Collaborators

Dr. Abhijit Das, Scientist, Wildlife Institute of India.

Abhijit is a scientist and faculty at WII, Dehradun, India, his primary research focuses on the systematics and biogeography of herpetofauna in the Himalayan and Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspots. Abhijit's students Bitupan Boruah, Naitik Patel, Nawani Swati & Krishnendu Banerjee are part of our ongoing collaborative research on Himalayan herpetofauna.

Ashok Captain is an amateur 'old-fashioned' ophidian taxonomist. He deals with species that are found in India.  He prefers meeting snakes in their natural habitats but is not averse to examining pickled specimens.

Dr. David Gower, Natural History Museum London.

Dave conducts collections-based research on the systematic and evolutionary biology of amphibians and reptiles. His main taxa of interest and expertise are caecilians, snakes (especially fossorial and aquatic species), and Triassic archosauromorphs. He has long had an interest in South Asian herpetology.

Dr. Eric N. Smith, Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Research Center, University of Texas at Arlington.

Herpetofaunal exploration has been central to him since an undergraduate student, in the Americas he has surveyed the herpetofaunas of remote areas in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and the USA. The current interest in his laboratory resides on the exploration and inventory of the herpetofauna of the highlands of Sumatra and Java, and S and SE Asia in general.  Smith has published mostly on biogeography, systematics, population genetics, morphology, and taxonomy but, he has also participated in studies related to ecology and conservation, venom evolution and characterization, and invasive species.

Frank Tillack, Technician, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany.

Frank is working as collection manager of the amphibian and reptile collection at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. He is interested in the development and establishing of best curatorial practices in collections care and management. His research interest includes taxonomy, nomenclature and biogeography of South and Southeast Asian snakes and the history of herpetology.

Photo: Frank Tillack in the paddy fields on Bali (September 2019, photo by Putu Gede Sugiana)

Jason Domnic Gerard, Independent researcher, India.

Dr. Kai Wang, Researcher, USA/China.

Kai's research focuses on systematics, evolution, and conservation of reptiles and amphibians from the Pan Himalaya Region and Southwest China, particularly agamid lizards of the subfamily Draconinae. He works closely with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History in the U.S.

Dr. Kartik Sunagar, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Science.

I am an evolutionary geneticist, and I study venomous animals and their venoms as model systems to address various intriguing questions in ecology, evolution and genetics. The major focus of my research in the recent past has been towards innovating pan-India efficacious snakebite therapies through the discovery and development of broadly neutralising antibodies. My PhD (University of Porto, Portugal) and postdoctoral research (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) has provided fascinating insights into venom ecology and evolution, including the dynamics of venom evolution across large time, evolutionary origin and development of venom producing cells, coevolutionary arms races, molecular mechanisms of venom action, the genetic basis of venom resistance, and the role of environmental and ecological factors in driving the evolution of venom.

Dr Natalie Cooper, Senior Researcher, Natural History Museum London.

Natalie is interested in biodiversity evolution and conservation. Most of her work is in macroecology and macroevolution, with a strong focus on phylogenetic comparative methods and statistics in R. She will happily work on any taxon but agrees that snakes are cool.

Dr. Pratyush Mohapatra, Scientist, Zoological Survey of India.

Pratyush is working as a scientist at the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) his research includes taxonomy and conservation of reptiles of South Asia. He is interested in studying the macroevolutionary aspects in speciation and large-scale phylogenetic studies involving molecular and morphological characters. He is pursuing his interest to stabilize taxonomic discrepancies among Indian reptiles.

Ram Gothandapani, Field coordinator, Pondicherry, India.

Over the years Ram has supported researchers in the field on various projects on lesser known fauna in south India. Ram and his team at the Indigenous Biodiversity Foundation are actively involved in conservation projects in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. Ram is keen on herpetofauna and conservation.

Rajkumar K.P, Researcher, Kerala Forest Research Institute, India.

Rajkumar K. P. is a herpetologist who is currently pursuing Ph.D. on herpetofaunal diversity in the marshy grassland ecosystems in Periyar Tiger Reserve and on the status, distribution, activity pattern and vocalization of the Endangered Travancore Bush Frog. He is also an EDGE Fellow working on the ecology of Galaxy Frog (Melanobatrachus indicus) in the Western Ghats as part of the EDGE (Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered) of existence programme.

Samuel Lalronunga, Research Associate, Mizoram University, India

Samuel's research focuses on the systematics and biogeography of herpetofauna and ichthyofauna of northeast India. 

Sandeep Das, Researcher, Kerala Forest Research Institute, India.

Sandeep Das is an EDGE Fellow of Zoological Society of London, working towards research and conservation of Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis. He is interested in taxonomy and biology of amphibians and reptiles of Western Ghats

Santosh Bhattarai, Researcher, Nepal

Santosh has been working as a Conservation Officer at National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), Nepal; an autonomous organization of Government of Nepal. Currently, he is based at NTNC’s Chitwan office which is known as Biodiversity Conservation Center (BCC). Santosh is particularly interested in reptiles and amphibians systematics, distribution and conservation ecology.  

Saunak Pal, Scientist, Bombay Natural History Society, India.

Saunak is primarily interested in exploring the systematics and biogeography of endemic reptiles, especially agamid and gekkonid lizards of the Western Ghats. Saunak has been involved in various studies across the Western Ghats, trying to understand the factors that influence the diversification of amphibians and reptiles, patterns of distribution, and causes of endemism. Currently, he is involved in curating the herpetofauna specimens as well as digitization of the collections as a research scientist at the Bombay Natural History Society, India. At BNHS, he is also involved in various biodiversity mapping and conservation projects across the country.

Surya Narayanan, Researcher, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, India.

Surya is an independent researcher with a special focus on the taxonomy of the Indian reptiles and loves to make taxonomic illustrations of snakes. He is also a naturalist who likes to spend a significant amount of time in the field. 

Prof. Dr. Uwe Fritz, Museum of Zoology, Senckenberg, Dresden

Prof. Dr. Uwe Fritz is the head of the Museum of Zoology, Senckenberg Dresden and interested in evolution and biogeography in general. He works mainly with the phylogeography, hybridization and taxonomy of turtles (worldwide) and Palearctic snakes.

Werner Conradie, Curator of Herpetology, Port Elizabeth Museum (Bayworld) in South Africa.

Werner has a Masters in Environmental Science (M.Env.Sc.) and 17 years of experience working with the southern African herpetofauna, with his main research interests focusing on the taxonomy, conservation, and ecology of amphibians and reptiles. Werner has published numerous principal and collaborative scientific papers, and has served on a number of conservation and scientific panels, including the Southern African Reptile and Amphibian Relisting Committees. He has undertaken research expeditions to many African countries including Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.