Richard Sternfeld (8 February 1884, in Bielefeld – 1943 in Auschwitz) 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 (i.e. modern-day Tanzania, Cameroon, Togo, Namibia and Papua New Guinea).
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.
[1] 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.
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".