Sammlung

The herpetological collection of the Zoological Museum Hamburg (ZMH) contains important historical materials. It stems from the “Naturhistorisches Museum zu Hamburg” established in 1843. Much of the material has been acquired before 1914. Some of the material has been taken over from the Museum Godeffroy in 1879 and later from the “Altonaer Museum”. The collection was increased by a remarkable collection of sea snakes collected by Meyer and R. Werner in 1847, lizards and snakes collected by G. A. Fischer from Africa in 1884, reptiles from south-west Australia collected by W. Michaelsen during the "Hamburger Forschungsreise" in 1905, and from southwest Africa in 1911. During Second World War, in July 1943, the Zoological Museum Hamburg has been destroyed; all catalogues and many of the type specimens were lost in the bombing. The general collection, however, had been secured in a subway tunnel.
Many of the reptiles of the ZMH were subject of several original descriptions i.e. by P. Schmidt in 1846 and 1852, G. Jan (1859- 1863), J. G. Fischer (1856 – 1889) and F. Werner (1895-1917).
From the beginnings of the Museum in 1843 to 2005 the herpetological and ichthyological collections were in one division and cared mainly by curators from other divisions (non-herpetologists). Nevertheless the collection was arranged by several external herpetologist, for example J.G. Fischer (1819 - 1889) Franz Werner (1867-1939) and subject of many taxonomical revisions.

Collection Numbers

The herpetological collection of the ZMH contains currently about 50 000 specimens (18.000 amphibians [approx. 900 species], 42.000 reptiles [2.600 species]). Of these, about 20.600 specimens in 7.800 lots are currently catalogued in a data base. Complete covered are Chelonia, Gymnophiona, rhacophorid frogs, 80% of salamanders and newts, sea snakes, Crotalinae, several genera e.g. Lamprophis, Vipera, Varanus, Calotes, Acanthosaura, Pseudocalotes, etc.

At present the collection contains 320 type specimens of 139 nominal species and subspecies, i.e., 54 holotypes, 69 syntypes, 149 paratypes, 3 lectotypes and 45 paralectotypes.

The collection includes 240 serially sectioned amphibian larvae and metamorphic stages (histological slides). Furthermore, it comprises a dry skeleton collection with approximately 700 specimens (turtle shells, mostly reptile skeletons and skulls).

Present and Past Curatorship

The present curatorship has been held by Prof. Dr. Alexander Haas since 2003. Dr. Jakob Hallermann has done important scientific work in the collection since 1996 (then with Prof. Dr. Wilkens). Dr. Jakob Hallermann manages all aspects of the herpetological collection.

Previous curators

1857-1861 Herrmann A. Ruete
1862-1875 J.A. Ferdinand Richters
1777-1879 J.G. Fischer
1880-1882 Karl M. F. M. Kraepelin
1883-1907 Georg Pfeffer (first curator of all zoological divisions)
1907 bis 1936 Dr. Georg Duncker
1936-1972 Dr. Werner Ladiges
1974- 1981 Prof. Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke
1973- 2005 Prof. Dr. Horst Wilkens

Coverage

The oldest specimens were collected by Prinz Maximilian zu Wied in Brazil between 1820-24. The collection increased mainly between 1860 and 1911 by acquisition of collections from Australia (by Amalie Dietrich between 1863-1873) of the Godeffroy Museum and collections from Pacific Islands. Important expeditions were:

Eastafrica (1878 – 1886 G. Adolf Fischer)
Burma (Myanmar) (1886 - 1889 by Leonardo Fea,
The „Hamburger Südwest Australische Sammelreise“ 1905
The „Hamburger Südseeexpedition“, 1908-1909, several islands of the Indo-Australian Archipelago
The „Hamburger Studienreise“, 1911, to „Deutsch Südwest Afrika“ (Namibia)
Angola Expedition 1952-1954 (Maydell)
Hamburger Indienexpedition 1955-1958 (Maydell), Hamburger Angola Expedition 1959.
Collections made by Koepcke and Schlüter in Peru between 1968-1983.
Acquisition of an European collection by Peer Holm Andersen in 1981 (collected 1962-1971)
Donation of an African, Ceylon, and European collection (1962-1982) by Paul van den Elzen in 2003
Donation of histological sections collection by Alexander Haas (2003)
Current expansion of the collection with larval and adult material from Malaysia (Borneo) expeditions (Haas)