10900 squqmates: 6868 lizards, 3867 snakes and 195 amphisbaenians, as well as 315 turtles, 24 crocodyles and the Sphenodon), 5840 mammal species and 9534 bird species From a paper titled "Different solutions lead to similar life history traits across the great divides of the amniote tree of life." by Shai Meiri, Gopal Murali, Anna Zimin, Lior Shak, Yuval Itescu, Gabriel Caetano, and Uri Roll (Journal of Biological Research-Thessaloniki, 202128: 3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40709-021-00134-9.
Data on clutch sizes of (nearly) 4000 lizard species from a paper titled "The global diversity and distribution of lizard clutch sizes" by Shai Meiri, Luciano Avila, Aaron Bauer, David Chapple, Indraneil Das, Tiffany Doan, Paul Doughty, Ryan Ellis, Lee Grismer, Fred Kraus, Mariana Morando, Paul Oliver, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Marco Antonio Ribeiro-Junior, Glenn Shea, Omar Torres-Carvajal, Alex Slavenko and Uri Roll
Data on ecological, phylogenetic, morphological and physiological traits of lizards, from a paper titled "Traits of lizards of the world – variation around a successful evolutionary design." by Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography 27: 1168-1172.
Data on the clutch and litter sizes, offspring sizes (hatchling and neonate masses) and their product (the weight of neonates or hatchlings produced per brood) of 1,259 squamate species, from a paper titled "Viviparity does not affect the numbers and sizes of reptile offspring", by Shai Meiri, Anat Feldman, Rachel Schwarz and Rick Shine. Journal of Animal Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.131250
Data on the mass at birth/hatching and the adult mass of 2120 species of squamates (as well as similar data for bird hatchlings and adults and mammal neonates and adults), from a paper titled "Endothermy, offspring size and evolution of parental provisioning in vertebrates", by Shai Meiri. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2019, 128, 1052–1056.
Data on reptile longevity and associated - or supposedly associated traits, from a paper titled "Cold and isolated ectotherms: drivers of reptilian longevity". by Gavin Stark, Karin Tamar, Yuval Itescu, Anat Feldman, and Shai Meiri. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125: 730-740. 2018.
Data on lizard species known only from their type localities - traits, locations, and information on when species were last seen from a paper titled "Extinct, obscure or imaginary: The lizard species with the smallest ranges" Diversity & Distributions doi: 10.1111/ddi.12678. Metadata are HERE
Egg volumes, clutch sizes, female sizes and hatchling sizes, clutch frequency and insularity of lizards with fixed and variable clutch sizes from a paper titled "The fast-slow life-history continuum in insular lizards: A comparison between species with invariant and variable clutch sizes" by Rachel Schwarz and Shai Meiri. Journal of Biogeography doi: 10.1111/jbi.13067. 2017.
Population densities, area in which they were estimated, and geographic range sizes of lizards mammals and birds from a paper titled "Population density–range size relationship revisited." by Maria Novosolov, Gordon Rodda, Alexandra North, Stuart Butchart, Oliver Tallowin, Alison Gainsbury, and Shai Meiri, Global Ecology and Biogeography 26: 1088-1097. 2017.
Lizard dietary niche breadths from a paper titled "Latitudinal diversity gradient and interspecific competition: no global relationship between lizard dietary niche breadth and species richness" by Alison Gainsbury and Shai Meiri 2017. Global Ecology and Biogeography 26: 563-572.
Lizard Population density, and its predictors. from the paper titled "Power in numbers. The evolutionary drivers of high population density in insular lizards." by Maria Novosolov, Gordon H. Rodda, Anat Feldman, Amy E. Kadison, Roi Dor and Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography DOI: 10.1111/geb.12390. 2016.
Squamate maximum body masses and lengths. From the paper titled "Body-sizes and diversification rates of lizards, snakes, amphisbaenians and the tuatara." by Anat Feldman, Niv Sabath, Alex Pyron, Itay Mayrose, and Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography 25 doi: 10.1111/geb.12398. 2016.
Wikipedia page-views in 2014 per reptile species from "Using Wikipedia page views to explore the cultural importance of global reptiles" by Uri Roll, John C. Mittermeier, Gonzalo I. Diaz, Maria Novosolov, Anat Feldman, Yuval Itescu, Shai Meiri, and Richard Grenyer. Biological Conservation http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.03.037. 2016.
Body masses of all extant reptiles from "Late Quaternary reptile extinctions: size matters, insularity dominates." by Alex Slavenko, Oliver Tallowin, Yuval Itescu, Pasquale Raia and Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 25: 1308-1320. doi: 10.1111/geb.12491. 2016.
Body masses of all late-Quaternary extinct reptiles from "Late Quaternary reptile extinctions: size matters, insularity dominates." by Alex Slavenko, Oliver Tallowin, Yuval Itescu, Pasquale Raia and Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 25: 1308-1320. doi: 10.1111/geb.12491. 2016.
Traits and type localities of lizards described in the 21st century from "Small, rare and trendy: traits and biogeography of lizards described in the 21st century" by Shai Meiri. Journal of Zoology 299: 251-261. doi:10.1111/jzo.12356. 2016.
Lizard population densities from "Power in numbers. The evolutionary drivers of high population density in insular lizards" by Maria Novosolov, Gordon Rodda, Anat Feldman, Amy Kadison, Roi Dor, and Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 2016, 25: 87-95. doi: 10.1111/geb.12390.
Snake Reproductive mode. From a paper titled "The geography of snake reproductive mode: a global analysis of the evolution of snake viviparity" by Anat Feldman, Aaron M. Bauer, Fernando Castro-Herrera, Laurent Chirio, Indraneil Das, Tiffany M. Doan, Erez Maza, Danny Meirte, Cristiano de Campos Nogueira, Zoltán Tamás Nagy, Omar Torres-Carvajal, Peter Uetz and Shai Meiri. Global Ecology and Biogeography DOI: 10.1111/geb.12374. 2015.
Lepidosaur longevity and other life history traits, from the paper titled "Late bloomers and baby boomers: ecological drivers of longevity in squamates and the tuatara" by Scharf, I., Feldman, A., Novosolov, M., Pincheira-Donoso, D., Das, I., Bohm, M., Uetz, P., Torres-Carvajal, O., Bauer, A. M., Roll, U. and Meiri, S. Global Ecology and Biogeography DOI: 10.1111/geb.12244. 2015.
Squamate hatchling and neonate masses, and female masses from the paper titled "Squamate hatchling size and the evolutionary causes of negative offspring size allometry" by Meiri, S., Feldman, A. and Kratochvil, L., Journal of Evolutionary Biology DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12580. 2015.
Lizard body temperatures, natural history and life-history traits from the article titled "Are lizards feeling the heat? A tale of ecology and evolution under two temperatures", Meiri, S., Bauer, A. M., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Das, I., Doan, T. M., Feldman, A., Herrera, F-C., Novosolov, M., Pafilis, P., Pincheira-Donoso, D., Powney, G., Torres-Carvajal, O., Uetz, P. and Van Damme, R. Global Ecology and Biogeography 22: 834–845 2013
Lizard insularity, density and life history data from the article titled "The island syndrome in lizards", Novosolov, M., Raia, P. and Meiri, S. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 22: 184-191, 2013
Snake species Length and mass data from the paper titled "Length–mass allometry in snakes", Feldman, A. and Meiri S. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 108, 161:172 2013
Lizard trait dataset from the article titled "The ecology of lizard reproductive output", Meiri, S., brown, J.H. and Sibly, R.M. Global Ecology and Biogeography 21, 592:602 2012
Body size and insularity status for (a) lizards, (b) birds and (c) mammals from the paper entitled "Slaying dragons: limited evidence for unusual body size evolution on islands". Meiri, S., Raia, P. and Phillimore, A.B. Journal of Biogeography 38, 89:100 2011
Lizard species weight and SVL data from the paper titled "Length–weight allometries in lizards", Meiri, S. Journal of Zoology 281 218:226 2010
Literature sources for size and ecological data from the paper titled “Evolution and ecology of lizard body sizes”, Meiri, S. Global Ecology and Biogeography 17 724:734 2008
Lizard body sizes from the paper titled “Evolution and ecology of lizard body sizes”, Meiri, S. Global Ecology and Biogeography 17 724:734 2008
