Alejandro Arteaga

Former President and Research Director

Alejandro Arteaga is the co-founder of Tropical Herping, where he served as the president and research director from 2009 to 2021. He obtained his biology degree from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. Alejandro is author of three books (Reptiles of Ecuador, Reptiles of the Galápagos, and The Amphibians and Reptiles of Mindo) and 26 scientific articles. He has described 30 new species to science, saved 178 hectares of tropical forest in Ecuador, and his photographic work has been featured in National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. In 2015, he was awarded in the Big Picture Natural World Photography competition.

Alejandro’s research is focused primarily on systematics and discovery of new species of tropical amphibians and reptiles, but also targets citizen-science projects for identifying species in the field, either visually using deep learning algorithms or genetically through real-time DNA barcoding. He is currently leading three long-term projects that straddle the line between research and conservation: Reptiles of Ecuador, Eyelash Viper Systematics Project, and Save the Amazon rainforest from gold mining.

Behind the scenes

Alejandro spends most of his time exploring tropical forests around the world, photographing amphibians and reptiles, and searching for new species. At the office, he likes to write herpetological field guides or scientific papers on new species, systematics, and biogeography.