Dr. Gunther Köhler is curator of herpetology at Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt, Germany. For more than 15 years he is doing field research with amphibians and reptiles in Central America. He has produced more than 100 scientific publications and described several new species.

This book is a completely up-dated and fully colored illustrated guide to the 554 species of crocodiles, turtles, lizards and snakes that are known to occur in the region extending from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico to the southern extent of the Panamanian isthmus.

2nd revised and updated edition 2008:

• 300 new photographs.

• 33 more pages.

• Identification keys revised and updated.

• This new edition treats 557 species, an increase of 20 species over the 537

species of crocodilians, turtles, lizards, amphisbaenians, and snakes covered in the 2003 edition.

Central America is one of the world´s foremost biodiversity hotspots, a region characterized by a high level of species richness and endemism. This book is a completely up-dated and fully illustrated guide to the 557 species of reptiles that are known to occur in the region extending from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico to the southern extent of the Panamanian isthmus (southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama). It is based on extensive field research carried out by the author and also on a thorough analysis of the scientific literature, producing a Literature Cited section of several hundred entries.