Richard Sternfeld


Richard Sternfeld 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.

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. Subspecies are indicated by trinomial names, and one variety is indicated by "var".
1908
1910
1911
1912
1913
1917
1918
1919
1920
1925
Only two species described in honour of Richard Sternfeld, are recognised today:
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.