Richard Sternfeld

Richard Sternfeld (8 February 1884, in Bielefeld – 1943 in Auschwitz) was a German-Jewish herpetologist, who was responsible for describing over forty species of amphibians and reptiles, particularly from Germany's African and Pacific colonies (i.e. modern-day Tanzania, Cameroon, Togo, Namibia and Papua New Guinea).

Education

Sternfeld was the son of a merchant in Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. He was educated in a local gymnasium and initially entered university in 1903 to study medicine at Freiburg, but he switched to studying natural science at Bonn. In 1907 he returned to Freiburg, to obtain his Dr. Phil., with a dissertation on the biology of mayflies under the guidance of evolutionary biologist August Weismann.

Museum employment and First World War

Sternfeld's first appointment was alongside herpetologist Gustav Tornier at the Zoological Museum at the University of Berlin. He worked on the herpetofaunas of the German colonies in Africa and the Southwest Pacific, producing 26 titles in 6.5 years. In 1913 he moved to the Senckenberg Museum at Frankfurt to replace herpetologist Philipp Lehrs, and widened his geographical area of interest to include Central Africa, Japan, Australia, the Pacific Islands, and South America.

During World War I he was called up for service, serving his country in Macedonia. After the war, Sternfeld clashed with the Director of the Senckenberg and was fired at the end of 1920 after he attempted to unionize museum staff. His replacement was Robert Mertens, arguably Germany's greatest 20th Century herpetologist.

Post-museum employment

Sternfeld was unable to conduct research following his departure from the Senckenberg Museum. From 1923 onwards, he worked as a horse race reporter for the German horse racing newspaper ''Sportwelt''. He developed into a leading and accepted expert in thoroughbred breeding in Germany. In March 1937, Sternfeld lost this job because of his Jewish descent. Since March 1941 he was forced to perform hard labour in Berlin, and on 1 March 1943 he was deported by the Nazis to Auschwitz, where he was murdered later that year.

Contributions to herpetology

Between the years 1908-1925, Sternfeld described 42 species of snakes and lizards and five species of frogs that are still recognized today, although only seven of the reptiles retain their original names. The species list below begins with the currently accepted name, followed by Sternfeld's original name (some were placed in subgenera indicated by parentheses(). Subspecies are indicated by trinomial names, and one variety is indicated by "var".

1908
* ''Dipsadoboa brevirostris'' as ''Dipsadomorphus brevirostris'' (West African short-snouted treesnake)
* ''Lamprophis erlangeri'' as ''Boodon erlangeri'' (Erlanger's house snake)
* ''Micrelaps bicoloratus'' (Kenyan two-headed snake)
* ''Namibiana labialis'' as ''Glauconia labialis'' (Damara threadsnake)
* ''Namibiana latifrons'' as ''Glauconia latifrons'' (Benguela threadsnake)
* ''Typhlops zenkeri'' (Zenker's wormsnake)

1910
* ''Letheobia gracilis'' as ''Typhlops gracilis'' (gracile blindsnake)
* '' Madatyphlops platyrhynchus'' as ''Typhlops platyrhynchus'' (Tanga wormsnake)
* ''Scelotes schebeni'' (Scheben's legless skink)

1911
* ''Lygodactylus grotei'' (red-tailed dwarf gecko)
* ''Pedioplanis breviceps'' as ''Eremias breviceps'' (short-headed sandveld lizard)
* ''Trachylepis boulengeri'' as ''Mabuya diesneri boulengeri'' (Boulenger's sun skink)

1912
* ''Cnemaspis quattuorseriata'' as ''Gonatodes quattuorseriatus'' (Sternfeld's day gecko)
* ''Cynisca schaeferi'' as ''Chirindia schaeferi'' (Cameroon worm-lizard)
* ''Dasypeltis atra'' as ''Dasypeltis scabra'' var. ''atra'' (montane egg-eating snake)
* ''Geocalamus acutus'' (Wedge-snouted worm-lizard)
* ''Kinyongia adolfifriderici'' as ''Chamaeleon adolfi-friderici'' (Ituri chameleon)
* ''Leptosiaphos graueri'' as ''Lygosoma graueri quinquedigitata'' (Rwanda five-toed skink)
* ''Leptotyphlops latirostris'' as ''Glauconia latirostris'' (Uvira threadsnake)
* ''Letheobia graueri'' as ''Typhlops graueri'' (Sternfeld's blindsnake)
* ''Lygodactylus scheffleri'' (Scheffler's dwarf gecko)
* ''Trioceros schubotzi'' as ''Chamaeleon schubotzi'' (Mt. Kenya montane dwarf chameleon)

1913
* ''Gerrhopilus depressiceps'' as ''Typhlops depressiceps'' (lowland beaked blindsnake)
* ''Toxicocalamus buergersi'' as ''Ultrocalamus bürgersi'' (Torricelli forest snake)
* ''Toxicocalamus preussi'' as ''Ultrocalamus preussi'' (Preuss’ forest snake)

1917
* ''Kassina maculosa'' as ''Megalixalus maculosus'' (marbled running frog)
* ''Ptychadena tellinii'' as ''Rana schubotzi'' (Tellini's grass frog)

1918
* ''Cryptoblepharus africanus'' as ''Ablepharus boutonii africanus'' (East African snake-eyed skink)
* ''Cryptoblepharus aldabrae'' as ''Ablepharus boutonii aldabrae'' (Aldabran snake-eyed skink)
* ''Cryptoblepharus australis'' as ''Ablepharus boutonii australis'' (Inland snake-eyed skink)
* ''Cryptoblepharus caudatus'' as ''Ablepharus boutonii caudatus'' (Juan de Nova Island snake-eyed skink)
* ''Cryptoblepharus pulcher'' as ''Ablepharus boutonii pulcher'' (elegant snake-eyed skink)
* ''Cryptoblepharus voeltzkowi'' as ''Ablepharus boutonii voeltzkowi'' (Voeltzkow's snake-eyed skink)
* ''Emoia boettgeri'' as ''Lygosoma (Emoia) boettgeri'' (Boettger's emo skink)

1919
* ''Ctenotus leonardii'' as ''Lygosoma (Hinulia) leonhardii'' (Leonhard's ctenotus)
* ''Ctenotus quattuordecimlineatus'' as ''Lygosoma (Hinulia) quattuordecimlineatum'' (fourteen-lined ctenotus)
* ''Eremiascincus intermedius'' as ''Lygosoma (Hinulia) fasciolatus intermedium'' (northern narrow-banded skink)
* ''Lerista desertorum'' as ''Lygosoma (Rhodona) planiventale desertorum'' (central deserts robust slider)
* ''Liopholis striata'' as ''Egernia striata'' (nocturnal desert skink)
* ''Pogona minor'' as ''Amphibolurus barbatus minor'' (dwarf bearded dragon)
* ''Simoselaps anomalus'' as ''Rhynchelaps anomalus'' (northern desert banded snake)
* '' Tiliqua multifasciata'' as ''Tiliqua occipitalis multifasciata'' (Centralian blue-tongued skink)

1920
* ''Batrachylodes vertebralis'' as ''Chaperina friedicii'' (striped Solomons frog)
* ''Batrachylodes wolfi'' as ''Sphenophryne wolfi'' (Wolf's Solomons frog)
* ''Bothrops medusa'' as ''Lachesis medusa'' (Venezuela forest pitviper)
* ''Palmatorappia solomonis'' as ''Hylella solomonis'' (Solomons palm frog)

1925
* ''Tympanocryptis centralis'' (Central Australian earless dragon)

Only two species described in honour of Richard Sternfeld, are recognised today:

* ''Phrynobatrachus sternfeldi'' (Sternfeld's river frog)
* ''Trioceros sternfeldi'' (Tanzanian montane dwarf chameleon)

Published works

In 1912 he published his best known work, a book on Central European herpetofauna titled "''Die Reptilien und Amphibien mitteleuropas''". Sternfeld include wrote approximately 35 herpetological papers, some quite extensive, during his museum career and immediately afterwards, including:
* ''Die Schlangenfauna Togos'', 1908 – Snakes native to Togoland.
* ''Die Schlangen Deutsch-Ostafrikas'', 1910 – Snakes native to German East Africa.
* ''Zur Herpetologie Südostafrikas'', 1911 – Herpetology of southeastern Africa.
* ''Zur Tiergeographie Papuasiens und der pazifischen Inselwelt'', 1920 – Zoogeography involving Papua New Guinea and islands of the Pacific.
* ''Beiträge zur Herpetologie Inner-Australiens'', 1925 – Contribution to the herpetology of Australia's interior.Google Search
(publications)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sternfeld, Richard
1884 births
1943 deaths
Scientists from Bielefeld
German herpetologists
Scientists active at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
20th-century German zoologists
Jewish German scientists
Jewish biologists
German Jews who died in the Holocaust
German people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp
German Jewish military personnel of World War I
Jewish trade unionists
German sports journalists
Horse racing writers and broadcasters
Jewish German writers
German World War II forced labourers