Usefull Liinks

The Cyprus Atlas of Reptiles and Amphibians constitutes the first attempt to collect and organize all existing data of the Cypriot herpetofauna. 

The Atlas contains more than 5,500 localities for the 23 terrestrial reptiles and amphibians of Cyprus. The aim of this attempt is that the data is constantly updated and available to the general public in an easy to use format (i.e. for visualization in Google Earth). 

The data of the Atlas has been collected from a variety of sources, including books, localities from reptile recording projects, existing Cypriot databases, information granted by volunteers and the general public as well as from social media.

The Atlas constitutes a very valuable tool for the protection of Cypriot herpetofauna at all levels. From the citizen who wants to become aware of the species they might see at their trip on the countryside to the Scientific community and the authorities that will take important decisions for the management of the species of the island. The data, as published on the Atlas, as well as presented on the database supporting it, make up for an important online collection. 

The public can aid by sending information on localities where herpetofauna species have been located to the maintenance team of the Atlas. Contact can be through e-mail, phone, or social media.

The HerpTrust project with the title «Improving biodiversity’s resilience to climate-and human-induced threats through nursing positive Human-Herpetofauna Interactions» which is coordinated by the Open University of Cyprus and more specifically by the Terrestrial Ecosystem Laboratory, aims to strengthen the conservation and protection of the most endangered herpetofauna species in Malta and Cyprus through the appropriate educational activities. 

The projects has secured funding from Key Action 2 of the Erasmus+ Programme and will be implemented of the period of one year (December 2023 - December 2024) by the OUC, the NGO Friends of the Earth Malta and the company Ecostat Innovations Limited in Malta.

The Herpetological Society of Cyprus has been a member of the European Board of Herpetological Societies (EBHS), which is a project of the European Herpetological Society (Societas Europaea Herpetologica - SEH) 

Goal of the EBHS is the promotion of European herpetological societies and their activities both to the scientific community and to the wider public, as well as cooperation between them.

We hope this cooperation will signal the start of interesting cooperative activities. 🐍

The Cyprus Roadkill Observation System will be used for recording citizens’ and  volunteers’ observations of dead wild fauna throughout the island’s road network.

Data from these observations include the group of animals and the species identified as well as the exact (GPS) location, the date and time of recording, photos of the roadkill and any relevant additional information related to the species, the road or the traffic condition. 

A summary of the above information is publicly available on the CyROS database, for all roadkill recorded throughout the island. Data collected will be used to understand the factors which influence road kills, and the impacts of roads on fauna in general, as well as contribute to better infrastructure planning with a view to assist nature conservation objectives.