The tables below give you an idea how many species* of reptiles are known. About 200 species have been described in each of the previous years and therefore the real number changes continuously. See The original descriptions of reptiles (and their subspecies) for a historical analysis. Note also that currently 922 reptile species have a total of 2,118 subspecies. Some authors reject the idea of subspecies and either synonymize them with their parent species or consider them as valid species (e.g. Wallach et al. 2014, Snakes of the World).
Species Numbers by Higher Taxa:
Feb 2008 |
Jan 2011 |
Feb 2012 |
Feb 2013 |
Aug 2014 |
Aug 2015 |
Aug 2016 | Oct 2017 | July 2018 | Aug 2019 | Aug 2020 | Nov 2021 | Dec 2022 | Oct 2023 | Aug 2024 |
|
|
Amphisbaenia (amphisbaenians) |
181 |
181 |
184 |
188 |
193 |
196 | 193 | 196 | 195 | 201 | 202 | 201 | 202 | (203) | |
|
Sauria (lizards) |
5,461 |
5,634 |
5,796 |
5,987 |
6145 |
6,263 | 6,399 | 6,512 | 6,687 | 6,905 | 7,144 | 7,310 | 7,396 | 7,724 | |
|
Serpentes (snakes) |
3,315 |
3,378 |
3,432 |
3,496 |
3567 |
3,619 | 3,672 | 3,709 | 3,789 | 3,848 | 3,956 | 4,038 | 4,073 | 4,145 | |
|
Testudines (turtles) |
317 |
327 |
328 |
341 |
341 |
346 | 350 | 351 | 353 | 360 | 360 | 363 | 361 | 366 | |
|
Crocodylia (crocodiles) |
24 |
25 |
25 |
25 |
25 |
25 | 24 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | |
|
Rhynchocephalia (tuataras) |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
|
Reptile species total |
9,300 |
9,547 |
9,766 |
10,038 |
10,272 |
10,450 | 10,639 | 10,793 | 11,050 | 11,341 | 11,690 | 11,940 | 12,060 | 12,263 |
Number of families: As of March 2024 there are 93 families of reptiles (see our taxonomic overview and the phylogenetic tree of squamates for lists). Note that this number is a bit arbitrary, depending on what is called a family (sometimes a subfamily). Note that in earlier stats amphisbaenians were not included in the count of lizards, but starting in Aug 2024 they are.
Number of genera: As of March 2024 there are 1249 genera of reptiles. See our downloadable spreadsheet for a complete list.
Species Numbers by Family or geographic region:
Please search the database for individual families or country name.
* What exactly is a "species"? A species may contain many individuals of different appearance ("variations") but as long as they interbreed they can exchange genetic information and therefore form a genetic continuum. This biological species concept is increasingly challenged by the "evolutionary species concept" which rather considers populations of very similar specimens as species. As a result, many subspecies have been raised to "full species" status and therefore the number of species increases just because of that.
More information on Species concepts (Wikipedia)