Research desk
Search herpetology, not the whole internet.
One box, several sources worth trusting: the lessons and the Primer on this site, species records from iNaturalist, peer-reviewed papers from OpenAlex, and one-click searches on the Reptile Database, AmphibiaWeb, CNAH, and more. Off-site results are marked as such and open in a new tab.
On this site
Species iNaturalist · off-site
Peer-reviewed literature OpenAlex · off-site
Go straight to runs your search on that site · off-site
How it works
Where the answers come from
Every search runs against a short list of sources we would send a student to ourselves. Results from this site come first: course lessons (with a note on which are free to read), the Primer bulletin by bulletin, and downloadable handouts. Species matches come from iNaturalist, limited to reptiles and amphibians, with links onward to the Reptile Database or AmphibiaWeb, GBIF, and Wikipedia. Papers come from OpenAlex, an open index of the scholarly literature, filtered to herpetology first and widened only when nothing matches; where a free copy of a paper exists, the result says so.
Reading the results
Follow every result back to its source.
Nothing here is a substitute for reading the source. Off-site results are clearly marked, open in a new tab, and belong to the people who published them. If a source you rely on is missing, tell us.
Free, and staying that way
Help keep these tools running
This tool, the free snakes course, the Primer and everything on our Resources page will always be free. If it helped you and you would like to help keep it running (and help us build the next one), you can pitch in. Everything given goes to LEARN, the nonprofit rescue that runs The Herpetology Collective, so it also helps feed, house and care for the animals we take in.