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Table 1. Summary of the Number of Species by Family for the 
Amphibians and Reptiles of Panama 
GROUP 
NUMBER OF 
SPECIES 
AMPHIBIA 
170 
(2)* 
ANURA 
140 
(2) 
Bufonidae 
15 
Centrolenidae 
12 
Dendrobatidae 
14 
Hylidae 
46 
Leptodactylidae 
44 
(2) 
Microhylidae 
4 
REPTILIA 
225 
(6) 
AMPHISBAENIA 
3 
Amphisbaenidae 
3 
CROCODYLIA 
2 
Alligatoridae 
1 
Crocodylidae 
1 
LACERTILIA 
74 
(6) 
Anguidae 
5 
Gekkonidae 
9 
(6) 
Iguanidae 
41 
Scincidae 
2 
Teiidae 
16 
Xantusiidae 
1 
SERPENTES 
132 
Anomalepididae 
4 
GROUP NUMBER OF SPECIES 
AMPHIBIA-Cont. 
170 
ANURA-Cont. 
140 
Pipidae 
1 
Ranidae 
4 
CAUDATA 
21 
Plethodontidae 
21 
GYMNOPHIONA 
9 
Caeciliaidae 
9 
REPTILIA-Cont. 
225 
SERPENTES-Cont. 
132 
Boidae 
6 
Colubridae 
99 
Elapidae 
10 
Leptotyphlopidae 
2 
Viperidae 
11 
TESTUDINES 
14 
Cheloniidae 
4 
Chelydridae 
1 
Dermochelyidae 
1 
Emydidae 
1 
Kinosternidae 
3 
Testudinidae 
4 
TOTAL 
395 
* Introduced species in parentheses. Also marked with an 
asterisk in the checklist. 
Country geographic ranges are included for each species, 
often with more detailed ranges inside Panama. Ranges were taken 
from the literature and from direct examination of museum 
specimens at the National Museum of Natural History, Museum of 
Comparative Zoology at Harvard, and Florida Museum of Natural 
History. The geographic range of none of the 395 native species 
listed in the checklist is thoroughly known. 
The first section of the bibliography consists of complete 
citations of the 395 native and 8 introduced original species 
descriptions. A compilation of other works on Panamanian 
herpetology forms the second part of the bibliography. Due to 
space limitation, this resource is far from complete, but at 
least may decrease initial search time. 
The checklist and bibliography will need to be continually 
revised, due to ongoing taxonomic and survey work. To illustrate 
this I have included six species (bold lettering) which are known 
from near the Panamanian border, but have not been documented 
inside the country as yet. These species are not included in 
Figure 1 nor in the checklist tallies. To help keep the 
checklist up to date and remove errors, please write me at the 
