Gunther Köhler (born 20 May 1965 in

Hanau Hanau () is a city in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its railway Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ma ...

) is a German

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

. His research is primarily focused in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

Career

In 1995, Köhler received a doctorate in natural sciences at the

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University Frankfurt () is a public research university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealthy and active liberal citizenry of Frankfurt ...

with his thesis on the systematics and ecology of black iguanas (

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Ctenosaura''). Since November 1995, he is curator at the department of herpetology and since 2004 acting director of the department of terrestrial zoology at the Senckenberg Research Institute. The projects of Köhler and his research group focus on the study of neotropical

herpetofauna Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (incl ...

in Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, in particular in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

and

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

. The studies are taxonomic, zoogeographical and phylogenetic, with the genus ''

Anolis ''Anolis'' is a genus of anoles (), iguanian lizards in the family Dactyloidae, native to the Americas. With more than 425 species, it represents the world's most species-rich amniote tetrapod genus, although many of these have been proposed to b ...

'' forming one of the main groups. In 1994, he rediscovered ''

Ctenosaura bakeri ''Ctenosaura bakeri'', also known as the Utila spiny-tailed iguana, Baker's spinytail iguana, swamper or ''wishiwilly del suampo'', is a critically endangered species of spinytail iguana endemic to the island of Utila, one of the Islas de la Ba ...

'' (the Utila iguana), a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

previously known only from the type specimens described in 1901. Since April 1998, Köhler led a breeding program in collaboration with the

Frankfurt Zoological Society The Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) is an international conservation organization founded in 1858 with headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. FZS focuses on maintaining biodiversity and conserving wildlife and ecosystems in protected area ...

Utila Utila () is the smallest of Honduras' major Bay Islands, after Roatán and Guanaja, in a region that marks the south end of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, the second-largest in the world. It has been documented in history since Columbus ...

. In 2016, he revised the ''Anolis'' species of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

in collaboration with

Stephen Blair Hedges file:Stephen Hedges.jpg, Blair Hedges Stephen Blair Hedges (known as S. Blair Hedges) is Laura H. Carnell Professor of Science and director of the Center for Biodiversity at Temple University where he researches the Tree of life (biology), tree o ...

. Among them are eight newly discovered species that are restricted to small distribution areas and threatened with extinction. Köhler was involved in the original descriptions of more than 120 species of reptiles and amphibians in many

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

, including '' Agama'', ''

'', ''

Brookesia ''Brookesia'' is a genus of chameleons, lizards in the family Chamaeleonidae. The genus is endemic to Madagascar. Member species range from small to very small in size, and are known collectively as leaf chameleons (though this common name is a ...

'', ''

Ctenosaura ''Ctenosaura'' is a lizard genus commonly known as spinytail iguanas or ctenosaurs. The genus is part of the large lizard family Iguanidae and is native to Mexico and Central America. The name is derived from two Greek words: (), meaning "com ...

'', ''

Paracontias ''Paracontias'' is a genus of skinks, lizards in the family Scincidae. The genus is endemic to Madagascar. Taxonomy and systematics ''Paracontias'' is usually placed in the subfamily Scincinae, which seems to be paraphyletic however. Probably ...

'', ''

Stenocercus ''Stenocercus'' is a genus of South American lizards, commonly called whorltail iguanas, of the family Tropiduridae. This genus has 80 valid described species. Geographic range The greatest species richness is in Ecuador and Peru, but members ...

'', ''

Leptopelis ''Leptopelis'' is a genus of frogs in the family Arthroleptidae. They are found throughout Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Afric ...

'' and ''

Pristimantis ''Pristimantis'' is a very specious genus of frogs distributed in the southern Caribbean islands (Lesser Antilles) and in Central and South America from Honduras to northern Argentina and southern Brazil. With 617 described species (as of Februa ...

''. In his spare time, Köhler is a member of the

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

band Flaggstaff from

Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; Hessian: ''Aschebersch'', ) is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg, despite being its administrative seat, is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...

. In 1992, Köhler's wife Elke founded the Herpeton Verlag, a special interest publishing house in Offenbach with the aim of providing reptile owners with particularly well-founded knowledge about their wards.Portrait of the Herpeton Verlag
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohler, Gunther Living people German herpetologists Goethe University Frankfurt alumni 1965 births People from Hanau